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I hope everyone takes this as a learning experience and doesn't get all
frazzled out over it all.

This is to be a learning experience and you know what they say, "the collective minds of all of us are smarter than any one of us"... or something like that... I'm running on dementia today! We don't really have anyone standing over us showing us what to do, so we will just have to be there to help each other through cyberspace.

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Well, I finished all my triangles.  I ended up changing some of my fabrics
after I kind of had an unconscious "theme" going.  I don't have them all
sewed together yet, but it shouldn't take as long as doing all the
triangles since there will be no ironing on of freezer paper.

It was a lot of fun.

I did learn from this one, and I know there are things I will do different
later.  Mostly the drawing and not so many little points coming together,
especially if it is a bigger piece and you have a lot of them.  later, mab

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Some thoughts... One person said she is going
to do an Amish Rainbow...  It helps to not make your color decisions until you
get to each triangle.  as you place the most recent triangle on your Master,
look and think "What would look best next to this" .. maybe a triangle in the
same color family but with different fabrics.. OR maybe it is time to bring in
a new color here.. and here is a real thought... one triangle need not be the
same color family..... one side could be blue another side could be purple....

just getting you to THINK while you do this...

Pat

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I had some trouble with one of my points sewing together my triangle
sections.  I fussed too much and the fabric got frayed. Unfortunately, I'm
one of those poor souls that can't stand it when something doesn't match
perfectly.  So a tip I tried after that was to use a long stitch and just
machine baste the point first and check it.  It is easier to take out than
those 0 stitches. Here's something else I did cause I didn't like sewing
*into* the points. I would rather sew *from* the points!  So what I did was
start at one point, sew to the middle, take it out and turn it over and sew
from the other point to the middle.  Worked for me!  So if you are having
troubles coming into a point try that.

And remember Pat says on her page that if you mess up a triangle section,
just trace a new one on freezer paper from your master and make another.
Good tip!  Less stress!

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>>Why not make your design on the FP to start with and then cut apart, etc?
>>Am I trying to make this too simple?....

Well you can just cut apart your first drawing, but trust me! you need
another copy as a "master" to pin on the wall or somewhere and use it as a
guide to put your pattern back together. If you draw on the freezer paper
and make a regular paper copy or you draw on the regular paper and make a
freezer paper copy that is okay... just have a copy!!!
 
 

>>And if its a "mirror image"...why not just turn
>>the finished quilt piece over top to bottom?

It's like foundation piecing.  Your lines are on one side of the paper and
you put the fabric on the backside.  If you ever drew a bird foundation
pattern and wanted your bird to face right, drew a pattern with your bird
facing right, sewed it that way and looked at it, you will find that  your
bird is now facing left when you are done!  Your pattern is one side but
you will put the fabric on the other side.  Now if you don't care which way
your bird flies... then just make another copy the same way and not
opposite! So, if you draw your triangle pattern just the way you want it on
the paper, all the triangles and light/darks where you want them... when
you are done sewing all will be backwards!!

okay?  No stupid questions... just stupid if you don't know something and
never ask!
mab
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Hi All,

I'm ready and kind of excited to get started today.  I have some tips that might help.

**Cut several sheets of freezer paper "working size" and slip them under the cutting mat.  Keeps them flat and handy.  Mine were rolling around the table and fell off to join the dust bunnies and thread bears on the floor.

**I was struggling with the light orientation.  Perspective and turning things over in my head are beyond me.  My husband (an artist) was looking over my shoulder and said I wasn't "wrong,"  I had just made it an "inee" instead of a "outee."  I relaxed.

**It bothered me to run the rotary cutter too far at the triangle centers and slash the other pieces of the pattern.  I precut the point with a single edge razor blade (didn't have an exacto handy) at the start, then run the rotary cutter up to it.

Karla (in Texas with blue skies, redbuds and plum trees in full bloom)  Saw a bobcat at the edge of the hill yesterday, licking its paws like a housecat.