When good blocks go bad

      I run a small quilting business, and my clients always keep me on my toes!  I do anything and everything that has to do with quilting.  Sometimes I make quilts from start to finish and sometimes I just finish them.

       Last week one of my clients came by with a project for me.  She brought me a box with half finished blocks, appliquéd animal blocks, loose fabric, a pattern, and a paper indicating what block to do in what month.

      My client had signed up for a "block of the month" at her local quilt shop.  She said she wanted to get some more skills while meeting some new people.  

       Unfortunately she said that when she brought her blocks in to show them off, the other people were very cruel about her work and after two months the owner told her she should probably quit.  Serious?!!!

      My client was embarrassed and asked if I would finish it for her.  She pulled out this block and said, "I am so terrible"

I looked at it and said, "You have all the basic parts for a really great block."

SO.... Do you ever have something like this happen?

Here are my tips to make a bad quilt block good again-

-use the same seam allowance all the time!  

-your iron is almost as important as your sewing machine.  Use it often.

-make sure your fabric is cut  correctly.

-sew in a straight line.  (This is for 90% of projects).

If you follow these simple tips, your blocks can turn out more like this!