Stonefields Blocks 20 and 21-23: "O is for Oscar"

Good Morning, my lovelies!  I have had extra motivation to finish these quilt blocks and share them with you as quickly as possible -- in order to bump the butt photos of my jeans alteration post off the landing page of my blog.  And also, these blocks are cuties!  Quick disclaimer, this post contains affiliate links.  And now, meet "O is for Oscar," blocks 21-23 of the Stonefields Quilt pattern designed by Susan Smith:

Stonefields "O is for Oscar" Blocks 21, 22 and 23

As usual, (for me, anyway) the most time consuming part was selecting fabrics for each block.  However, that's also the most enjoyable part -- picking out one or two new Tilda acquisitions and then digging out treasures from the scrap bin or a fat quarter from my Deep Stash to coordinate, knowing that even though I'm making the same quilt from the same pattern many others are using, mine will be uniquely mine because of the fabric mix.  And it is so satisfying to step back and look at the finished blocks that you imagined in the beginning and then stitched into being.  

I stitched these blocks like an assembly line, since they were three the same.  I cut out all the pieces and organized them on my design wall, then took the pieces down and lined them up next to my sewing machine for chain piecing all of the blocks at once.  Below, the block backgrounds have been sewn together and pressed and the appliqué circles are ready to be positioned on the block.  I used one of Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circle templates with the starch and press method to get my circles so round and smooth.  Even if I'm needle turning all of the other raw appliqué edges  in a block as I'm stitching, I'll always use a Perfect Circle template to preturn the edges of circles because they turn out so much better for me that way.  Hats off to the quilters of the 19th century who had no choice but to needle turn their circles because heat resistant plastic templates hadn't yet been invented!

Machine Pieced Blocks, Prepared Circle Appliqués Ready to Go

Susan Smith's (very minimal!) instructions for the Stonefields quilt assume that makers will be hand piecing their blocks and needle turning all of their appliqué.  For this block, there was a note about sewing the circles to each of the square patches before piecing the rest of the block together, which made me scratch my head a bit as I couldn't figure out why that would be advantageous.  I felt it would be easier to keep things straight and square and positioned properly if I pieced the block first and added my circles last, so that's what I did.  

First Attempt at Back Waist Jeans Alterations: The Double Dart Method

 I am so sorry to subject you all to this, but instead of pretty quilts we will be looking at pictures of my butt today.  Seriously.  Because one of my sewing goals last month was to finally, after sewcrastinating for over two years, attempt to alter some ready to wear jeans that were too big in the waist.  I DID ONE!  So now I need to write down how I did it and what I am thinking about doing differently next time, before I forget.  There will be quilty goodness in my next blog post, I promise, but today there is nothing but an alterations brain dump and a lot of butt pictures.  Well, let's get on with it!

Behold, the Booty Darts and the Altered Waist Band!

Completed Back Waist Jeans Alteration, 2.5 Inches Taken In, Dart Method

In true Rebecca form, I have spent hours pouring over various online tutorials for this alteration, agonizing over the pros and cons of each method to the point of paralysis.  So, when I saw that a local fabric and yarn shop was offering a Beginner Alterations class specifically on altering jeans by taking in the back waist and hemming the length, I decided this was just what I needed to get me over the sometimes insurmountable hurdle of task initiation.  If you're local to Charlotte, this class is offered regularly at Stash Charlotte and the instructor is wonderful, teaching methods that are definitely approachable for beginners and suitable for pretty much any domestic sewing machine, no specialized equipment or accessories required.  Class size is limited to four students and it's taught "lab style," each student working on their own alteration with plenty of guidance from the instructor.  Stash Charlotte is a Janome dealer and they provide machines for students to use in the class, but I brought my Bernina 475QE with me because I wanted to focus on learning the alteration without having to also adapt to an unfamiliar sewing machine.