faulker094

Finally!  I've made some progress on my "Repro Madness" project.  I have added a 1-inch finished sawtooth border around the center medallion block (the block finishes 16-inches square and 18-inches square with the addition of the little border). It took 68 of the little suckers for this one border, but it was made much simpler by taking all the ingredients as my "leaders and enders" project during the retreat.  For those not familiar with Bonnie Hunter's "leaders/enders" concept...she uses something like this, say two triangles, as the fluff that she adds to her chain piecing "chain" right before being ready to stop chain stitching.  That saves thread and makes it easier to start chain-piecing again without the machine trying to "eat" the fabric bits.  That is how I made all my half-square triangles, which I later pressed and trimmed down to size before assembling strips of the little beasts. I love how this border looks around...

I think I showed you this block that I designed before.  It is going to be the center medallion for my "Repro Madness" project.   It has been languishing on my design wall as I pondered the skinny border that would come next.  I need a 2-inch border - the rest of the quilt is made up of alternating pieced blocks from my friends and my LITTLE TREASURES applique blocks, all finishing 6-inches and all done in Reproduction fabrics. That's going to be a very busy quilt, so I want a strong border, but not just a boring strip of fabric. Ta da!  Appliqued red and black stars on alternating black and red squares (these aren't sewn together yet). OK...I can hear you now..."those are mighty small stars (each block will finish 2-inches) and lots of them...too difficult and time-consuming! I have found a great cheat, and now I will share it with you!  I made these eight little blocks as an experiment in NO TIME using this... The step in my applique that slows me down is t...