Any quilter would love to try the Accuquilt fabric cutter and there are (at least) three give-aways going on now.

Julie Herman of Jay Bird Quilts writes a fantastic blog about everything quilting related – I love to read it.  (She also contributes to the Robert Kaufman blog “The Swatch and Stitch”.) Two other great bloggers are Ryan Walsh of “I’m Just a Guy Who Quilts” and Sherri of “A Quilting Life”.  (Sherri’s giveaway ends today so you have to hurry!)

Check out these great blogs and enter to get a chance to win an Accuquilt cutter!

“Springtime Garlands”, my complimentary pattern for Ambrosia, is now available courtesy of Robert Kaufman.  Pick it up at your local quilt shop or download it here.

This quilt is deceptively simple to make.  Even though there is a lot of visual movement there are barely any seams to match!  It makes great use of fusible bias strips that you can make with a Clover bias tape maker.  Having never used one before I am now a big fan…  Kay Giese did the quilting – thanks Kay!

Ambrosia ships to stores October 1st.  I am SOOOOOO excited!  You can download more free projects for this collection from my website.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Amanda

Now where were we? I have the border of my quilt complete and am ready to attach the prairie points. I had calculated that the beginning of each prairie point should be about 4-1/4″ away from the beginning of the previous point at the seamline. Since I am going to use a 1/4″ seam to attach the points, that means that they will be slightly over 4-3/4″ away from eachother at the raw edges. I lay my first point adjacent to the quilt as pictured below. (I find it easiest to have the edge of the point that only has one fold be the one that will feed through the machine first, so in this case I am putting it on the right.) I want the end of the first point to overlap the edge of my quilt by 1/4″ so that it will be flush at the seam.

I have to take that 1/4″ overhang into account when I am placing the second point, so instead of measuring 4-3/4″ out from the edge to place my second point, I will measure 4-1/2″ from the edge and make a tiny pencil mark on the edge of the border. I continue making marks slightly more that 4-3/4″ apart until I get to the center of the quilt. I lay my second right up next to the quilt, lining the left end up with the second pencil mark, making sure that the edge with only one fold is again on the right. 

I continue laying out points, until I get to the center of the border.  If you have an odd number of points, the “point” of one of them will (hopefully) line up with the center of the border, or close to it.  If you have an even number the intersection of two points will line up with the center of the border.  If it is off don’t panic – just keep adjusting until you are pleased with the placement.  Once satisfied, continue placing points until you get to the end of the border.

Turn the points over onto the top of the quilt and pin.

Sew the prairie points onto the quilt with a 1/4″ seam and press out, pressing the seams toward the center of the quilt.

Now for the most important part:
Whether you quilt yoru piece yourself or give it to a quilter to finish, make sure to keep the prairie points out of the way while it is quilted and do not quilt within 3/4″ of the prairie point seamline!

Until next time!
Amanda