Tutu Haynes-Smart wrote:

snip

I scraped by with a fat 1/8th (or a tad less at times) for a block AND a
plain triangle and a pieced triangle. In my first DJ, I repeated quite a few
fabrics, but the second only about six duplicates. (Make a spreadsheet or
something to track your fabrics. I had little squares stuck on a paper
replica). Certainly, if you are careful, a charm square could do you.

I did use (very cheap) muslin for the background. Good was that it was cheap
so that it didn't really matter how much I used. Bad was that it was a bear
for the small applique, so be warned on that. Also be aware that if you are
doing a lot of paper piecing, you tend (however miserly you are, to use a
bit more fabric). I used 6m of 150cm wide - and that gave me quite a bit of
wriggle room. That did NOT include the sashings.

I got The Book and then redrafted each one in EQ4 (that dates me, doesn't
it). Now things are a lot easier with EQ's DJ software (you'll see my quilts
in there and some of my tips too). I would seriously recommend purchasing
the software unless you are going to hand piece everything using freezer
paper or some other precise method.

And finally, good luck and enjoy the journey. Shout if you have specific
problems - there's a number of people here who can help.


Thanks for that, Tutu! I'm thinking of using coloured backgrounds to
tone with my prints. Dunno yet... Gee, I wish my friend could come over
for a day or two so we could do all our planning together! We make a
good team, each seeing things the other usually misses.

I usually draft my blocks in CorelDraw, only it's not working on my
machine at the moment (Hnnnnh!!!) I'd love to see the DJ software at
work, but for now it's beyond the budget. Trisha (my friend) and I have
used light sew-in interfacing in the past (for paper piecing, that is).
You can leave it in the quilt and it adds a bit of 'oomph' if that's
what you're after. We'll no doubt do quite a bit of experimenting before
we start, though. Trisha is a dedicated machine piecer while I rather
enjoy hand-work and appliqué.

The help I've had from rctqers already is what allowed me to make the
final decision and go ahead with my JASQ. Thanks to you and everyone who
has emailed! ;-D

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia