I found a place to sew!

The clouds were low over the mountains this morning, and today’s weather was predicted to be a little dismal . . . cold & rainy . . . so I decided that I would make the best of it by getting some sewing done.  The boys were happy to watch horror movies in the RV all day, so after lunch I loaded up my sewing machine, cutting board, and iron and headed over to the Clubhouse.

I had the whole place to myself, so I spread my stuff out on several tables and made myself at home!

I had a couple of hours of peace & quiet, and got 2 more blocks done for the “Just Takes 2” quilt. 

Slowly but surely, I’m still making progress!

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!

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!

Hey, where is everybody??!!

I'm falling behind -- too dang hot upstairs to sew, and I refuse to turn the A/C on in March!! -- but at least I finally finished my feathered star!  The diamond points on the sides came out a little small, but overall it's not too bad!

I've still got to do the flying geese and little square that go with is, and then it's on to the March 15th blocks -- that crazy compass block -- YIKES!!  There's got to be another way besides hand-piecing, right??!!

Feathered Star

OK, so I finally started the feathered star.  It's going OK, with a little bit of ripping out and starting over!  Beware - there are bits and pieces missing from the directions!  Like when it says "sew your half-square triangles together in pairs", it doesn't mention that they don't all go together the same way!  Also, you need to add seam allowance to the template pieces . . . I've got the center square done (easy), and the four corner squares (not as easy, but so far they look right . . . we'll see when I go to attach them to something else!).  I'm taking my time!

Marci's 4th set

OK, I finally finished up my 4th set of blocks:

 I'm getting pretty good at paper-piecing by now!  On the square with the little appliqued leaves, I decided to go with heat & bond lite, and then stitched around them with embroidery floss.

I haven't started the new set of blocks yet . . . I figure I'll wait a few days for other people to find any mistakes in the patterns before I download them!

Yikes! Have you seen the next set of blocks!!??!!

I finished blocks 12 and 13 -- paper piecing both of them, once I figured out that my printer was, indeed, scaling my pages to 94%, and I corrected it.  It really is pretty easy, and they do turn out perfect!

Good thing -- because the next set of blocks has lots of paper piecing!  Have you seen them yet?

They look challenging, especially that one with the set-in triangles!  Make sure you go to Sentimental Stitches to see her tips on making the blocks!  Good Luck!

Deb & Tina -- still waiting to see pictures of your finished blocks . . .

Marci's 2nd half of the January blocks

It took me awhile, but I finally finished blocks 7 -11. 

I think they turned out OK.  My fan looks pretty good, although the 2 outermost blades are bigger than the rest.  I think that's because none of my patterns are printing out big enough -- all of my 1" lines are closer to 7/8".  I've got to figure out how to print them differently.  I didn't paper piece the one block that was supposed to be for that very reason.  I winged it on the house block, too, and it came out pretty good -- just the triangle part of the roof is a little small, and the block is a little shy of 9-1/2", but I should be able to make it up in the seam allowance.

Whew!  Now that those are out of the way it's time to tackle the next set (good thing there's only 2 blocks, since next week is the 15th already!)  I'm still debating whether or not I'm going to paper-piece these.  I may do the flying geese square using the Eleanor Burns method from the Underground Railroad book, since I have the ruler . . . I just have to make sure that they turn out the right size.

Your squares look good, Dee . . . it doesn't look like you had much trouble!

p.s. Kris called and my quilt is done . . . picking it up tomorrow!  She said it turned out really good!  I think we're going to Mom's on Sunday -- I'll bring it with me!

Marci's 1st set of blocks

I finally got my first group of blocks done,

and they look pretty good -- even the applique ones!
Now I've got to get busy and finish the 2nd set before the next patterns come out on Wednesday . . .

Tina & Deb -- Where are pictures of yours??

Marci's "Just Takes 2" Fabrics

So, my package finally arrived from Paducah . . . and I wasn't crazy about the fabric I picked.

It's a nice fabric and I like it, but it's just a little more "blue" than I was looking for . . . especially the little rose shapes.  The picture above is actually the "wrong side" of the fabric, which is a little more muted, but still not quite what I was looking for.  I can use it for the back, though, and a set of pillowcases.

So, before Nick's basketball game today, I stopped in at Monarch Quilts in Brighton (nice quilt shop) to see what batiks they had.  I found a really nice one, in just the color I was looking for . . . of course it was a brand-new fabric, so I paid $12 a yard!  I like it though, and I saved enough on the rest of the fabric to balance it out . . . and I can finally get started on the blocks!

Some of those blocks in the 2nd set look really tricky -- especially the fan block -- we'll have to look at that one together!

Mystery Quilt for 2012

See that button on the sidebar, girls??  [Just Takes 2]  Well, if you click on it, you'll go to a website that tells you about a mystery quilt block-of-the-month that is being put on by two quilting blogs, Sentimental Stiches (which happens to be in Grand Rapids) and Dear Jane.  I've added both of their blogs to our reading list, too.

You buy your own fabric - just 2 colors - and then every month you get 2 patterns for a section of the mystery quilt - one from each blog.  Since I'm finishing up my quilt like Mom's this weekend (got the rows done, now I just need to put them together), and Paducah just sent out that 15% off coupon, I decided it was the perfect time to start something new. 

So . . . I'm going with brown and aqua (found some clearance fabrics on Paducah's website, and just ordered it) . . . anybody want to join me???