BOM 2014 - A-Z for Ewe and Me

[Annis C.]

We use quilts year round here. With the AC going most of the year it is still cool enough.

I decided to do a practice block of the frayed edges before proceeding with this quilt. After soaking it with water and agitating it with a toothbrush, it still took lots of work with my finger nails to get it to fray and scissors to clean up the edges. The top ones were clipped before washing. I think I like them better. The edges of the appliqués will be really soft once they are frayed. I may put this project on hold for awhile as I really want to make the Spider Web quilt that Gyleen Fitzgerald has in progress. It looks like lots of easy strip-piecing and I have an idea to use my sew-on-the-line paper technique for sewing the units together without cutting them first. So many projects, so little time... The resizing to 125% is working well for me so far. I have the instructions changed for this month and will continue to do that each month so when I do decide to work on the quilt I will be ready. Also that thread shrinks when it gets wet. It took lots of ironing to stretch it back while it was still wet. I will probably use a stabilizer under the rest of the appliqués, especially since I'm using a glue stick instead of fusible to hold them in place.

[Norma H.]

Interesting! I love to hear how you all research to find out what works for you

[Norma H.]

Annis, when I was fraying out some faux chenille for a bag I ended up using a grout brush like this one http://www.lakeland.co.uk/21651/Lake...nd-Grout-Brush stiffer than a tooth brush and it worked well.

[Annis C.]

Thanks, Rosemary. I thought that toothbrush was pretty flimsy. I'm hoping the washer and dryer will do most of the work for me but will keep that in mind.

[Annis C.]

Another alternative could be a wire suede brush, that you can get for brushing up suede shoes.

[Chris S.]

I would love to see the photos of everyone's blocks so far, but can't see where they are posted - can someone tell me where they are? Thank you!!

[Andree B.]

I would love to see the photos of everyone's blocks so far, but can't see where they are posted - can someone tell me where they are? Thank you!!

Under the BOM menu, there is a BOM2014 tab, and then click on the "show And Tell" button. You will see "View Entries", click on this button.

Andrée

[ANNE E.]

I've just finished putting the Duck and ducklings block together and I had a bit of trouble with the measurements coming up small. I managed to finish the block but found it a bit difficult, maybe I did something wrong.
I haven't yet decided on the sashing but have my blocks pinned to a brown colour at the moment....will try to post pictures
Anne

[Susan B.]

Sally Collins (Precision Piecing) talks about adjusting seam allowances a thread or two one way or the other to make blocks the correct size. I know we hate to unsew, but it does work to make the sizes come out right, unless there was a big error.

[ANNE E.]

Forward back forward......forward back forward.......left right left right. FBF....FBF....LRLR I'm goggle eyed.
I'm finding I lose concentration and go into a stare while sewing the blanket stitch around the letters but it's looking good and I am enjoying the B O M it's so different from anything I have ever done before.
Can't wait for March blocks
Happy sewing
Anne

[Susan B.]

Duck and ducklings reinforces my deficiency with direction. I've unsewn at least 5 seams from sewing the wrong direction. (insert whining smiley here).

Anne, you sound like you are doing the double blanket stitch. I've compromised by doing the half-blanket which seems to go a bit faster. Audio books and frequent breaks make it easier! I've walked away from the blanket stitching several times, just leaving the needle down & not turning off the machine, then it's easy to restart.

[Pamela N.]

I'm doing the half blanket stitch too and it does seem to go a little faster. I do however prefer the look of the double blanket stitch.
Best wishes from Pam in Scotland

[Susan B.]

I'm having a problem on the ducklings. I don't have a triangle ruler with 1/4" marks, but just watched Julie's video again.

On the 2nd square up side (bottom right of page 10) BEFORE I trim, the short sides of the completed unit are already just 3 inches. I have plenty to trim to make the quarter inch seam allowance off the right angle of the red, but I'll end up with shorter legs on the finished unit. Would over-sizing the sky blue triangles even another half inches help?

Help!

EDIT: ok, I watched and read further, thinking I'll be ok because the finished unit with the teal corners should be 2 and 1/2 " not 3.

[Andree B.]

Susan,

It you look closely at the picture, you can see that the short sides of the triangle are a tad shorter than 3 " (somewhere near 2-7/8"). I think the important part here is to have 1/4" so that the point of the "duckling" is not caught in the seam.

Can't wait to see it!

Andrée

[ANNE E.]

Hi Susan,
I have a Janome 6600 it doesn't do the double blanket stich like the Bernina it makes 2 lots of stitches...forward back forward and then the same thing again and then the bite twice it looks pretty good just not quite the same as the Bernina. I'm using mode 2 stitch number 37.
I think you can see the stitches on the photo if you enlarge it to 150%.
Happy sewing
Anne