Print out three copies of the finished block and put a copy at the sewing machine, ironing board and cutting board (mine are in 3 different places).

Buy three inexpensive pairs of cutting snips...put one at the sewing machine, one on the ironing board, and one at the cutting board.

Buy two seam rippers...put one at the sewing machine and one at the ironing board.

Once you have made a test block and are sure of your fabric color, combination, and placement, cutall your fabrics and then make stacks of all the pieces required for a block. (You can keep the stacks in zip bags to keep them together). Once everything is cut, speed up your piecing with chain piecing.

Take a chain of pieced blocks ,and press, then square up at the cutting area. Put these finished blocks on your design wall,and let the visual measure of your progress continue to inspire you.

Use a small scrap of fabric for starting and ending seams. It saves thread and helps prevent the thread nests that end up down in the throat plate of your machine. It also helps seams not unravel at the beginning and end, so you don't have to repair seams.

Keep a paper/plastic bag clipped or taped to the sewing machine table, and the cutting table for thread and fabric scraps.

Keep a fresh bag of M&Ms or other treats near your sewing area, but far enough away that you have to get up and walk to them for a rewarding handful. This will help you not get stiff from sitting too long.

Make a complete plan for your quilt, in writing, including size of quilt and blocks, diagrams, fabrics to be used, size to cut strips and squares, layout of blocks, size of border, quilting designs, notes for any changes or modifications you're making, etc. Keep these notes either with the fabric for the project, or keep them all in a three ring binder. This way if you set the project aside for a while, you will know where to pick up the project. [Several quilters wrote after reading this to say if they'd done that they wouldn't have near as many UFO's piled up!]

Make up at least one block *before* cutting fabric for the whole quilt. This will tell you whether there are any mistakes in the pattern, or if you are misreading the directions. Also whether youlike making the block, and how you like the block when it's finished. You can determine if your fabric choices are pleasing or if you need to make a change.

Additional Note from Laura: Buy a 'peephole' at the hardware or home improvement store and view the block through it. It reduces it and you get a much better idea of overall color placement. It's also great for viewing your design wall and rearranging blocks if necessary. This tip has saved me a LOT of ripping!.

When piecing difficult blocks, make a template to measure various stages of the pieced blocks. For example in a mariners compass block, a template that shows the size your piece should be when 3, 6, and 12 points are sewn together. You can see as you go along if you are still piecing accurately.

After pressing, square up your blocks. This entails measuring all your blocks, and then trimming them all to the smallest size. This step really improves your accuracy, and speeds up piecing blocks into a top since they've all been trimmed to the same size. It is also an important step in allowing your quilt to lie flat.

When basting the three layers together before quilting, *square up* your quilt, and check your measurements as you work to prevent stretching it out of square as you work. In addition to measuring across the center in each direction, and then making the outer edges match those measurements by easing fabric in, measure the diagonals and make those numbers match too.

When quilting, use the same amount/density of quilting over the whole top. This includes the borders, and any sashing or cornerstones. Otherwise your quilt will not be flat.

A good machine is sooooo important. If you can't afford a better quality new one, get a good used one, (not a cheap new one). Some of the decades old, better made used machines, are superior to piece with than many of the less expensive nwe machines.

ENJOY YOURSELF! If there is some stage of the process that you really dislike, change your work habits by not doing that part, trade with another quilter, or send the top out for basting or quilting, freeing up your time and resources for the parts you do enjoy.

It is worth repeating that you shouldn't cut all your fabric until you piece a test block or two and make sure you like the fabric color combination, color placement, etc. The amount of already cut stuff that become UFO-rphans/donations further testifies to this being a good idea! =)

Good lighting will help you work more efficiently. Personally, working under fluorescent lights gives me headaches, but I love my daylight and Ottlight bulbs, and it helps reduce eye strain.

Use the slimmest straight pins you can find to increase accuracy in piecing. I love the glass head ones because you can also iron them. As an addendum, I do keep some of the thicker shafted pins around for 'pin easing'.

I keep some of the quilters' safety pins by my machine, and if there's something I find as I'm working that needs not immediate special attention (ripping, re-stitching, or something like that), I put a safety pin in the spot to make it easy to see and hard to forget about later. Just be careful not to sew over the pins/break your needles as you work. To make the pins really stand out on a colorful quilt, slip a small scrap of highly contrastingfabric onto the pin before closing it.

Keep a magnetic pincushion near your machine that is strictly for hand sewing needles.

When you've marked a top for quilting, using chalk or other easily brushed off marking tools, spray it lightly with unscented hair spray to 'hold' the markings in place. All will wash out easily once the quilt is done and washed. (I use White Rain, unscented, in a spray can, but pump sprays work too).

Keep a small or medium trash can at both your machine and cutting areas, for thread and fabric trimmings. When they are full, make a pillow using the scraps and thread bits for filling. These pillowsare especially good for rec. rooms, family rooms, and propping yourself up in bed.

If you are forced to do bed rest, keep a seam ripper, pins, thread snips, and a thimble, and a hand sewing needle in a closed container next to your bed, so you can take your ripping, thread trimming, hand basting or quilting. or hand sewing bindings and work on them without needing to make several trips back to your sewing area for notions. (You can also keep this 'kit' next to your favorite chair and work on it while listening to the news or while family watches TV, etc.).

Change your machine needle! Either at the beginning of your piecing project, before beginning to machine quilt, or after 8 to 12 hours of sewing with a needle. This will increase the stitch quality, and your accuracy, and is often overlooked as an important factor in your work.

Use a foot with a 'rudder' or guide on it to increase the accuracy of your 1/4 inch seams.

Use neutral medium or light gray thread for piecing. The only exception I make is for white and off-white where the stitching might show through. You'd be surprised at how much this will speed up your sewing, especially if you keep several bobbins full of your neutral thread on hand.

If your machine doesn't have a bobbin empty sensor, and you're working on a project where it's important not to run out of bobbin thread, fill two bobbins, and use one as your top thread. You can easily keep an eye on it and know when your bobbin is nearing empty.

I have a tray the holds bobbins. I keep at least the first two rows filled with nothing but neutral thread for my quilting. This way if one bobbin runs out in the middle of sewing I just pop in another one and keep sewing without having to stop and wind another bobbin.

When I start on a big project I like to buy 2 spools of thread. I fill a bunch of bobbins from one spool and use the other for sewing. Saves me time and lets me keep track of thread and bobbins.

Older sewing machines are much more forgiving about sewing over pins than newer machines, so I bought an old machine at a yard sale and use it just for piecing. I use the thinnest possible pins and leave them in the fabric until after I have sewed the seams. My accuracy at matching seams has improved 100%!

If you would like to add a suggestion, feel free to send an E-mail. I hope you've found some helpful suggestions for improving accuarcy, use of time, and creativity. Every little bit we can do to save time allows us to continue our love of sewing and quilting.

E-mail Niki & UFO-rphanage for Quilters

---