Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

[Harmony]

Latest on the project: I spent a whole evening looking at this block, and discovered it to be way different than what I thought. I had the block figured one way (following the color pattern instead of the block pattern) with a half block around the edge...but I got it figured out now. I've been cutting out the pieces, after making templates, and now have 274 pieces cut out.

[Nancy]

I did some knitting on Sun. have 1/2 ball of yarn left to do on my current project.

[Harmony]

All 444 pieces are cut out. Yikes that was a bunch of work. I had to buy another rotary cutter; the one I have does not have blades to fit; I got one but it is just a few mm too small. So, I got one to fit the replacement blade DD gave me at Christmastime. So now I have a new cutter and an extra blade to use.

I have 3 of my blocks put together now. Slow going. I have never had lessons and have only done really easy blocks so far. This is a bit more involved. But the last block went much faster so I am learning. Most of the points are right where I want them. A couple are only off a hair. I know I'll get better as I go along.

DH thinks I am too nit-picky! Well, I guess that's what piecing is all about, right?

I get all tensed up when I'm sewing. My back is a bit sore. Does this happen to you, too, Nancy?

[Nancy]

Harmony Yea on your progress! Yes, that happens to me, when I do any one thing too long sewing, cutting etc. So I've had to break things in to smaller segments of time.

I finished up the white prayer shawl that I've been knitting up since before the holidays.

I finished a puppet today that one was striped and have started another one in an orange mulity color and it's now done; the next one is cream color and brown I've knit up the main part of the body of this one. It's fun to have different color for this puppet projects. I think they are going to go for grand kids long car trip this summer.

[Harriet]

Yes, piecing is very much about getting the points to match better and better. It's fun to watch yourself progress with a new block. I remember I would magnet a block I was proud of to the refrigerator. Everyone knew to compliment those! LOL! I would recommend taking a walk between blocks, or at each half-hour. Something like that. Roll your shoulders, do neck rolls. Make sure you are not forgetting your water at this time when your back may be more tense.

[Sunny]

It's so nice to hear that others have been progressing well with all their projects. I've had to get a magnifying lens to attach to my sewing machine. Now I hope to finish the stitching on dgd14's quilt and get the binding on. This project has been in limbo for too long and I'm anxious to have it done.

Ddil#2 brought her wall hanging that dgd17 has made for her. Her dnana (ddil's dmom) has been teaching her sewing for the last few years. She did not use a pattern, but designed this and stitched it by hand, working on it in her room when her dmom was not at home!

Pictures from 2011 570 (300x169).jpg

Pictures from 2011 571 (300x169).jpg

Pictures from 2011 572 (169x300).jpg

This is Kennedy, 17 years old. She is a bit shy and doesn't always like her picture taken!

[sherinjoy]

Thank you Sunny for posting the pictures of your darling Dgd17's beautiful flag project. I'm very impressed with the quality and design. Hand-stitched - oh my! Her Grandma's must be very proud.

[Harriet]

Hand piecing is almost a completely different art than mine, but I certainly do admire it and I've had enjoyment of it sometimes, when traveling, sitting at hospitals, or when part of a quilt pattern was so complicated that it was the best choice.

Hand piecing of hexagons is advanced, time-consuming hand sewing but is supposed to be very calming. Some seamstresses call it "English Piecing", especially if they used paper templates. Looking at the white fabrics, I can see how correct your dgd's sewing and pressing has been. Can just catch a glimpse of the seam allowances, all so perfect. She must be very happy to have made such a keepsake for her mother.

She's also a very pretty young lady. Delightful to think she accomplished this in quiet!

[Harmony]

Wow, that is beautiful, Sunny! She must be proud.

There is something seriously wrong with the pattern I'm using. I'm not experienced enough to figure out just what.

Pattern pieces match up just right with the pattern in the book. I test each one and tweak if I have to (never more than 1/16" of inch) before sewing. I lay out each block like the diagram. I've measured my 1/4" seam allowance. Perfect! I'm getting my points just right.

Pattern says block size is 16". Nope, mine turns out to be 11 1/2". I've gone over the picture in the book, counting the different pieces and I've cut out the exact number; so their count is just like the picture is. I have the top row sewed together. Going by this, I'm going to end up with 52" wide with the borders. Who knows how much the length will be off. It's supposed to be 72" by 88" according to the book.

1/4 of this (supposed to be) 16" block is 4 blocks, 2 squares and 4 triangles made into 2 squares. Now wouldn't the 4 triangle / 2 squares be the same finished size? They're not, the squares are always a little bigger. Plus, wouldn't the finished size of each be a 4" square? 2 4" sqs. across would be 8", 1/4 of finished square. They're not, they are not even 6" square.

Ok, I realize this is hard to picture. But I can't see anything I'm doing wrong. I guess I'll just continue on like I am and I'll have to put a couple borders on, but who knows what I'll do about the length. I haven't even figured that out yet.

[Harriet]

My first thought is that this is not a very accurate pattern. If you have a pattern that says it makes a 16-inch block but the block is coming out closer to 12, it sounds to me as though the "16 inch" in the description is an error. (They're not showing a border around each block that is yet to be added, are they? I wouldn't think so. I think you are making a quilt without any kind of sashing or separation of the blocks.)

Everything you've done sounds like ideal double-checking to me.

The good news is that blocks ONLY need to match each other, not anything else. Of course, the bad news is that it takes more small blocks than large blocks to make the same size quilt. For easy math, 30 12-inch blocks make a 60 by 72-inch quilt center, so assuming yours would be a little less than that, 8 inches of border width would bring it up to about the size quilt you wanted, and that would look very balanced with the quilt center, I think. Or, you could make the same number of blocks you planned and just use sashing between all the blocks, which would be a little easier, and quite pretty, but wouldn't look the way you thought the quilt was going to look.