I started this quilt very early this year by cutting all the squares - decorative (12"), fabric batting (12") and the backing (15"). Each square has a front, batting and backer centered on each other in that order. Once layered I pinned them all and put the stack aside. I had managed to "quilt" three or four sometime in the spring and there is sat until this weekend when I took the stack and decided to get it going again. I managed to add stitching to all the squares in a very all over fashion by going around the elements in a variety of way. None are the same. The quilting secures all the layers to each other. It went relatively quickly so I decided to see about stitching them together. I laid them out in an arrangement I liked and sewed the top row together by putting the backers back to back and stitching along the edge of the front nice and close. To bind these together you fold each backer twice over and stitch it to the front of its square. Then you add another square and repeat the process. In my case I only had three squares per row. The benefit of this process is that you never have a large amount of fabric in the throat of your machine - only one square. Once all the rows are done you sew them to each other using exactly the same process. This finishes your quilt and all that is left is the binding. Again, the binding of the outside edge is exactly the same process - fold over twice and stitch to the front. Once you have gone all the way around you are done!!!!!! This is a great method for doing squares as you go. I used the same fabric for all the backers which frames the front squares quite nicely and gives a very even look to everything. Making the squares in different patterns, with varied quilting and in different colours would make a very scrappy quilt. I think I will try one in a rainbow of colours next time and see how that goes!! Therese
