Jingle Pieced Block No. 6 Completed -- Last Block! ...Or Is It?

Jingle Pieced Block No. 6 Completed

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment here or to email me privately with advice and suggestions pertaining to my 54-40 or Fight Alternate Pieced Block.  I really appreciate all of the different perspectives and opinions.  As you can see, I finally completed the last of the pieced blocks in the official Jingle lineup today with Pieced Block No. 6, above.  You can find all of the patterns and instructions for this projects on Erin Russek's blog here.
So, as you can see, I used the same ivory and gold background for this block as I did on my 54-40 or Fight block.  The block I didn't like is the one with all the flying geese that I have stuck off to the side by itself.  Now I only have 4 blocks with that other large curlique cream and gold background print.  I also used more of the strong emerald green fabric in this block, and I REALLY like how this latest block came out.  It's one of my favorites!


All 16 Jingle Blocks Completed -- Plus An Extra

As I look at it all on the design wall now, and especially looking at the pictures (why is it so much easier to evaluate things in pictures versus standing in front of the wall in real life?), there are a few little tweaks I'd like to make to some of the remaining blocks.  Specifically, I'm thinking about swapping the corner triangles on the top LEFT block with the corner triangles on the bottom RIGHT block.  Then there's that TOP right block, the one that I agonized over fussy-cutting all of the outer triangles from my print.  Erin's pattern called for that to be a green fabric, and I think I would have liked that one better if I had followed her recommendations more closely.  I absolutely cannot bear to take that block apart after I worked so hard on it, so I think I might replace that with a totally different block as well.  All of my favorite blocks for this quilt look like stars or crosses on pointe, which I love aesthetically and thematically for this quilt since it's a Christmas project.

Piecing with Bette, my 1935 Singer Featherweight 221

I pieced this block on Bette, my 1935 Singer Featherweight 221.  Although she has no numbers on her tension dial and no seam allowance markings on her stitch plate, I find that I get really, really nice, accurate piecing seams on this machine once I have my little vintage cloth guide screwed securely into place on the bed of the machine.

Bette the Beauty with her Sassy Red Cloth Power Cord

Bette came to me after having had her original foot controller clumsily rewired with what appeared to be an ugly brown extension cord.  Fortunately, the two-button foot controller and the Bakelite plug that goes into the machine were still original parts.  A bit of research revealed that, based on her serial number, Bette would have been one of the last Featherweights to have originally left the Singer factory with a cloth covered power cord. 

Reproduction Cloth Covered Cord from Snakehead Vintage

So I found this gorgeous black and red houndstooth reproduction cloth covered electrical cord from Snakehead Vintage Electrical Supply and Bernie rewired the foot controller with it for me.  This reproduction cloth cord is used for theatrical purposes and for rewiring all kinds of vintage lamps, fans, and other small appliances.  Inside the cloth covering, the wires are encased in a rubber or plastic coating for safety, but the decorative cloth covering gives it that great early industrial look and is just plain FUN.  To the best of my knowledge, the original cloth covered cord for a Singer Featherweight 221 would have been boring black, but I just couldn't resist "accessorizing" Bette with this snazzy red cord to coordinate with the little red felt spool pad.  Anyway, although I bought this machine several months ago, Bernie didn't get around to finishing the rewiring for me until after Christmas, so this last Jingle block was my first time sewing on this machine.

Any more advice or suggestions for my Jingle blocks?  Now that I have all of the individual blocks done, I'm going to refocus my energy on the large applique medallion that goes in the center of the quilt.  I still have a lot of work to do there, but once the medallion is done I'm going to want to put it up on my design wall with the other blocks to work out the layout and explore options for borders and setting triangles.  Unfortunately, my design wall is not wide enough to accommodate the whole quilt, so I'm scheming to move the shelving unit to the right and expand the design wall to a more practical size.

Meanwhile, timers are going off in the kitchen and it's dinner time for our family.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!