May 2, 2014
Q & A with Anita
What inspired Tribal Crossing?
The "blade" shape seen in the traditional Key West Beauty block that I patterned in one of my paper piecing books. It became a 30 inch quilt which grew to a 38 foot wide image in Times Square
Details
I reprised the shape in my signature No-Waste Windmill block
Details
And now it's pretty in pink
What techniques were used?
• It's paper pieced with appliquéd circles. I cinched the circles over 1" mylar circles
How did you make the circles?
• I could have fused them per Quiltmaker's recommendation but wanting handwork during travel, I needle-turned them and then attached them with a machine zig zag stitch
Are the circles necessary?
• They are the icing on the cake don’t you think?
Do you precut patches for paper piecing the background?
• I do
Templates may be made by cutting a couple of Tribal Crossing patterns apart into subunits. Before cutting out the subunits, add a 1/4 inch seam allowance to each subunit. I use paper templates that I generate with
Electric Quilt (EQ) software
• There are two sets of shapes that are the reverse of each other. They’re asymmetrical. That's four patches plus the center triangle
• I also used EQ to mock up other colors:
How many templates are needed to cut the four patches?
• Only two. The trick is to always cut two same shape patches simultaneously from a folded piece of fabric. It won't matter if you fold the fabric right side or wrong sides together (Yes, you could use one patch and layer the fabric in fourths)
It won't matter if the template is right side or wrong side up. You'll wind up with two patches that are always the reverse of each other. As long as you can cut through two layers of fabric, you've got it made.
What paper do you print the foundation pattern on?
• I use my very own thin translucent vellum,
Simple Foundations, for my original no-pin paper piecing method
How do you get away with no pins?
- Get creative and position two copies of the foundation onto a sheet of paper exactly across from each other, 1/2" apart. The words “Tribal Crossing Section” in the seam allowances will be opposite each other
- Print this composite onto a sheet of vellum
- Carefully fold and crease the vellum in half so that each section is aligned exactly on top of each other. You need vellum to see the alignment Piece the sections Refold the pieced foundation along the original crease
- Without a pin, sew the same seam that you would have if you had pieced two separate sections Think of Humpty-Dumpty. If you don’t cut a foundation pattern apart, you don’t have to put it back together again
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I paper pieced Tribal Crossing blocks aboard the ms. Westerdam last Saturday night
while between Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. I taught on Road To California's
Panama Canal Quilt cruise |
Do you sell the block pattern for Tribal Crossing?
Visual Learner?
Where might I take a Workshop from you?
- I’ll be teaching next month on Quiltmaker’s sold-out Block Party at Sea, a cruise through Alaska with Carolyn Beam, Debbie Caffrey, Diane Harris, Margie Ullery and Editor-in-Chief June Dudley
- I’m always available in my 3 1/2 hour class on Craftsy.com. It includes “Anita’s Arrowhead” expanded from the pages of Quiltmaker Magazine. It includes a bonus PDF version of my C&T Publishing book Rotary Cutting Revolution with its more than 300 images. You can win it.
- There’s the Houston Quilt Festival in October and I’ll teach next winter on the Quantum in the Caribbean.
Giveaways (3)
Nan_c won the issue of 100 Blocks because her reply happened to post on Friday, May 2, 2014 at 2:11:00 PM EDT and 2-11 happened to be my husband's birthday. The odds of that are 3 out of 4,319, or about 0.07%
The first and last commentors, Anita (!) and CapitolaQuilter each won the Craftsy class.
What are you up to quilting-wise?
Make it Simpler,
Anita
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