On Pins & Needles....

All right... Now that you have all your little strips cut, it's time to put them together. You want to sew 200 of your strips together -- by twos. Like Noah's Ark. I worked very hard to make sure I didn't sew two identical strips together. I'm not perfect, so I may not have totally succeeded in reaching that goal, but it was a goal.

It's very important that you do your best to match up your seams. I love it that the Amish say there is only one "perfect one" -- and that is God. The Amish actually make a point of having at least one "mistake" or Humble Square in each quilt.

I'm far from perfect, so I have lots of humble squares.

When you match up your seams, you want to squish them together so that they butt up against each other. Then, put the pin down through the seam on one side, and up through the seam on the other. And then hold your breath and stick your tongue out the side of your mouth and clench your jaw and pray that that's how the come out once they're sewn together.

Once you've got all your "twos" sewn together, marry them with other each other to make "fours." Once you're done with that, add the fifth row.

When you're done with all that, you should have 50 squares that look something like this:

Remember to press them. Back first, then front.

The backs will look something like this:

Now use your rotary cutter and tools to even up the outside edges. You can't sew a straight seam if you don't have straight edges.

Once they're trimmed, ideally you're outer rows will be 1 1/4 " deep. And ideally, all your inside pieces will be 1-inch square.

And you'll have lots of beautiful squares that look something like this:

Now.... You're caught up with me! We'll have the next installment in a couple of days! Hang in there!