Chain piecing tips and Embroidery Retreat weekend coming up!!!

This is my sixth month of learning to quilt....

Chain-piecing tips from Carrie and Harriet Hargrave's "Quilter's Academy Vol. 1 Freshman Year":

Chain piecing is an absolute breeze - now that I've caught on.

Tricks to it:  The longest string is going to be the top - this will help remind you where you are.

Instead of repeating Rows 1 and 2 like with the Woodland Winter quilt top, this time I finally figured out how to add the first two rows together and then add a third, fourth, etc. until I got to the last 11th row.

Beginning with the third row, go back to the first section and then move your marker (bobbin or eraser, etc.) to the next section as you continue to place the top piece right side down onto the square and then sew up the right hand side.  This simply continues all the way until the end.  Once you are to the bottom, however, you need to stop and iron towards the solid block (horse block).

Here I've managed five of nine rows across, all held together with 1/4" thread between the rows.

and finally here is the entire chain pieced top...

tomorrow to pin and sew the rows together into one solid, pieced top.

I was thinking....if I left it like this, it could be pretty chilly!  LOL!!!

I believe that on a Saturday, if you started early, you could take fabric, starch it, cut it, sew strips and cut those, then piece an entire top together in just one day, minus borders.  On a second day, you could already pin and quilt it together, possibly even finish the binding.  I never realized that before!  A small revelation here!

Which reminds me of that lovely song from the seventies..."We've Only Just Begun...."
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Happy Dance!  I'll be attending the Embroidery "TLC" Retreat this Saturday and Sunday with some really good sewing and quilting friends - can't wait!!!  I have an Ellageo that I need to learn lots more about and am hoping to do just that at this conference.  I'll be sure to post the results right here for you!

Embroidery TLC Retreat Info

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