Prairie Points

This post should really be titled "What I Now Know about Prairie Points".  I have used them twice.  Once, last century with this which was hand appliqued and hand quilted:

and again with this recent quilt

For future reference I need to remember a few points:
1. I will always need more prairie points than expected.  My big quilt measures 56" x 76" and has 162 prairie points made from 4" squares  (approximately  0.6 prairie points/inch.  It required 1.75m (68") fabric.
    The baby quilt measures 36" x 46" and has 109 prairie points made from 3" squares (approximately 0.6 prairie points/inch.  It required a bit over 80cm (32") fabric.
     Seems like a good way to chew up fabric

But there is still plenty of this range left for more baby quilts.  This is the second one I have made from my "Sweet" fat quarter collection and here is what is left for another day:

2.  If hand quilting, put the prairie points on before doing the border or last couple of inches before the edge.  If machine quilting, it is probably best to add them prior to quilting.

3.  Don't bother doing fancy tricks at the corners as I did for the first quilt.  I thought it looked empty so I added 1/2 sized prairie points that did not really add to the quilt.

4. However, corners are important.  Line up the prairie points so that they end nicely at the corner.  This means fudge the points before the end if necessary.

5.  At corners, to keep things neat, turn the last prairie point the other way so loose corners are tucked in against the previous prairie point.

6.  Use a steam setting on the iron when pressing prairie points, particularly for the second fold.  Otherwise the point will keep springing open.  Note to self: watch out for steamed fingers.

As for the baby quilt, I used my walking foot to quilt most of it, but got adventurous with free motion quilting in one spot.  I won't point it out but I wish I had stayed with the walking foot.

This post has been full of lessons for me, not least of them how to spell prairie!  Now I am off to hand quilt where I have more control of the stitching.

Orphans from the Cupboard

When I saw Crispy's post regarding orphan blocks it immediately resonated with me.  I recalled a quilt top I had tried to put together years ago using blocks from aborted quilts:

As usual, I got too ambitious and it all came tumbling down when I decided to applique the border.  Looking back on it, I'm glad.  Tastes certainly change.  I still can't throw out the rest of my orphan blocks, even though I know I'll never use them.

Here is an update on the baby quilt I am making.  It has to be ready for November...2010.  Now it is up to sandwich and quilting stage.  I may have to do something I 've always managed to avoid - machine quilt. 

By the way, I had a lovely time in Adelaide.