Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

Assembly Line

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I have a little trick I'll share with you that makes sewing quilt blocks together easier for me (especially blocks that have a lot of units).

I start constructing the block by sewing the first two squares together for each row.  I do not clip my threads so the rows stay connected.  I then start at the top and sew the third block in each row.  In the photo above I am just starting to add on the fourth block in each row.  All the rows are connected.

When all the rows are finished, they are connected together in the exact formation of the finished block, and all I have to do is sew the four rows together.  If I get interrupted mid-block, it doesn't matter.  I can see exactly where I am what piece goes on next.  Does that make any sense?

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I had all my lovely fabrics spread out for cutting.  Aren't they beautiful?

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Over the weekend I finished 13 blocks!  I decided to do all the cutting and get my triangle papers pinned on many of the squares, so I would be all organized to stitch up my half square triangles.  It was my goal on Saturday to come home from work each night this week and sew together at least two complete blocks.

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68 responses to “Assembly Line”

  1. Yes those fabrics are fabulous! This is my first visit to your blog and I’ll be back to get more inspiration.
    I have a pattern that uses the same technique for those triangles. I’d love to buy the paper piecing patterns. Maybe that will help me get it out of the procrastination drawer. grin

  2. Yes those fabrics are fabulous! This is my first visit to your blog and I’ll be back to get more inspiration.
    I have a pattern that uses the same technique for those triangles. I’d love to buy the paper piecing patterns. Maybe that will help me get it out of the procrastination drawer. grin

  13. Hi Nicole,
    thank you for sharing this tip – very clever of you…
    Love the fabric you chose, the quilt will look fantastabulous!
    Hugs, Julia

  14. Hi Nicole,
    thank you for sharing this tip – very clever of you…
    Love the fabric you chose, the quilt will look fantastabulous!
    Hugs, Julia

  15. Beautiful, beautiful fabrics and wonderful blocks…I try to sew my blocks together like that too…saves time and I don’t get squares flipped around.

  16. Beautiful, beautiful fabrics and wonderful blocks…I try to sew my blocks together like that too…saves time and I don’t get squares flipped around.

  21. Nicole, your blocks are so beautiful (as usual!)
    I am in major quilting withdrawal, I broke my wrist last week and had surgery to repair. I hope by next week I can be back at the treadle.
    Karen

  22. Nicole, your blocks are so beautiful (as usual!)
    I am in major quilting withdrawal, I broke my wrist last week and had surgery to repair. I hope by next week I can be back at the treadle.
    Karen

  25. Love those fabrics. That will be a beautiful quilt. I have never been able to master the trick you showed for sewing all the rows together. I always end up with a twist or two and get frustrated. Props to you!

  26. Love those fabrics. That will be a beautiful quilt. I have never been able to master the trick you showed for sewing all the rows together. I always end up with a twist or two and get frustrated. Props to you!

  29. Thanks for sharing your tip. The fabrics you chose are beautiful; can hardly wait to see it all together.

  30. Thanks for sharing your tip. The fabrics you chose are beautiful; can hardly wait to see it all together.

  31. That’s going to be a beautiful quilt as you are doing an excellent job on the piecing. I have enjoyed reading through you last few posts as I had gotten behind in my reading.

  32. That’s going to be a beautiful quilt as you are doing an excellent job on the piecing. I have enjoyed reading through you last few posts as I had gotten behind in my reading.

  35. Ahhh… you have SUCH good taste in fabrics! I love the way you combine everything. Thanks for the tip! It made perfect sense.

  36. Ahhh… you have SUCH good taste in fabrics! I love the way you combine everything. Thanks for the tip! It made perfect sense.

  37. Thanks for the great tip, Nicole and I love your fabric picks – it’s so easy to get hooked on those civil war fabrics! Can’t wait to see the finished piece. Cheers!

  38. Thanks for the great tip, Nicole and I love your fabric picks – it’s so easy to get hooked on those civil war fabrics! Can’t wait to see the finished piece. Cheers!

  45. Just love this quilt and I can soooo relate to your dilemma, I am feeling the same myself and keep feeling tempted to just start something new!

  46. Just love this quilt and I can soooo relate to your dilemma, I am feeling the same myself and keep feeling tempted to just start something new!

  53. Yeah, that’s the way I do it too. Much more organized and faster.
    I can’t wait to see this quilt finished. Just love the fabrics and it’s coming together very nicely.

  54. Yeah, that’s the way I do it too. Much more organized and faster.
    I can’t wait to see this quilt finished. Just love the fabrics and it’s coming together very nicely.

  57. Love the whole thing – the fabrics, the pattern, the technique… I just hate ripping the papers off afterward. I’m always worried about breaking stitches when I tear them off, no matter how many times I fold along the line or how carefully I tear. Regardless, I am a *huge* fan of 1800s repros and I’m trying very hard to convince myself that I *don’t* need to start a new quilt right now. I have FOUR tops that need to be basted!
    Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I may have to go touch my fabric stash.

  58. Love the whole thing – the fabrics, the pattern, the technique… I just hate ripping the papers off afterward. I’m always worried about breaking stitches when I tear them off, no matter how many times I fold along the line or how carefully I tear. Regardless, I am a *huge* fan of 1800s repros and I’m trying very hard to convince myself that I *don’t* need to start a new quilt right now. I have FOUR tops that need to be basted!
    Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I may have to go touch my fabric stash.

  59. I love those reproduction prints! I am making a cute basket print from them right now. I like your thinking about how to sew the block together. I too am back to work and every morning I linger around my sewing room until I just have to hit the road to work. When I get home and the dinner is done and a zillion other little things, I am just not as motivated to sew. Sigh. I saw your next post and I am with you on the get it done mode for cooking. Last night it was “minute steaks” and asparagus. If it was up to me I’d eat the same thing for days and just change the vegetable! Not so anyone else in my household 🙂 I feel the pain!

  60. I love those reproduction prints! I am making a cute basket print from them right now. I like your thinking about how to sew the block together. I too am back to work and every morning I linger around my sewing room until I just have to hit the road to work. When I get home and the dinner is done and a zillion other little things, I am just not as motivated to sew. Sigh. I saw your next post and I am with you on the get it done mode for cooking. Last night it was “minute steaks” and asparagus. If it was up to me I’d eat the same thing for days and just change the vegetable! Not so anyone else in my household 🙂 I feel the pain!

  61. Great technique….Must remember this!
    Great fabrics, some I have, this will be a lovely quilt..
    Hugs

  62. Great technique….Must remember this!
    Great fabrics, some I have, this will be a lovely quilt..
    Hugs

  65. I just found your website and I have to admit that I have spent an entire day that was to be spent sewing, wondering through this site. I know a lot of time has past since this happened, but when I ran onto the sad loss of the beautiful fat quarters to the red wine spill I could imagine how upset you might have been. I originally posted this comment on the correct page but we had a power glitch and I lost my computer connection for a while. I apologize but I couldn’t find my way back to the correct spot as I have just been wandering around in here, lost in the wonder of the quilts, flowers, banana bread, brides, and more quilts. What a delightful place to lose myself. But I digress. I once lost a much loved portion of my fabric stash by dropping it onto a cup of melted butter waiting to be put on popcorn. My own fault, but no easier to accept. However, I have to confess that as I read your disaster story, the thing that truly caught my eye was your reference to spreading out your uncut fabric and ‘fondling’ it a bit prior to cutting into it. I often lay out my projects in waiting or a beloved tub of scraps, or yardage stash and fondle it, move it here and there, visualizing it in a completed quilt ready to display lovingly or snuggle comfortably into with a good book during a quiet snow storm…or a blizzard if that is the case. So now that my secret is out, my name is Nancy and I’m a “Stash Fondler”. Anyway, I just had to stop and comment. Thank you so very much for a wonderful, albiet lost sewing day. I have so thoroughly enjoyed frolicking through the stories and comments that I don’t mind putting away my sewing things for the day in preparation for cooking dinner. I’m a kitchen quilter when it is too cold downstairs in my sewing room as I have Scleroderma and can’t tolerate too much time in the cold. But thanks again for a delightful day and a view of so many beautiful quilts. OH ! By the way, could I ask what the name of the quilt is at the top of your Main page? It is breathtaking.
    Thanks again,
    Nancy

  66. I just found your website and I have to admit that I have spent an entire day that was to be spent sewing, wondering through this site. I know a lot of time has past since this happened, but when I ran onto the sad loss of the beautiful fat quarters to the red wine spill I could imagine how upset you might have been. I originally posted this comment on the correct page but we had a power glitch and I lost my computer connection for a while. I apologize but I couldn’t find my way back to the correct spot as I have just been wandering around in here, lost in the wonder of the quilts, flowers, banana bread, brides, and more quilts. What a delightful place to lose myself. But I digress. I once lost a much loved portion of my fabric stash by dropping it onto a cup of melted butter waiting to be put on popcorn. My own fault, but no easier to accept. However, I have to confess that as I read your disaster story, the thing that truly caught my eye was your reference to spreading out your uncut fabric and ‘fondling’ it a bit prior to cutting into it. I often lay out my projects in waiting or a beloved tub of scraps, or yardage stash and fondle it, move it here and there, visualizing it in a completed quilt ready to display lovingly or snuggle comfortably into with a good book during a quiet snow storm…or a blizzard if that is the case. So now that my secret is out, my name is Nancy and I’m a “Stash Fondler”. Anyway, I just had to stop and comment. Thank you so very much for a wonderful, albiet lost sewing day. I have so thoroughly enjoyed frolicking through the stories and comments that I don’t mind putting away my sewing things for the day in preparation for cooking dinner. I’m a kitchen quilter when it is too cold downstairs in my sewing room as I have Scleroderma and can’t tolerate too much time in the cold. But thanks again for a delightful day and a view of so many beautiful quilts. OH ! By the way, could I ask what the name of the quilt is at the top of your Main page? It is breathtaking.
    Thanks again,
    Nancy

  67. Nicole
    Thank you so very much for your reply. I most certainly do intend to stop into your blog on a regular basis. Though I may lose some sewing time here and there, we all need to stop and smell the roses (so to speak), occasionally and that is exactly how it felt today as I spent time here.
    I understand exactly what you mean about vowing to never make another quilt of a specific pattern. The first quilt I’ve ever made just last March was the ‘Star Spin’ pattern and I jumped into quilting with both feet and both hands, scraping my chin along the way. I chose to make it king size. I did finish it in June but it was at the quilters for 2 months and it now awaits binding which will take place very soon. Having learned a valuable lesson, I will surely study the Tessellations patterns before I attempt one.
    By the way, my first quilt is named “How Hard Can It Be?” because those are the words I spoke to my sister-in-law while in the quilting shop viewing the display quilt top front and back and pondering whether or not to take the class. My husband had just retrieved my sewing machine out of 12 years in storage while we raised our 2 grandsons. I took it to be cleaned and serviced the next day and told my sister-in-law that I had no one to sew clothing for anymore, what was I going to sew? Her reply was “Let’s make quilts!!!” And make quilts we did. Both of us in the same class, and finding that ‘ignorance is bliss’ as we zipped along without any serious hitch, both our quilt tops growing beautifully though not perfectly, while the ladies in the class for the second and third time glared at us, smoldering as we joyfully zipped along and they unhappily unpicked seams over and over again. We wondered why no one laughed at our comments about life as we joined in the class rhetoric and realized after four weeks into a nine week class that we were the only two out of ten lovely ladies that were making real progress. Though after the class was over and we proudly yet with absolute humility (and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you) displayed our quilt tops. All was well, the other ladies oooed and aahhed appropriately and truly were very kind, recommending quilters and encouraging us to continue quilting. And so we have, though we both vowed to never make the Star Spin pattern again. I already have a stack of UFO’s and untouched projects, so as you can see, not only am I a “Stash Fondler”, I am a “Quilting Addict”, and so very happy that I am.
    Well I have certainly droned on much longer than I intended and I apologize. I thank you again for your reply Nicole. I’m sure you will find me lurking and posting on your blog.
    And once more, Thank You so much for a lovely day,
    Nancy

  68. Nicole
    Thank you so very much for your reply. I most certainly do intend to stop into your blog on a regular basis. Though I may lose some sewing time here and there, we all need to stop and smell the roses (so to speak), occasionally and that is exactly how it felt today as I spent time here.
    I understand exactly what you mean about vowing to never make another quilt of a specific pattern. The first quilt I’ve ever made just last March was the ‘Star Spin’ pattern and I jumped into quilting with both feet and both hands, scraping my chin along the way. I chose to make it king size. I did finish it in June but it was at the quilters for 2 months and it now awaits binding which will take place very soon. Having learned a valuable lesson, I will surely study the Tessellations patterns before I attempt one.
    By the way, my first quilt is named “How Hard Can It Be?” because those are the words I spoke to my sister-in-law while in the quilting shop viewing the display quilt top front and back and pondering whether or not to take the class. My husband had just retrieved my sewing machine out of 12 years in storage while we raised our 2 grandsons. I took it to be cleaned and serviced the next day and told my sister-in-law that I had no one to sew clothing for anymore, what was I going to sew? Her reply was “Let’s make quilts!!!” And make quilts we did. Both of us in the same class, and finding that ‘ignorance is bliss’ as we zipped along without any serious hitch, both our quilt tops growing beautifully though not perfectly, while the ladies in the class for the second and third time glared at us, smoldering as we joyfully zipped along and they unhappily unpicked seams over and over again. We wondered why no one laughed at our comments about life as we joined in the class rhetoric and realized after four weeks into a nine week class that we were the only two out of ten lovely ladies that were making real progress. Though after the class was over and we proudly yet with absolute humility (and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you) displayed our quilt tops. All was well, the other ladies oooed and aahhed appropriately and truly were very kind, recommending quilters and encouraging us to continue quilting. And so we have, though we both vowed to never make the Star Spin pattern again. I already have a stack of UFO’s and untouched projects, so as you can see, not only am I a “Stash Fondler”, I am a “Quilting Addict”, and so very happy that I am.
    Well I have certainly droned on much longer than I intended and I apologize. I thank you again for your reply Nicole. I’m sure you will find me lurking and posting on your blog.
    And once more, Thank You so much for a lovely day,
    Nancy