MONTH 1 — Show Your Progress Here

[Barbara B.]

Please use this TOPIC to show your wonderful work here.

[Denise2467]

Is there a fb group to see others progress shots?

[lehab375]

Since we have the ability to add photos to these posts, that's where I put mine. I am not on fakebook so I really appreciate this forum that I can see what others are doing.
Linda

[Barbara B.]

No, we keep everything official about the Block of the Month here on the TQS website so all Star members can see everything.

[Monique G.]

Helen, Barbara and soniasimon I want to thank you for your suggestions about my fabric selection. I have make a mock up of the of the first block but would like your opinion on the color selection and any suggestions for the border. Ive included a picture for you to see and give me some ideas whether or not I'm heading in the right direction. I really not a scrappy quilter so this is very difficult for me.

[Shannon M.]

Love your use of the "African" fabrics. That is what I would be using as well. I like the solid band as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Darlene P.]

LOVE this!

[Dawn C.]

This is so good to see. I've started mine in a neutral background but really want to do a version in a fully saturated background color. you've furthered my inspiration to do just that!
looks fabulous!

[Helen W.]

Monique you only have 7 diamonds. I noticed when I decided to play around with
it in EQ8. You need one more. Here is what Barbara's idea would look like.
I added the extra green dot one so it would have 8. Helen W

[Monique G.]

Thanks so much Helen and Barbara. the visuals really help. Helen, I have EQ8 but I didn't know I was able to input a design into it. I guess I have some homework to do with EQ8 Thanks so much

[Helen W.]

Monique, I drew the 8 inch block of 2 diamonds and fan, then made a 4 block quilt and used rotate to
get them into the 8 point star configuration. I hit the zoom function on you photo and took small screenshots of your fabrics. Used the import images worktable and brought the screenshots in
as fabric. Then just went to the quilt work table and colored each piece with the fabrics. It is just
a workaround that I came up with. HelenW

[Judith A.]

Helen, you are so talented to be able to do this!!!

[sewskeel]

Pressed, starched and ready


The fabric selection in this kit is fantastic, I love the way they coordinated together. Lots of fun combinations to sew. Ready for a new adventure with the TQS BOM of 2024.
This will be my 4th Jen Kingwell quilt. They are always a challenge and so rewarding when finished.

[Helen W.]

I am sure you will be able to give us quilters that are new to hand piecing a number of valuable tips.
Your fabrics look beautiful. HelenW

[mhollo9202]

Finished my center. I haven't done Y-seams in awhile but it came back to me. I had more trouble getting the curves at the diamonds in the background to match; resewed a couple of them. I machine appliqued the small curve in the fans; I tried to sew it, but they were inconsistent - some looked like a curve and some were wonky, so I decided it was just as fast to applique them.

Marjorie Holloway
Sarasota, FL

[mhollo9202]

I oversized but realized that I made the same mistake that Barbara did. Luckily it is accurate enough that I can size it to 16 1/2 inches and get my corners without having to piece a scrap onto it. I made a practice block 1 and 2 and they are not as accurate, so I am glad to see that now. I have already precut several sets of the outside edges for both blocks that I may not be able to use now, but they are all from my stash. I did buy the kit but didn't want to cut into it until we started.

[Barbara B.]

Are these Kit fabrics? The background appears to be the same as the Kit.

[mhollo9202]

I do have the kit and the background is from it. I have been playing with the templates since I got them and had precut the diamonds and the blades from my stash. I decided to use them here but I am now adding pieces from the kit for block one and two. I didn't want to cut into the kit early until I knew if there were going to be any suggestions about where to use the fabrics in it beyond the background here.

[Janet H.]

Marjorie, Beautiful and colorful! Did you purchase the templates?

[mhollo9202]

Yes, I got them. I did Jen's Delilah and couldn't have done it without the templates. With the curves in this one, I knew they were going to be needed here, too.

[soniasimone]

[Patricia G.]

love the fabric choices, post what u use for the background. I swore I wasn't going to start another quilt but fell in love with this one. I figure I can at least make the center block. A little afraid of that pieced background, maybe I will cut a big block and appliqué to it

[soniasimone]

I’ve just started piecing in the background, I’ll load a new pic. It’s coming along nicely

[Judith A.]

I like your fabric choices. They play well together.

[Kyla V.]

I got the 8 diamonds cut out and marked today. I tried to use the rotary cutter since it was all straight lines but had a lot of issues. I thought it would be faster but I had to recut a few of them. I think I will be cutting them out with the scissors from here on out.

[Judith A.]

Very nice. Great job!

[Kelly H.]

I use a 28mm cutter (small but not the smallest). I used the smallest cutter (10 mm) on the bottom of the fan pieces since that is a tight curve.

[Ellen L.]

I told myself I wasn't going to do this one this year. I still have the last two years to finish and want to concentrate on that. I'd just download the pattern for future need and move along. Then I saw the pattern was up on Saturday night and the show with Jen Kingman was up. After the family was asleep, I printed the pattern out, grabbed some fat quarters and watched the show. Then I decided maybe this could be something I could hand sew. I've been having some tendonitis and so am cutting myself off from crocheting in the evening as I usually do. Tonight after everyone was asleep, I watched Barbara Black's facebook live, and then watched the Jen Kingman show again and this is how far I've gotten. I really like that outer set of blocks, and now Barbara has told me I have what I need to get started on those too. I feel that hand sewing these small pieces gives a whole different texture to the quilt than machine sewing and pressing. So, I'll continue grabbing red/purple/blue fat quarters, I probably have a million, and we'll see how far I get. Happy New Year everyone.

[Helen W.]

Starting a sample block while waiting for my light tone fabrics. Right now I am
also considering using black background or white and gray fabrics. Any opinions
are welcome.HelenW

[Marilyn M.]

Helen W.... Both versions look lovely. Why not go with the grey/white fabric this time, since you used black background on your Homeward Bound?

[Judith A.]

The colors on the black background really pop. Both are beautifull

[KayeT]

Slowly plugging away. Picked out my fabrics (love Barb’s tip of just randomly picking 32 pieces for the fans) and the other for my star block. Like the no-rush feel of the whole month to work on it. Cut my fan pieces into 3” strips too, so ready tomorrow to work on using the templates. This is going to be a fun project.

[Helen W.]

Helen W.... Both versions look lovely. Why not go with the grey/white fabric this time, since you used black background on your Homeward Bound?

Marilyn, I will do my sample in the grey/white grunge for the background. See how I like it. HelenW

[Helen W.]

Worked on my fans this morning. I decided to make a template for paper piecing the 4 fan blades. They reminded
me of all the Judy Neimeyer curved flying geese paper piecing I have done in the past. I like using vellum because
you can see thru it. I ran the pattern template page 4 times on vellum to get my fan blades. When I just make one
and then make a copy of a copy, it is not perfectly accurate. I made my diamonds using hand piecing, but I could
see my stitches from the front (probably tension of my thread) so rather than try again, I just sewing on the line
with the machine. I left the hand stitches in and sewed over them. HelenW

Click on the photo to enlarge and see all of the first one.

Monique, I like your black fans so I did something similar. I pieced but tried to make them read as one color.

[Judith A.]

Beautiful! I really like what you have done here.

[Helen W.]

Thanks Judith and Marilyn for the kind words. I am loving how everyone is showing the ways they
tweak the pattern and designs. It is all so much fun. HelenW

[Monique G.]

great idea!