MONTH 1 — Show Your Progress Here

[jrgermain]

Finished my first block! I machine pieced the fan blades but did the rest by hand. I too found this a challenging block. Now I just need to trim down the block. Thanks Barbara for that tip.
Janet

[Carole B.]

Carole, I saw all the pins you use on your fan. Does your thread get caught on them when you are stitching?
I put the pin in the spot on the line and go thru the line on the bottom fabric, then put a clip next to the pin
and pull the pin out. It works great. Your block is looking great, so glad you are enjoying it. HelenW

Helen, pins haven’t been a problem for me, but thanks for providing your method. This afternoon I finished attaching all the fans and cut out the background. Next step should be interesting.

[Gail E.]

Thank you Helen. The fabric is an old one from my stash it’s a grey gradient.

[Glenda C.]

This was to be my test block, but I think my fabrics are too wild so that the star doesn’t stand out from the fabrics touching the star points. What do you think?

[Barbara B.]

Glenda, I agree with you. Click on Photos on this Topic to see all the stars that have been posted so far to see which seem to work best. I would try to have more light fan blades next to your dark Star points for higher contrast.

[Helen W.]

Helen, pins haven’t been a problem for me, but thanks for providing your method. This afternoon I finished attaching all the fans and cut out the background. Next step should be interesting.

Carole, I too got to work on my block before the power went out in our big wind storm. Power just came back on so I can
use the computer again. I combined 2 D templates to get rid of the diagonal seams in the background. Just wanted a cleaner
look. I turned edge using Judith's plastic template idea and then just zig zag the edge. Wish I would have tried hand applique
the edge, but can't change that now. Your block is looking great. I think your idea of having Jen sign it was great. Be sure
to take an appropriate pen so you don't get caught just pulling out an ink pen from your purse. HelenW

To combine 2 D templates you would trace the first one regular, then stack the diagonal sew line on the first one and trace the
second one.

[Barbara B.]

Beautifully organized block, Helen. And making the background from 4 vs 8 pieces is smart. I am sure it isn’t that way in the pattern because the template would not fit on the page. Making your own solves the problem.

[Sheridan D.]

I did this too. 1 to eliminate seam but 2 for fabric continuity.

[Monique G.]

Such a great color combination. I which I had your color sense and expertise. I can't wait to see what you are going to do next.

[Carole B.]

Well, I thought I was done. Then I measured and I’m woefully short. Agressive pressing won’t help, so I’ve got three options from what I can tell:

1. Remove border and cut larger. Why didn’t I do as Barbara suggested?
2. Add a narrow border to make up the difference.
3. Treat this as a learning experience and start over.

The good news is that this is the first block I’ve ever pieced and I actually did it—and learned a lot. And the fact that it’s hand pieced really makes me happy.

[Judith A.]

Carole, I can hardly believe this is your first block! You are doing a wonderful job. If this block were mine, I would add a border. Sue Garman used them in her TQS BOM pattern. I believe she called them "coping strips." I used to have her instructions on how to figure this, but no longer have them. Others here can probably give you some tips. Keep up the great work!

[Barbara B.]

What size is it? If it’s less than an inch short adding a border would really add a lot more seam allowance than you might want.

[Carol L.]

Carole, you have such a great attitude! Can’t believe this is your first… Keep up the good work

[Peg]

I was a bit nervous cutting into the kit fabrics with all the curves (done lots in the past but have lost my mojo lately so confidence flagging) so I got out my basket of neutrals I gathered for a never-started project. So glad I did the warm up exercise of cutting and sewing as it made doing the real deal so much easier. May continue on with practice bits in neutrals so I might even end up with a secondary project at the end (tho neutrals are NOT my colors!!)

[Kathy N.]

Love doing the block of the months, especially this forum and Barbara Black that teaches me so much! I am currently doing an EPP project and learned through their forum to add glitter washi tape to the back of my templates. Helps grip the fabric since I seem to be more accurate cutting with a rotary cutter and a revolving cutting mat. Good news is- granddaughters love any left over tape!

[Carole B.]

Carole, I can hardly believe this is your first block! You are doing a wonderful job. If this block were mine, I would add a border. Sue Garman used them in her TQS BOM pattern. I believe she called them "coping strips." I used to have her instructions on how to figure this, but no longer have them. Others here can probably give you some tips. Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the pep talk! As with most of us, I’m my own worst critic. My love is working with wool, so this cotton game is certainly out of my comfort zone.

My first thought was to add a border. Since my post, I used some Flatter (if you haven’t used this, you need to!) on the background and gained a 1/4”. Maybe if use it more liberally all over, I can make up the 1/2” I’m missing.

Leaving this as is for now. I’m getting ready to travel to CA (from NH) for Road2CA where my first-ever quilt (the 2021 AQS BOM) has been juried in. I did mine in wool on linen and totally personalized it with family homes, pets and places that have meaning to me and my family.

[Barbara B.]

Carole, I can hardly believe this is your first block! You are doing a wonderful job. If this block were mine, I would add a border. Sue Garman used them in her TQS BOM pattern. I believe she called them "coping strips." I used to have her instructions on how to figure this, but no longer have them. Others here can probably give you some tips. Keep up the great work!

Coping Strips or Floater borders help make pieced borders fit a quilt middle. I have a Tutorial on my blog based on Sue Garman’s instructions on how to do this.

https://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/20...r-borders.html

[Judith A.]

Thank you, Barbara. Your tutorial on coping strips on your blog is a great reminder.

[Sheridan D.]

Finally got the first block finished. I’m generally a machine piecer and have never hand pieced before. I thought I would do some machine and some hand on this quilt. So enjoyed the hand piecing that I have done it all by hand. As some others have done I eliminated the diagonal seam in the background. I tried to fussy cut them as best I could for continuity. Needs a good press but pretty happy with it.
Thanks Barbara for the tip to extend the background sections, it’s just shy of 16 1/2” without the extension so now I can trim to exact size.

[Barbara B.]

What a great use of the Lollies fabrics! Love the background from only 4 sections, wish I had thought of that.

[Monique G.]

Adding the black strips has really enhanced the look of the block. Is this a fusible fabric??

[Helen W.]

Thanks for the pep talk! As with most of us, I’m my own worst critic. My love is working with wool, so this cotton game is certainly out of my comfort zone.

My first thought was to add a border. Since my post, I used some Flatter (if you haven’t used this, you need to!) on the background and gained a 1/4”. Maybe if use it more liberally all over, I can make up the 1/2” I’m missing.

Leaving this as is for now. I’m getting ready to travel to CA (from NH) for Road2CA where my first-ever quilt (the 2021 AQS BOM) has been juried in. I did mine in wool on linen and totally personalized it with family homes, pets and places that have meaning to me and my family.

Carole, Welcome to the world of Troubleshooting what is not quite right!!! Your block is wonderful. The good thing about
hand stitching is that it is a lot easier to rip out. If your take off your border, I would get rid of the diagonal seams because
it just looks cleaner. If you just want to add a coping strip, I would make it look like a designer intentional choice. One
way would be to use something decorative like Tula Pink trims. I took a couple screen shots, but she has hundreds of designs.
You would mark a line on the top of the block at the distance that would make the 7/8 inch tape cause the block to be 16.5 inches.
You could machine or hand stitch it to the top the block. Then when you make your next round of blocks you would again mark the sewing
line on the top of the block line of blocks and lay the tape edge on the line and hand stitch down. There is very little bulk since you don't have
the seam allowance, because tape does not fray. If you don't understand this description I can make you a sample with pictures.
If you were going to make it special and liked this idea, you could buy the plain colored tape and do you fabulous hand embroidery
on it like you did on the circular road sections of Color My World. HelenW

PS IF YOU PLAN TO HAVE JEN SIGN THE BLOCK YOU MIGHT WANT TO FRAME IT AND START
OVER FOR THE BOM. NOT EVERYONE FRAMES THE FIRST BLOCK THEY EVER MAKE!!

[Carole B.]

Helen, I like the idea of the tape with some embellishing! If my additional pressing doesn’t solve the issue, will definitely look at that. Thank you for opening my eyes to a who other element!

[Carole B.]

What size is it? If it’s less than an inch short adding a border would really add a lot more seam allowance than you might want.

Originally, it was 3/4” short. After pressing the border using Flatter, I gained 1/4”. I’m thinking about using Flatter on the entire block to see how it turns out, then make a decision.

[Camille M.]

Finished Center block. Tried hand piecing for the first time. Thankful for the tutorials and the templates. I'm going with a totally scrappy look.

[Barbara B.]

You nailed it! Love your background fabric.

[Judith A.]

Camille, Beautiful job! I really like your background fabric. The swirls in the background coordinate perfectly with the curved pieces.  Would you mind telling me what fabric it is...maybe the collection and anything else you can tell me about it.      Thank you

[Elizabeth]

Month one all finished