Progress, y'all!!! I've made four more blocks for my Retro Building Blocks sampler quilt this week. New blocks are circled and numbered below.
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| 16 Blocks Finished, 32 Yet To Be Made |
I'm almost out of my Kona Ocean fabric until my order from Missouri Star shows up, so the most recent 5" blocks were selected because they could make use of the itty-bitty scraps I have on hand. I'm at least partially using foundation paper piecing techniques for most of these blocks, but a few of the blocks I chose to mix require good old fashioned template cutting and fussy-fiddly piecing. The orange and blue one numbered 4 in the photo above was one such block.
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| Card Stock Templates Printed from EQ8 |
I think this particular block was one of the historic quilt blocks from the Blockbase add-in for EQ. In any event, it appealed to me because it's an unusual block that I don't see in a lot of quilts, and I liked the challenge of the inset seams. I printed my templates with 1/4" seam allowances and then I used a 1 mm hole punch at each corner along the seam lines. That hole is just big enough to twist a sharpened pencil and make a tiny dot that tells me where to stop and start stitching each short seam.
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| Fiddly Piecing In Progress |
I probably should have gotten out my vintage Featherweight for this, since that machine gives me so much control and precision for inset seams that need to stop and start exactly on a specific point, but it came out just fine on my big 750QE. If I was making a whole quilt full of this block, I'd be using my Featherweight.
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| Getting There... |
The way I pieced this was to join the orange and blue pieces together all the way around the block, except for the final seam that would have made them into a closed circle. Then I stitched the green center to the outer pieces one seam at a time, and sewed the last side seam between orange and blue last.
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| 5 Inch Finished Block |
I will need to fix that little ripple at the top left corner of my green stop sign, or it will bug me. I think the orange patch in the top left corner isn't pressed away from the green fabric properly right there.
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| 5 Inch FInished Block |
This block was more straightforward, but it's not in the original Moda pattern, either. Nor was this one, actually:
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| 5 Inch Finished Block |
Somewhere I know I bookmarked a tutorial where a lovely Australian quilter shows how to put a few hand stitches in the center of a block like this to tighten up the points at the center. It lays nice and flat because I spiraled the seam allowances around the back and opened up the center, but see how the chartreuse points don't quite touch in the center? When I find the tutorial again, I'll fix that, too.
I don't know whether I'll be making any more of these blocks in the coming week, as I've got a vintage quilt for a client to work on as well as a quilt top or two that need to be loaded and quilted. Those are my big To-Do items for this week, the projects for clients. But I feel good about now having 16/48 blocks completed for my quilt. That's 1/3 finished. If I had absolutely nothing else to do with myself, I could get a block done every day... But alas, LIFE, right?! ;-)
I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Home Sewn By Us
WEDNESDAY
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Free Motion Mavericks with Muv and Andree
FRIDAY
Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Covid has made you a very consistent poster. For me that is a small blessing during these times. I love seeing your blog showing up in my mailbox. Seeing quilts you started a while ago getting added to inspires me to continue with many of my long term projects.
ReplyDeleteThis quilt is coming along nicely. I love the colors and seeing the mix as each block is added. The ocean and green give great pops of connection as you build the quilt top. Keep plugging away.
this quilt certainly has a variety of blocks in it to give a person experience with all sorts of sewing I think - won't be too much longer before it is finished?
ReplyDeleteI love your #4 block. And you're right... I don't think I've seen that block before, so it must not be used too often. You definitely are getting experience with the different piecing techniques and designs with this quilt. It's going to be a beauty.
ReplyDeleteHi again, Rebecca! I am having fun watching you complete these blocks for your quilt. I hope when you find that tutorial about hand stitches in the center of the block that you share it with us. I just LOVE that chartreuse fabric - oh heck, all of them look fab and yummy. I look forward to seeing the customer quilts, too - a friend just said they sent off a quilt to you for quilting. Thanks again for linking up this week. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen that block before either, but I do like it. Not sure I'd like piecing it, though! I don't see the little ripple, but I get needing to fix it because you know it's there (been there). I'm really liking this quilt as it's coming along!
ReplyDeleteI do lots of piecing on my featherweight so when you wrote that you do too, I smiled! You can't beat the stitch precision when you are piecing a lot of blocks. I too like block number 4. . .I'm not a set in seam kind of piecer though so I'll admire your block!
ReplyDeleteWow, beautiful!
ReplyDeleteFor 'circling the intersection', check out Linda Franz at www.inklingo.com. She is near Toronto and her specialty is hand piecing. Look under her 'tutes' (and see if Monkey is there) for all kinds of helpful hints.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bright and happy quilt.
ReplyDeleteThat collection of blocks just gets better and better! I love all the solid colors and the variation in sizes of the blocks. I think you did an amazing job with that orange and blue block! I've used templates to cut pieces before and struggle to make the size come out accurately.
ReplyDeleteSlow and steady wins the race! Thanks for joining up with TGIFF.
ReplyDeleteYou're making such great progress on this! Love the blocks you've chosen. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca, I admire your perseverance and attention to detail. Those are blocks that I now just admire and am glad to not feel like I need to prove anything to myself or others! You look like you're enjoying yourself, so good for you :-) Good luck with the client's quilts. Take care.
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