As usual, things have been busy this week. The kids had Monday off school due to our Family Day Holiday. That was nice for them but of course it meant less time for me to sew. I did manage to sew up two blocks on the weekend. The kids know that they aren't supposed to be in my quilting room but that never happens. So of course Brianna was in the room the whole time I was sewing. It took me three times as long to sew those two blocks as it normally would have while she made pictures with my pins in my pincushion and asked questions. She also played with my small basket of scraps. Either way, when I looked at the next block, I was nervous about putting it together with her distracting me so I put it off until Tuesday when she was back at school.
It took me the whole day to put together Corn and Beans and I hated it. It was not a happy finish as I lost just about every point in the block. When I was finished I redrew the block on graph paper and rethought it. I ended up dividing it into a simple nine patch. Now, although I ended up with a couple of seams in spots where they don't show in the book, I also ended up with nice points. If you want to put it together more like book, please feel free but mine was a disaster.
Wednesday I worked on stuff for Rhylee. They have this Marketplace thing that they do at his school and this month was his class' turn. We had fun getting it all together but that took the whole day of course. Thursday was when I actually resewed Corn and Beans and that is early dismissal and Tae Kwon Do and then this morning I did up the last block for this week and now I am typing up the instructions.
We will see how the next week goes. Rhylee has a Tae Kwon Do competition tomorrow and the kids have Thursday and Friday off school next week due to our Teacher's Convention. I am two blocks behind my schedule right now but there are three blocks on the schedule for next week so if I can get five blocks sewn up this week I will be caught up to my plan.
Other than that, I have two photos to share from Mom. First we have Whirlpool:
And we also have Whirlwind:
Mom says that she is feeling very comfortable with HSTs now. It sure looks like that is the case since she has gotten a fair number put together. It's nice to hear too since she was quite nervous about HSTs when I tried to explain them to her back in July. Now she is sewing them up with confidence. Great job Mom!
The first block we do up this week will be the second block from week 27 and the three blocks from week 28.
So our first block is Block #53 - Jackknife.
Cut two 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" raspberry squares.Cut two 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" grey squares.
Cut two 3" x 3" raspberry squares.
Cut two 3" x 3" grey squares.
Cut four 1 1/2" x 1/2" raspberry squares.
Cut four 1 1/2" x 1/2" grey squares.
Cut one 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" raspberry squares.
Place one 3 1/2" raspberry square RST with one 3 1/2" grey square and make it into an HST. Repeat for the other 3 1/2" raspberry/grey pair. Slice this HST perpendicular to your stitch line. Place the triangles RST so that the colours alternate. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side, making QSTs. Trim to 2 1/2" square.
Next place one 3" raspberry square RST with one 3" grey square and make it into an HST. Repeat for the other 3" raspberry/grey pair. Trim to 2 1/2" square. Place one of the small raspberry squares RST in the grey corner of this HST. Draw a line diagonally across the raspberry square. Sew directly on the line and trim off 1/4" from your stitch line. Place one of the small grey squares RST in the raspberry corner of this HST. Draw a line diagonally across the grey square. Sew directly on the line and trim off 1/4" from your stitch line. Repeat for the other three HSTs.
Organize your pieces the way you want them to look.
Once again we have a basic nine patch to put together, as we have done so many times before.
And our first block for this week is finished!
Our first block for week 28 and the first block for this week is Block #7 - Birds in the Air.
Cut six 2" x 2" pink squares.Cut six 2" x 2" brown squares.
Cut six 2" x 2" brown squares. Cut these on the diagonal.
Cut two 4" x 4" pink squares. Cut these on the diagonal.
Place one of the pink squares RST with one of the brown squares. Make this pairing into HSTs. Repeat for the other five pink/brown squares.
Organize your pieces the way you want them to look.
Place one brown triangle RST with one HST so that the corner of the triangle matches up with the corner of HST. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat with another triangle/HST pair. Place one HST RST with an HST/triangle pair, sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Take the other HST/triangle pair and place another triangle in the next corner so that the corner's match. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Lastly, place the brown/pink triangle RST with the brown/pink strip, sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other sets until you have four pink/brown triangles.
Place one pink triangle RST with a pink/brown triangle. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other three triangle pairs. Trim your squares to 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".
You now have a basic four patch to put together. Once this is done, you have finished your next block for this week.
This is the block I had so much trouble with. These instructions are for the method that I used and was happy with. The seams are a bit different than the book shows but I do have points so I am okay with it.
With that, the next block is Block #22 - Corn and Beans.
Cut fourteen 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" blue squares.Cut two 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" grey squares.
Cut four 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" grey rectangles.
Cut four 2" x 2" blue squares.
Cut two 2" x 2" red squares.
Cut two 2" x 2" grey squares.
Cut four 2" x 2" red squares. Cut these on the diagonal.
Cut two 2 7/8" x 2 7/8" blue squares. Cut these on the diagonal.
Place one 2" blue square RST with a 2" grey square and make it into HSTs. Repeat with another 2" blue/grey pair. Place one 2" blue square RST with a 2" red square and make it into an HST. Repeat with another 2" blue/red pair. Trim these HSTs to 1 1/2" square.
Take two of the 1 1/2" blue squares and two of the 1 1/2" grey squares and sew them into a four patch.
Take one of the 1 1/2" blue squares and place it RST on the end of a grey rectangle. Draw a line diagonally across the square and sew directly on the line. Trim of the little triangle 1/4" from your seam line, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other three grey rectangles. Next place another 1 1/2" blue square on the opposite end of the grey rectangle, draw a line diagonally across the square and sew directly on the line. Trim of the little triangle 1/4" from your seam line, set the seam and press to one side.
Place one red triangle in RST with a red/blue HST so that the corners match. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the three other red/blue HSTs.
Place one blue 1 1/2" square RST with a blue/grey HST, sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other three blue/grey HST and blue square pairs.
Place the other red triangle RST with an HST/triangle pair. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other three HST/triangle sets.
Place one flying goose set RST with a blue square and blue/grey HST. Make sure they are oriented properly. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side.
Place one blue triangle RST with a red/blue triangle. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side.
Now you have a basic nine patch to put together again.
And with that, Corn and Beans is put together with points intact!
Now, this is my good version. All of my points are intact and things are lined up nice and neatly. Even though there is the extra seams from the four patch in the centre, I am happy. Below is a picture of the two blocks. The block I am happy with is on the left and the block I am not happy with is on the right. Just about every point is gone. I started with a QST in the centre and then stitched triangles together, sewed them on, then added the grey triangles and then another strip of the blue/red triangles and finally the big blue triangles. The little triangles had to get sewn on the bias and there was no way to trim so everything ended up all wonky. Not happy. So much happier with the one on the left.
If anyone else can manage to put it together with only the seams the book shows, I would be happy to see it. In the meantime, I am happy with my results.
Now for our last block this week. This one went together from math to completion in slightly over half an hour.
Our last block for this week is Block #30 - End of Day.
Cut two 2 3/8" x 2 3/8" orange squares. Cut these on the diagonal.Cut two 2 3/8" x 2 3/8" blue squares. Cut these on the diagonal.
Cut four 2" x 3 7/8" blue rectangles.
Cut four 2" x 3 7/8" purple rectangles.
Place one orange triangle RST with a blue rectangle so that the right angle corners line up. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Watch your orientation. Now place one blue triangle RST with a purple rectangle so that the right angle corners line up. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Watch the orientation of your triangles again.
Place one blue rectangle/orange triangle set RST with a purple rectangle/blue triangle set. Line your ruler up so that it goes from the corner of the triangle to the top corner of the rectangle. Once trimmed it should look like the triangle in the top right corner of the picture to the right. Sew a 1/4" seam, set the seam and press to one side. Repeat for the other three sets.
Organize your pieces the way you want them to look and you have a simple four patch to put together.
With that you have completed the last block for this week. While Corn and Beans was a fight to put together, End of Day was a snap.
This would actually be a good block use in a quilt as an alternating block of one colour and then the opposite but since I only had to do one I did it this way. I am really happy with all of my points though.
I hope that everything goes together well for you. I am looking forward to seeing pictures from everyone else.
I hope you all have a good week. I am hoping to get five blocks put together over the next week so that I get caught back up to where my plan has us. We'll see!
Tara
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