Block 3

Well, hopefully we're back to our regularly scheduled blocks...

Here is everything set out for this week's blocks.  On the side are two piles, one for 1/2 square triangles and the other for flying geese.

Here are things with the flying geese and 1/2 square triangles.  Plus, I've done the centre square-in-a-square.

Now the white border has been added to the centre square-in-a-square.  I've attached the 1/2 square triangles to the flying geese in the next border and attached the red triangles to the squares for the outer border.  (Yes, I'm a fan of chain piecing as much as possible...)

Now I've added the middle border.

And then the outer border finishes off the block.

Block 46

hmmm. A week late or a day early. I'm choosing a day early. :)

I started off this block with a few flying geese. Then I set things out. I chose to do this block with just two fabrics because I really like the red one but it would be stunning in different colours and fabrics.

Here it is with the centre Ohio star assembled. (It was assembled just like a 9-patch).

Here is the first border attached. If you notice the pattern is courthouse steps. I first attached the opposite short strips. Then centered and attached the longer strips. Since we're dealing with fairly narrow borders, I cut each one slightly larger and then squared up each block to the correct size for each border.

Do the same things for the next border.

And the next one, and the next one, etc....

Until you have your finished block!

Block 97

It appears that things will be a little crazy for a while longer.  For the next couple of weeks I'm still doing blocks but they may not be posted on Sunday.

Another edge piece for us this week.  Once again, there are two ways to make the block.  Either make a square and cut it in half diagonally, or include that extra seam allowance by making two triangles.

First, the square....

Here is everything cut, laid out, and ready to go.

In this shot, I've added the triangles to the corner squares, attached the posts in the middle border, and completed the centre square-in-a-square.

Here I've attached the middle border.

And finally, another square-in-a-square completes the block!

For this one, I switched the values up a little and have medium where the light was in the previous block.

Here everything is cut and ready to go.

I've made the centre flying geese, attached the posts to the middle border, and attached the triangles in the outer border.

Now I've attached the middle border.

And finally the outer border.

Which ever way you prefer to make the edges, we have another block completed.

Block 65

Here is our next block.  A little late, but not because it was a tough block.  Life has been a little crazy lately, but it appears that it's going back to normal now.  Yeah!!

Here I've set everything out all cut and ready to go.

I did a fair amount in this first round.  If you notice in the two outer rounds, I attached the triangles to the centre strips.  I attached the posts to the rectangles in the middle round.  Plus I did the centre square-in-a-square.

After that, things slow down a little.  In this picture, I did the next square-in-a-square.

Then I added the middle border.

Then we're back to square-in-a-square for our next round.  If you noticed in the pictures, I cut my triangles slightly larger (that extra 1/8 inch for the squares) and cut the centre strips as rectangles.  After I put everything together, that is when I trimmed things up to make a square and give those white strips the point on the one end.  It's just easier this way then fussing with the original cutting.

And finally, one more square-in-a-square and trim up the block and you're done!

Block 31

A quick and simple start to our second half of the quilt...

I started off with the 1/2 square triangles and then set out the pieces for the full block.

With my aversion to curvy rows, I tackled this block as two sets of 4-patches.  Here we are after the first set.

And after the second set....

Our 50th block is done!

Block 58

Our next block and the half way point!

I've started off with the 1/2 square triangles.  Once I did the triangles, I set everything out.

I then tackled the middle and the corners.  For the middle I put the pile of squares together in little 4-patches.  For the corners, I added the remaining triangles and trimmed the edges.

Then I put the little 4-patches together into a larger 4-patch (or 16 patch).  When I'm doing lots of pieces like this and they work out in even multiples of 4 I prefer to do them as 4-patches instead of rows because I've got that whole curved row problem going on in my piecing.

I've now added the middle border.

And finally the outer corners to make up our 49th block!  (hmmm.  Maybe should have saved block 49 for this one? :)

Block 27

Since we were having so much fun with Y-seams last week, I figured we could continue the practice.

This block is a little simpler than last week's but basically the same construction.  Here is everything a laid out and ready to go.

First I attached the parallelograms.  I pressed towards the dark for this star.  It doesn't really matter except that you want to be consistent so that your seams stay out of the way.

I then sewed the quarters into halves and then the halves into a star.  Then onto the Y-seams.

First I did the outside corners.

Then the middles.  The order really doesn't matter.  (I just like the optical illusion that forms when you do the corners first.  Yup, I'm a geek)  Finally, you wind up with our next block finished.

I was counting blocks the other day.  Next week's block puts us at the half way mark for this quilt! 

I hope everyone has a great week.