Monday, November 30, 2009

Block 24

A much saner block for us this week.

This one is composed of 2 elements; which should all be our friends by now.  In the centre is a square-in-a-square, on the corners are 9-patches, and in the middle is paper-pieced flying geese.  The flying geese do not conform to the standard flying geese, they're a little squished (or stretched depending on your perspective) so the angle is not 45 degrees.  This means that the regular methods won't work, so I'm using paper-piecing.

Here is everything set out and ready to go.

Here are the elements set out.  Now, we've got another 9-patch to assemble.

And tada!  Another block finished!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Block 17

While this block may have a lot of pieces, there is nothing tricky.  So, don't let all the pieces intimidate you.

My advice on this block is to mark up the line diagram with the colour/fabric for each piece and refer to is as you go along.  (Even doing that, I had to rip a few and flip things as this block progressed)

Here they are all laid out and ready to go.  Though without the outer flying geese border.  Not sure how that happened.

Here I've done the flying geese on the borders and started on the hour-glass blocks.  I tend to cut triangles a little larger and trim down.  If you're looking at this one, yes, for some reason they are a little bigger than expected.  Oh well, easy to trim down and better too big than too small.

Here are the hour-glass blocks finished and trimmed down to size.

Now it's just assembly.  I treated this one like a mini quilt and assembled in in rows.  (Yes, there are a few blocks out of place in this photo, fortunately I caught it later).  When pressing, I pressed towards the plain blocks (the 1-patches).  This was the easier side to press towards and it made sure than the seams will nest nicely when attaching the rows.

Here the rows are attached and the block done!

I hope you all have a great week.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Block 54

This block was a bit of a pain for me.  I should have followed my first instincts, but oh well.  You can learn from my mistakes! :)

The line diagram in my book was a little off.  I figured I could fudge the measurements...  That might have worked if I was more consistent in where I took the measurements.  Eventually I ended up re-drawing this block and making sure things lined up.  After that, it was a dream.

Here is everything laid out and ready to go.  The little pile to the side are the flying geese.

Here's our next step with the centre 9-patch completed.  The flying geese in place and the outer triangles attached to the white strip.  I realize that the white strip will be a point in the final block but I find it easier to cut a longer rectangle and then trim things down when the block is all sewn together.

Here is the centre assembled, it was put together as a 9-patch.

Then the next border added.

And finally the outer border added and the block trimmed down.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Block 85

This week's block is not too bad.  Lots of practice available for square-in-a-square and 1/2 square triangles.

The only tricky thing is that middle 1/2 square triangle.  If you look at the pattern, you'll see that the middle triangle of each side of the outside border is a rectangle!  Not a square!  Sadly, I didn't see that until a little later, but I was able to cheat and avoid re-doing those squares.  Since I cut my squares 1" bigger than the finished size instead of 7/8" that proved to be enough wiggle room to cut the rectangles out of the same pieces I cut the squares from.  (Does this make sense??)

Anyways...

Here is everything set out and ready to go.

Here is everything with the 1/2 square triangles sewn and trimmed.  Notice the narrower middle triangles but also note that the sewing line still runs from corner to corner.  I also started the square-in-a-square merry-go-round for the centre.

Here the triangles are sewn for the outer border and you can see the square-in-a-square continues for the centre.

Here the square-in-a-square-in-a-square-in-a.... centre is finished.

And tada!  Our next block is finished!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Block 32

Our block this week is a fun one with lots of 1/2 square triangles.

Here is the block set out and ready to go.  The small piles of squares are the 1/2 square triangles in the making.

Here is everything once the 1/2 square triangles have been created.

I done 4 sets of 4-patches in the centre.  Added the corner squares for the middle border.  And attached the triangle for the outer border.

Here is the centre completed.  (Assembled as another 4-patch)

Now the middle border has been added.

Finally the outer border added to complete our next block.