Dealing with inside Prairie Points

Sometimes when we’re making a quilt top, inside prairie points are just the detail we need to set off the center of the quilt.  But what do you do when it’s time to quilt it?

As a longarm quilter, the fewer pins I can put into a customer quilt, the better.  Pins equal risk of stabbing myself, which increases the risk of bleeding.  NO BLOOD ON CUSTOMER QUILTS…..seriously, they don’t need my DNA!   ;>)

So, how do I get each and every Prairie Point out of the way and minimuze the pins?  I resort to one of my favourite quilting tools, PAINTERS TAPE.

Here’s what it looks like on the longarm as I’m in the process of controlling the points:

This is what the points look like before I start, no way do I want to move each one out of the way as I get to it, and I certainly don’t want that many pins!

Step one, attach painters tape to the backside of the Prairie Points:

Step Two, turn the points to the inside, add another layer of painters tape so you are well beyond the size of the point, and place a few (key word FEW) pins to help hold the tape from coming loose:

You now have the entire border free to quilt and when you release the Prairie Points they will play peek-a-boo with the quilting underneath as they are meant to on this quilt.

I hope this helps the next time a customer, or you yourself, add prairie points to the inside of the quilt.  Remember painters tape is your best friend some days!