If you're looking for this week's blocks, Katie has them at Lady Fortune's Wheel.
Monday, April 20, 2015
#BFTPqal and Teacher Appreciation
This week, instead of doing my #BFTPqal blocks, I'll be finishing up some cute little apples for Teacher Appreciation Week. Here's a little preview -- I'll have more information a little later this week on how I made them and what we did for Teacher Appreciation Week last week. Apples for DAAAAYYYYYYYSSSSSS....
If you're looking for this week's blocks, Katie has them at Lady Fortune's Wheel.
If you're looking for this week's blocks, Katie has them at Lady Fortune's Wheel.
Monday, April 13, 2015
#BFTPqal - pages 35, 36, & 75
Wahoo -- I'm not a pirate any more! I do have a couple more things to do for this week's Teacher Appreciation Week, but after that I feel like I'll be free at last!
I started with the Indiana Rose block on page 75, and I think it's just so pretty -- don't you? I lined up my little star center first, using the old fold-the-background-fabric-in-half-both-ways-diagonally method, then layered the yellow and coral parts underneath, and ironed it all down one at a time. It went pretty quick, and I absolutely love this color combination!
The next block I did was Broken Dishes, on page 35. This one I did using the half-square triangle method where you put a piece of painter's tape on your machine 1/4" away from your needle (I lined mine up with the 1/4" foot and a ruler on my extension table to make it super straight) and then you feed your squares into the machine, keeping the diagonal points on the painter's tape. I sewed all my squares like this, then flipped them over and did the same thing on the opposite side of the block, so there was a 1/2" space in between the two seams, with the center of the block in the middle.
{If you need a better explanation of this, with video tutorial, please see Camille Roskelley's blog post on the subject.}
For these blocks, I used ten 2 1/2" square of each color, starched them really good and pressed them with the seams open, then trimmed them each to 1 1/2".
A little trick I used to make all the lines on the brown fabric go up & down, I lined up the blocks as I was sewing with half of the lines going towards the right, and half of them going towards the left. I used two finished squares of each type in each block, so they all came out going straight-ish up!
The last block, Old Maid's Puzzle from page 36, I did waaay different than I've done in the past. I decided I didn't want to paper-piece the little corner pieces, because I didn't want to have to mark my papers so much, and with such teensy pieces. So, instead I made half-square triangles, just like the Broken Dishes block, and starched them like crazy before I pressed them open. I know there are a lot of quilters who abhor open seams, but I really have to do it on these teeny tiny blocks or nothing matches up.
I figured I'd need 7/8" finished pieces for the dark & white sections, so I cut my squares at 2", and then cut them down to 1 3/8". I also cut six 2" white squares for the setting triangles, and cut them in half, and used two 3 1/2" squares of the blue, cut in half.
I started with the Indiana Rose block on page 75, and I think it's just so pretty -- don't you? I lined up my little star center first, using the old fold-the-background-fabric-in-half-both-ways-diagonally method, then layered the yellow and coral parts underneath, and ironed it all down one at a time. It went pretty quick, and I absolutely love this color combination!
The next block I did was Broken Dishes, on page 35. This one I did using the half-square triangle method where you put a piece of painter's tape on your machine 1/4" away from your needle (I lined mine up with the 1/4" foot and a ruler on my extension table to make it super straight) and then you feed your squares into the machine, keeping the diagonal points on the painter's tape. I sewed all my squares like this, then flipped them over and did the same thing on the opposite side of the block, so there was a 1/2" space in between the two seams, with the center of the block in the middle.
{If you need a better explanation of this, with video tutorial, please see Camille Roskelley's blog post on the subject.}
For these blocks, I used ten 2 1/2" square of each color, starched them really good and pressed them with the seams open, then trimmed them each to 1 1/2".
A little trick I used to make all the lines on the brown fabric go up & down, I lined up the blocks as I was sewing with half of the lines going towards the right, and half of them going towards the left. I used two finished squares of each type in each block, so they all came out going straight-ish up!
The last block, Old Maid's Puzzle from page 36, I did waaay different than I've done in the past. I decided I didn't want to paper-piece the little corner pieces, because I didn't want to have to mark my papers so much, and with such teensy pieces. So, instead I made half-square triangles, just like the Broken Dishes block, and starched them like crazy before I pressed them open. I know there are a lot of quilters who abhor open seams, but I really have to do it on these teeny tiny blocks or nothing matches up.
I figured I'd need 7/8" finished pieces for the dark & white sections, so I cut my squares at 2", and then cut them down to 1 3/8". I also cut six 2" white squares for the setting triangles, and cut them in half, and used two 3 1/2" squares of the blue, cut in half.
After everything was prepared, I sewed the squares and setting triangles into rows, and cut off the excess from the setting triangle to make a straight line at the bottom of each row.
Then I sewed the rows together.
When I was all done, I aligned the square corners in a corner on my cutting mat, and lined up my ruler so there was a 1/4" seam allowance away from the points of my dark triangles.
Then I sewed the two triangle parts together, and trimmed the block down to 3 1/8".
Finally, I cut four white strips and one coral square. I put everything together, and lucky me -- it turned out pretty close to 6 1/2" square!
I sure did enjoy having my blocks turn out just as pretty as I'd planned them -- I guess it's the curse of being the oldest child, but I just LOVE being right! :)
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Argh
Nope, I'm not a pirate -- I'm just doing a mean impersonation of one lately. I've got a few too many balls in the air, and this blog fell down. :( I'm crossing a couple of things off my list next week, though, so hopefully I'll be back on track with #BFTPqal and regularly scheduled posts by then!
Until then, the blog post for last week's #BFTPqal is up at my friend Barbie's blog, The Quilting Mill.
And the blog post for this week's #BFTPqal is up at my friend Tiffany's blog, Sewin' somethin'.
Next week will be Maggie at Shortcookie.
And after that I hope to be back on track!!
Until then, the blog post for last week's #BFTPqal is up at my friend Barbie's blog, The Quilting Mill.
And the blog post for this week's #BFTPqal is up at my friend Tiffany's blog, Sewin' somethin'.
Next week will be Maggie at Shortcookie.
And after that I hope to be back on track!!