DaGMT wrap up - Sneaky Peak and Sleeve Tute

It's February 28, and since this is not a leap year, that means day 28 and the end of this year's "Drop and Give Me Twenty"sewing extravaganza. Also being that this is not a leap year, Greta gets no half birthday so we don't get to have random end of winter half birthday cake. Both of these items make me slightly sad.

But we must pull ourselves out of this cakeless funk and celebrate all that has been accomplished this month by so many quilters. Some DaGMT stats:

• Number of quilters participating: Somewhere around 80, up from 30 last year. 
• Number of bloggers who linked to the linky page: 32
• Number of quilters who joined this year's Flickr groups and posted stuff: 31
• Number of Flickr groups there were this year because I posted the wrong link and some people used last year's group: 2
• Number of Flickr groups there will be next year: 1 if I do it correctly, 3 if I screw up again.
• Number of projects I personally worked on: over 10
• Number I finished: 5
• Number of times I had to change buckets to a larger one because the entry slips for prizes were overflowing: 3
• Number of prizes which will be awarded tomorrow: 22

So what are your DaGMT numbers? Let us know how it went for you in the comments!

I promised a Sneak Peak, so here we go. "Taking Names", my new group project that has nothing to do with "Kickin' Stash" but I wanted to be cheeky with the name of the quilt, has been a big focus this month. I've shown you a few of the group blocks I have worked on for other members of the group, and I've started to get my own blocks back in the mail and I am loving them! Until the other day, though, I was still somewhat up in the air on how I was going to set them, but as I was playing a revelation came to me, and I just love it.

"Taking Names"block, copyright 2013 EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Obviously there will be more to the design than this, so you will have to just wait until the actual pattern is completely done to see it in all the glory it can muster, but I do love the cuteness of combining triangles and hexis, two of the hot trends right now. I'm so rarely on trend I feel like this deserves a celebration.

Cake would be nice.

But in celebration of all of the UFOs you surely finished up, I am going to share a tutorial for a machine sewn sleeve that changed my life. Not, of course, to the extent that Jewel-it and the Binding Tool have done, but in minor quilting-related life-changing lessons and discoveries, it rates right up there with piecing battings into Frankenbattings, and deserves to be shared for those who may not know about this technique.

Don't you just love sewing a sleeve onto a quilt? I thought not. I know many people who have not bothered to put a quilt in a show because it meant sewing on a sleeve.We quilters just have better things to do, like fondling our fabric, planning the next project, and really pretty much just sitting in a silent room breathing, than make and sew on a sleeve. I was vending at a show several years ago and someone was demo-ing this method, which makes getting a sleeve on your quilt a quick and almost painless process.

1.We all know the best sleeves are those made from atrociously hideous fabric. I don't care how you make the actual sleeve for your quilt, but the first step is to find some horrific fabric and make one. Then pin it to the back of your quilt, about 1" from the top. Place the pins about 1/2"  from the edge of the sleeve. That will make it easier for you. Note that I did not do that here, and therefore you are benefiting from my stupidity.

 2.  Thread your machine with top and bobbin thread that blends with the quilt front. Especially the first few times you use this method, you might get a thread or two popping through to the front, so disguise it. Set your machine to "Blind Hem", with about a 3.5 stitch width and 2 for length.

3. "Sleeve to the feeds, weight to the left." Ingrain this mantra in your head, make a sign for above your machine, embroider it on a pillow - whatever it takes to remember this extremely important fact. I promise you the first time you do this on your own without looking at this tute, you will do it wrong if you haven't memorized this. Please don't ask me the number of times I did it wrong.

Fold back the quilt to reveal about 1/4" of the sleeve and center the needle right where the sleeve and quilt come together. Sew slowly and carefully the length of the sleeve, attempting to keep the weight of the quilt from dragging the sleeve out of position. It's slightly harder than it sounds, but that's why we go slowly.

Setting it in the machine

Sewing along the length

4. Do the same for the other length of the sleeve. Now, for those who are thinking "Couldn't she have....?" the answer is yes. I could have. I could have remembered to make a sleeve out of an 8" wide x length of quilt or so piece of fabric and sewed it to the top of the quilt before even putting the binding on, and therefore only have had to do the machine sewing of the bottom length of the sleeve. But 99 times out of a 100 I forget to do that. Or think "I will never hang this on the wall" which is just an excuse for being lazy and not making a sleeve. The good news is this method works either way.

5. When your sleeve is sewn, it will look something like this. See how the pointy parts of the blind hem go into the bulk of the quilt? When you do it wrong because you didn't embroider the mantra like I told you to, they will be going the other way and will suck.

6. Unfold your quilt and reveal to yourself how it looks from the back and the front.

Back view

Front view - see? Nothing shows!

 7. Hang the quilt you told yourself would never need a sleeve on the wall.

She may not get a half birthday this year, but "Greta's Kaleidoscope" is finally on the wall.

Check back tomorrow for a list of all of the prizewinners for DaGMT 2013. Please don't forget to report on all of your accomplishments in the comments section. Everyone who does so by noon 3/1 gets 3 extra prize points!