Block 2 SIZZLE

[Annis C.]

Peggy, I would just add the missing quarter inch when cutting out the vellum pieces by placing the 1/4" mark on the ruler on the seam line. All of the important lines are there. It's frustrating when printers won't do what you want and you can't find anything in the settings to make it work. Luckily I have several printers and several computer programs that help me. When I can't find the print to size for a PDF file I can open it in Illustrator, Photoshop or Corel Draw and find all of the settings I need.

[Annis C.]

I finished block 2 over the weekend. I won't be putting them into the background until all of the blocks are made. I was going to do a red and white block, then I found the red focus fabric with white, green, and navy circles and I knew I would be making the quilt instead of the block. I'm almost positive I won't be doing the applique border though. My challenge this year is doing all of the blocks without paper. There will be templates though so I can't say totally without paper. I like to make templates on clear full sheet labels so I can cut oversized, check the accuracy, and trim as I go.



The diamond section for this block was made using a Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler. The size needed is for a 7" block (3-1/2" sections), a 2-1/4" width of fabric per diamond (makes more than eight) and a 3-1/2" width of fabric per background. These went together pretty quickly as I've made many Lemoyne star blocks without paper recently. The challenge was in the block assembly. In a perfect world they should make a perfect block but I had to do a little pulling on the fabric to keep from losing the points when I placed the template from Block 1 on the units to square them up. Using starch and a dry iron would probably help with this. I just don't take time for starch and use steam for almost everything. I added the half-square triangles on the tips after the fact when I decided there was too much green, before I had sewn the diamonds to the wedges. I'm sure there will be a button or something in the center of this block.



I also have all of my backgrounds cut and 4 of them sewn. Instead of using the template, I'm sewing 11" squares together as four patch blocks. Then I will cut a 17-1/2" circle out of the center and use in another project, probably squaring it on point. I'm also sewing half square triangles on the inside corners of the squares so I will have another block already in progress. Besides I needed a reason to cut and sew 2-4 of the same fabrics together.

[Brenda C.]

thank you Barabara

[Brenda C.]

Annis, your block is beautiful! I am having issues with my block all due to sewing machine operator (me)! I'm also wishing I had chosen different colors for it. Time to step away from it for a little while.

[Helen W.]

Hi holly miner.
Yes, I am having problems printing block 2 Sizzle. I emailed customer service and they are sending my screen shot of the error
message to the pattern design dept.and newsletter dept. to see if they can fix it on their end. I will post when I get a reply. HelenW

[Barbara B.]

Mayleen, taking a break is good. Perhaps as you see photos of completed blocks, you will be inspired to get back to it.

[Helen W.]

Hi Hollyminer
Thank you for the offer to share you PDF for block 2, I hit the reply and it said I did not have permission to access that resource.
I would love to be able to print the block, so yes to the question. HelenW

[Cindy N.]

Hi all. There seems to be a general problem printing PDF from Macs. I have run into this every time I have tried to print PDFs with objects (pics or diagrams) lately. I tried to print from the toolbar and the document. I also tried, with this one, converting to docx and jpg. It wouldn't let me do either. After checking online, I have found others with the same problem. This may be due to updates in Adobe - don't know. But with all of the problems I am having, you know others are having them too. Hopefully, with the feedback, someone in charge will notice! Would it be possible to maybe offer the patterns in docx or jpeg?

[Holly M.]

<<Hi all. There seems to be a general problem printing PDF from Macs.>>

I am using an old Mac (mid 2007 topped out with El Cap 10.11.6)
I have PDFs set to open in Preview and I had no problem printing the file. Did those who are having an issue printing try using Preview rather than Acobat?

However, I do know there is a problem with the pattern page of the PDF provided for February = Block 2. I get an "operand" error when trying to open in Illustrator. I can open page 1 & 2 of the PDF. Only the pattern is a problem.

I don't know if this will help others, but trying Preview might work.

[Holly M.]

<<
Hi Hollyminer
Thank you for the offer to share you PDF for block 2, I hit the reply and it said I did not have permission to access that resource.
I would love to be able to print the block, so yes to the question. HelenW>>

Sorry Helen, but my plan was to save a PDF from Illustrator but there is definitely an issue with the pattern file. Try printing it from Preview, which worked for me, and let us know if that works.

[Ellen S.]

I really like the way you pieced the diamond with each of the three "leaves" as a whole piece. I already made block 2 and will make another with your method which requires redrafting the diamond blocks, but that doesn't look hard. I didn't like the way one of the leaves in the diamond is split. And also, I don't like the way the inner part of the wedge and the leaf near it do not match up. I may redraft the wedge also to fix that. Finally, the resulting block was "lumpy" with 8 areas in addition to the very center where a large number of pieces all come together. When I do this again, I'll be much more careful not to sew into the seam allowances, but to backstitch as I get to the seam so the bulky seam can fan out. Hope that works.

[Barbara B.]

PRINTING PROBLEMS?
A few people have mentioned they had printing problems with the Block 2 pattern.

People with much more technical knowledge than I have looked at this and suggest this as a way to fix printing issues for most:

Please try the following if you are having difficulty printing the pdfs:

Open the PDF using either Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader
In the Print dialog, click the Advanced button
In the Advanced dialog, check the Print As Image check box
Print to the printer of your choice

Another member, hollyminer, found she could print the PDF correctly in Preview mode rather than Acrobat. That's another possibility.

Technical issues are always irritating, they are for me. There are so many variables with computer systems/printers, it is hard to have one easy fix for everybody.

I hope this helps. And. as always, if you had a printing problem and solved it, by all means, please share what you did. It could help someone else.

Thanks,
Barbara

[Cindy N.]

Thank you Barbara!!! It totally works with the Print as image option and that makes perfect sense with what I have been seeing when I tried to print. This will help with a lot of problems I have been having! Yay TQS!!!!

[Helen W.]

Thank you Barbara,
Your Adobe Acrobat Reader work around for Sizzle Block 2 on mac computers worked for me. It took me a little time to find the word Advanced. When you open in Adobe, click on File, on the top menu bar, scroll down to Print at the bottom of the options,
when the box for printing comes up, the word advanced is on the first line right after the box that asks you what printer you are using. When Advanced opened a box,
the Image button was near the bottom of that screen box. It printed great. At first I was looking for the word Advanced on the tools for the Adobe acrobat reader not under print.
HelenW

[Helen W.]

Hi Hollyminer,
I used the suggestion from Barbara Black about going to Advanced in the print option of the Adobe Acrobat Reader. It worked great, so
I did not have to try your suggestion. But thank so much for offering help to another quilter. Quilters are the nicest people in the world.
HelenW.