Tumbling Blocks Help

There is a pattern out there that does allow you to sew in rows. Instead of using diamonds... you use triangles. It is called "not your Grandmother's tumbling blocks" - by Marci Baker. You can see the pattern here...

(from here... I have the pattern... but havn'te done the quilt yet. I have purchased from Erica's.. with a good result. (NAYY)

The only other way I would attempt this quilt would be to piece it using the English Paper Piecing method... and do all the sewing by hand.

Have fun....

Kate in MI

If you use the Quilters Cache method, you'll not encounter Y seams. I, however, being the hard-headed person that I am, decided that doing it by hand the old fashioned way was the best. And I love it! I sewed each three piece block together first, and then began assembling the blocks into rows. Tons of Y seams, but by the time you put the blocks together you'll have them absolutely mastered and putting the blocks together into the top will be a breeze!

Let us know how it goes!

I'm glad to see so many tumbling blocks being made! I'm feeling so very not alone at the moment!

Dannielle

Mika, do you have access to Sharyn Craig's book on Lemoyne stars? She has a great way of doing Y-seams by machine, and they come out great. You could use the same technique with tumbling blocks, I'm thinking. :) If you don't have access to the book, Jan Krentz has the same method on her site at .

There are some gorgeous patterns there! It's a grand place to dream of another quilt.

The problem is.... I already have the diamonds cut. This is the very FIRST project I started when I started quilting again a few years ago. Yeah really dumb move to pick this pattern to learn on. lol. I have enough diamonds cut to probably make two quilts. I have a the instructions to strip piece a tumbling blocks quilt but didn't find it until after I had already cut all the diamonds. So I'm kind of stuck there. But thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate it.

Hugs, Mika

I know what you mean about the being hard-headed part. Tumbling blocks is not a project for beginners. But I was hard-headed too. I saw a quilt in this pattern, loved it and decided that I wanted to make one. I'm doing mine on the machine though. I'm just not a hand-piecer. I can do the Y seams pretty good in putting the blocks together. I'm just not real sure about putting the strips together, dealing with all the bulk.

Hugs, Mika

You might find it easier to put the individual 'cubes' together in groups/sections, rather than strips/rows? Some people do prefer the organisation of that method. I think I did it that way myself - do you know, I can honestly not remember! . In message , Mika writes

Mika, IHO "Y" seams on the machine are not as difficult as they seem. When I did my very first sewing and very first quilt (actually WH) I chose a tumbling block pattern. I had a book by Karen Combs along with the instructional DVD and it all went fine. I was very careful about stopping 1/4" from the end of each seam. I did this by reducing the seam length to very tiny when I got near the seam end.

I did have one "Y" seam that resulted in a small hole because I stopped the seam too early. This was fixed when I did the quilting. I really enjoyed the project and did another one. Everything was done by machine, even the binding. See the pictures at:

Jerry in North Alabama

I've done the same thing with a Grandmother's Garden quilt. I'm doing it the old-fashioned way and may never get it finished, but I love doing it. I found a neat old vintage train case in near perfect condition and I keep the pieces in there. Then I can just put it anyplace and it will be safe and ready to go when I want to work on it again. I've just accepted that it's the process that is important with this particular one.

René

Great instructions Sandy. Thanks. I have printed this out so I can maybe someday make a Lemoyne Star quilt. I'm really not having any trouble with the Y-seams in making the block. It's when the blocks are all done and I need to put them together into strips the put the strips together that I'm not so sure about. I'm just wondering it will be too bulky and difficult to handle as the strips go together. I don't think I'm doing a very good job of explaining my concerns. LOL. Chalk it up to caffeine withdrawals. Argh!

Hugs, Mika

WOW! All I can say is WOW! Your quilts are just beautiful. I have pretty much decided to do some kind of random pattern with mine. Don't know what yet and I'm sure it will take some planning and time to work out the details. I looked at Karen Combs website and she has some really great stuff. I may even get her book.

Hugs, Mika

Mika: How are you piecing these? Regular hand piecing, machine piecing, or English piecing? That would impact how you set it all together.

Maybe you already mentioned this, but either a. my brain is foggy or b. I did not read the post. Probably a. LOL PAT Go Hokies!

Mika wrote:

Hi Pat. I'm doing them on the machine. No hand or paper piecing for me.

Hugs, Mika