After two weeks vacationing in the West (Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks plus a quick visit with my youngest sister in Victoria, B.C.), I'm steadily working towards catching up with myself at home. One of the first tasks is to make the eighth block for Little Bunny Quilts QCQAL (follow the link to her instructions) -- Kansas Troubles. When it began to rain last evening, my plan to spend the evening weeding the front flower beds changed into studio time.
A few minutes with the calculator and I discovered I can use Marti Michell's Set A for cutting most of the pieces for this 12" block.
I love that the small square (A #5)and the triangles (A #6) can be cut from the same strip!
When I cut the triangles, I layered up 4 strips -- paired with right sides together so they will be ready to stitch when I get to the machine.
I don't have a template for the largest triangle, so I used Alison's measurement (6 7/8") to cut two squares. Rather than cut a strip, I doubled the fabric and used a 9 1/2" square ruler to cut two slightly larger squares.
Then I rotated the ruler 180 degrees and matched the 6 7/8" lines on the first cuts. I find this gives me more consistent and perfect squares -- cut on two sides, rotate, and cut the remaining two sides.
To trim the corners, I used one of the triangle templates as a trimmer. Remember, trimming eliminates bulk and it's easier to do now.
To the machine and the triangle sets were together quickly. Time to audition for the final layout! Do I want each group of triangles to match? Wait a minute -- where's the center triangle? Guess I didn't cut it -- back to the cutting table.
Mmmmm -- not sure I like this.
How about the light?
Maybe? And what if I scramble up the colors of the triangles sets? Yes, I think I like that.
But I'm not sure I like the big black triangle. What if I reverse the two prints?
Since I couldn't decide quickly, I went to bed. Hopefully, today when I get to the studio, it will all fall into place?!?! And I'll take another look at whether I want to do this block in the 6" size -- those triangle sets need to be 3/4" finished -- that's small!!
Still raining here, so I'll be in the studio sooner today -- just a couple hours of office work to do.
I need to get back into the working groove this week and love all the inspiration I get with the WIP Wednesday "link-up" over at Freshly Pieced.
Enjoy your day!
Mary Huey
Thursday -- Addendum, addendum, addendum -- the block is finished!! I changed the medium size triangle fabric and used the white background for the large triangle.
I love it when all the pieces fit perfectly!! So good to have my 1/4" nailed after all these years!!
And I'm happy with the finished results! Only 4 more blocks to go!!
I was right -- when I went back to it, everything fell into place . . . . . again!
The fabrics really work so well in those blocks.
ReplyDeletethanks, Mom -- I finished the block and am amending the post to include the final pic!
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