Allright I finished the quilt top: almost, just have two borders to add. do not look close, lots of errors; this was a difficult one to make. Hate doing skinny sashing!

Sandi

Marci’s First Section is Done!!

 

Whew!  It took me all week to get that applique square done, but I really like it!  I think it’s my favorite square so far . . . well, maybe the feathered star, too!  I didn’t use their multi-piece pattern for the applique, though.  Following the example of my Hawaiian quilt book, I traced 1/8 of the pattern onto a piece of paper, added the seam allowance around it and cut it out.  Then, I folded a 13” square of my teal fabric into 8ths (a triangle), and used my little template to cut it out.  When you unfold the fabric, it’s like opening up a snowflake, like we used to make out of paper.

Then I basted it onto my brown square and was ready to start the applique!

The hardest part was the little diamond cutouts . . . I don’t think they are quite as big as they were supposed to be, but it still looks OK!

So, now I’m caught up, and it’s time to get started on the next set of blocks!

FROM DEE

TA DA!!!!!!!! I DID IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN'T SEE MY MISTAKES AND THERE ARE MANY, THERE ARE CHANGES, AND ONLY ONE ACCIDENT, ONE LITTLE CHUNK OUT OF MY FINGER WITH THE CUTTER, GOOD THING THE FABRIC IS RED

IT IS REALLY GOOD SIZE

NEW BABY QUILT

THE START OF WALL QUILT FROM MARCI

 VEGAS
JAKE AND AURA

Grandma’s Compass Block

I’m really glad you guys found this other compass block to replace the hand-pieced one, but it still gave me a fair amount of trouble!  The paper-piecing was really easy, and went quickly.  My trouble started when it came to putting the block together.  I thought I should be able to add the “B” template pieces before putting the sections together, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get that to work.  I finally gave up and decided to just put the circle part together first.

I think my biggest problem was that I was expecting the circle to be evenly divided into 8 sections (like a pie), but that’s not how it went together.  It went together in unusual quarters, like this:

Then, the halves looked like this:

So, I finally got the circle together, and it actually looked pretty good, with the brown triangles lined up even!  At this point I was feeling pretty good . . .

So, now I needed to add the brown background.  I had no idea how to use the “B” template pieces, so I decided to do my own thing.  I cut out a big square of the background fabric – I went with a 14” square (just in case I needed to re-square it up afterwards), and it was a good thing I did!

I ironed creases into the block and then centered the compass on it.

I drew a line around the circle, and then cut 1/4” inside that line.

I pinned the background around my compass,

and started sewing around the circle.  I was being really careful, but no matter how many times I tore out stitches and readjusted, I still had too much background fabric!  I was getting pretty frustrated! 

Finally, I just cut a slit in the background fabric and overlapped it so that it would fit around the circle correctly.  Then I hand-stitched  the slit like a hem.

Not a great solution. but with the patterned fabric, it doesn’t show up when you look at it from a distance!

Lastly, I needed to add the center circle.  I had read a tip somewhere for applique circles, where you cut out a cardboard or plastic template of your circle, and cut the fabric about 3/8” bigger.  Then you do a running stitch around the circle and gather it over the template.

This gives you a nice neat circle to applique on, and then you can pull the template out through the opening in the back of the block.

Finally, I cut away the excess background material and squared my block up to 12-1/2”.  The finished product doesn’t look too bad!

So, it was just March 31st, and I was all caught up with my blocks!

Now I’m ready for the next set . . . maybe!!  Time for you guys to get caught up!