Aug - U - W - X

[Donna M.]

Ok ladies, there are a handful of you that are way ahead of the rest of us.

What do you think about this months pattern?

Pattern for U says 4 dark gold squares at 2 1/8 used in Step 5.
The video lesson says 2" square.

Pattern for W says 2 four inch squares of background for Step 4 and 5
video says 4 1/4"

Pattern for X says 8 blue mottle squares at 1 1/4"
Video says 1"

At Step 5 - no written instruction on trimming
Video says trim to 5" square

I am so far behind I can wait until the 20th of August to print any corrections.

[Susan B.]

Donna,
I just read through the directions and watched the videos at the same time. I doubt that there will be any corrections this month. Both Julie and Janet like to cut over-sized blocks down to size. This gives us some latitude if our piecing is not perfect. If in doubt, it's easier to go a bit bigger and then trim. I'm going to follow the directions as written, with the exception of the background triangles added to the W block which I'll oversize a bit as Julie suggests.

I hope it works out for you. I actually may catch up this month so am working furiously to finish July.

[Coni P.]

Hi Donna,

I followed the written instructions and found these to be the easiest blocks to do.

[Donna M.]

Thank you ladies.
I'm catching up quickly so this is great news.

[Patricia S.]

I have just finished the W block and it doesn't measure up to trim to 6 1/2". Not sure what to do now?

[Annis C.]

Did you cut the background squares 4-1/4"? If the block is too small try taking the triangles off and use a narrower seam allowance. I haven't gotten this far yet and am increasing the block sizes anyway so will be refiguring cutting instructions. If I were making the block the same size I would have squared the 4 squares to 2-5/8" instead of 2-1/2". Another alternative is to add larger background triangles and let the on-point section float.

[Denise L.]

Yup mine came out to a perfect 6 in square so I will reverse sew the background triangles and make them a little bigger to have my on point block float.

denise

[Patricia S.]

For the future blocks, I will watch the show first, then make corrections on paper instruction before I sew the block.

[Donna M.]

So good news in my sewing room is that these three did all end up right! For W I did cut the background squares at 4 1/4 per the video.

I was going to follow the month to month letter-stitch-down and border joining rules too but was so nervous (until July) because I was not sure how many strips of #10 to set aside that I decided to just organize them when all the piece work was done and then do all the applique-ing and the joining at the same time. I'm on vacation this coming week so I will get all that caught up while we wait for S, Y and Z.

[Susan B.]

When my blocks are too small, I try to find a spot to sew another seam just to the outside and then unsew the original seam. Two seams done this way usually give me 1/8 inch more.

If the block is too big, I sew a hair to the inside. When there are points on the outside of the block (like on the tree), I've just made a smaller seam allowance.

Sally Collins says we have to "fix" the blocks as we go along. Dang I'm good with a seam ripper! Occasionally, I've just made the block over.

August Blocks did go together nicely. The V was challenging. Now to get the sashing done & we'll be caught up.

[Annis C.]

That's all good advice Susan. I do that quite often. But I still think the squaring instructions are off for the W block. If you square the 4 blocks to 2-1/2" and sew them together with a 1/4" seam you end up with 4-1/2". Deducting the 1/4" seam needed to add the background triangles makes the finished measurement 4". The diagonal of a 4" block is only about 5-5/8". The block finishes at 6" so you need that diagonal measurement to be the same. The diagonal of a 4-1/4" block is 6". So if you square the blocks to 2-5/8" and sew them together with a 1/4" seam you end up with 4-3/4". Deducting the 1/4" seam needed to add the background triangles makes the finished measurement 4-1/4", the size needed. You can get the correct size by using 3/16" seam allowances when sewing the 2-1/2" blocks together and again when adding the background triangles, but the pattern is written for 1/4" seams, assuming we all know to use scant 1/4" seams which is only 1 or 2 thread widths shorter, not an additional 1/16" shorter.