a quick tutorial

I got the instructions for this cylinder style of quick piecing from "A Quilter's Christmas" by Marti Michell. It worked amazingly well, and was so very quick and easy I wanted to share it with you. First you decide how many colors you are going to use, and what size your completed project will be. This is just a 20" square cushion for the couch, with two inch finished squares. I cut my strips 2 1/2 inches wide and one and a quarter yards long. I stitched the five strips together, then cut the piece in half so I would have two sets of strips, which I then sewed together giving me ten strips in a row.

I stitched the ten row piece into a cylinder.

Then I cut the cylinder into strips 2 1/2 inches wide, giving me loops of 10 squares.

Remove the stitches from the first cylinder, giving you a nice, neat row of squares. Leaving the stitching in the next loop, pin it to the strip, staggering the squares so they form the "Sunshine and Shadow" quilt pattern. Once you have the first few squares pinned you can remove the stitching from this loop so you can stitch the entire row.

I I am normally a backstitcher, so this method of chopping off pieces and then sewing them without backstitching took some getting used to. You do need to use a shorter stitch length than you normally would so your squares don't pull apart.

The reason this method works so well is that once you get going it is really really easy to stitch the strip on unside down and end up with your squares in the wrong order. The cylinder keeps your pieces in their proper place. You will be amazed at how stretchy each row of squares is, making it ever so easy to match up all your corners neatly. :>}

I got carried away and finished the pillow without remembering to take anymore photos, but you get the idea!

This is the other side.