MONTH 2 -- Show Your Progress Here

[Helen W.]

Lynneanne, I am still on my way to finish Homeward Bound and will be Home in 2 miles (make that 2 borders).
Technically, scrappy quilts don't need a color palette, but if you are like me, I seem to like controlled chaos.
If I had the time and money to do 2 more Pick A Petals, I would do one in Tula Pink rainbow colors. All her
collections work so well together and I love the way she works her way around the color wheel. The other one
be a cross between Kim Diehl fabrics and Kansas Troubles collections. Back on the farm type look. And if I
had still more money and time I would do a Kaffe one with warm and cool colors. Who doesn't love Kaffe fabrics.
Looking forward to a couple pictures when you get going on your Pick A Petal. HelenW

[Barbara B.]

Another great alternative. Thanks for sharing your steps.

[soniasimone]

They look nice! I like this curve, too, it's very doable.

[soniasimone]

The blanket stitch will be great with the embroidery & applique in the log cabin section!

[MaryJo M]

I am so appreciative of your videos and blog, Barbara. So far I have my rows sewn for the uneven 9 patches. Very scrappy. I was pondering the crescents and came up with another method, as I have used the fold over and glue method for appliqué before but was trying to think of something else. I have some Ricky Tim's Stable Stuff Poly Fabric Stabilizer, and thought of the interfacing method. So I traced the template shapes onto one sheet, marked the dots, and copied in my printer, making sure they were accurate. I used 10" fabric squares folded to cut three crescents at a time, leaving the extra on the straight edge. Then I lined up the fabric curve and stabilizer curve, and sewed with a 1/4 seam. When sewn, I could see the dots right at the sewn line. I pinked the curved edge and the stabilizer turned and creased the edge very nicely. I will be machine appliqueing them. I am pleased with my test pieces. I have a lot more to make, but for me this may be a bit easier. I am also thrilled that you showed the paper piecing method for the borders. I will certainly be using that! Thanks.

[Lynnanne]

Helen, your blocks are so pretty! I like that you always try to use stuff you already have. And you’re good at inventing new versions. I haven’t started yet…I’m still trying to figure out a color scheme and I also have to finish the previous BOM. Good luck, it’s coming along well.

[jptousley]

Finished 4 blocks. Have not trimmed to size, yet. What fun! I used Jen’s templates and did machine piece. The curves were very gentle and surprisingly easy.

[Helen W.]

Wendy, It was not the plan, I started by making a couple white crescents but it jumped out too much,
so I made a couple purple and it seemed too dark, not enough contrast. Then I just laid the purple
one down with just 1/4 white showing and thought, OK, I like that. I made one plastic template with
the quarter inch seam allowance and one template without the seam allowance. I used repositional
glue to hold the templates to the back of the fabrics. Cut them out with 1/4 extra fabric seam allowance
that I folded over the template with a little glue and the iron. Judith's technique and I just love it.
Dot glued the colored crescent to the white one leaving the 1/4 inch showing. Then cut the white
away on the back side. to reduce bulk. I think it could be done with bias tape. If you used 1/4
bias tape you could top stitch it in place and not go thru all my workaround idea. I was just trying
to use stuff I already had. I like having the white that was used in the center block, because repetition in blocks for colors is something I like. HelenW

[smvite]

Here's my block 1 and 2. I did a blanket stitch with black thread on the 20 block 2's instead of hand or invisible by machine. I may add a little of this stitch to each block where appropriate. Working on the fan borders next.

[Wendy H.]

Gorgeous. Love the look.
How did you add the white strips?

[Wendy H.]

Love the look your quilt is going. Would love to know how you did your white strips please!

[KayeT]

Month one done, steadily doing the fan blocks and have the first of 20 blocks done for month two. Like doing the appliqué method. Thanks Barb.

[Helen W.]

Great start to Feb. month 2. Hoping I will have time to do my fan border blocks this month too.
Waiting for Barbara's video and fan info before proceeding with them.
Decided to go with my modified flower block instead of the one we will learn next month. It is fun
to rearrange the blocks to see what combinations looks like. HelenW

[Barbara B.]

Great photos, thanks for sharing. Love those Lollies fabrics. I should try that, I have some.

[Helen W.]

Sheridan, Sometimes while keeping tension on the fabric for hand piecing the bias will stretch, but
you said the dots matched up, so that should not be your problem. Did you cut the long outside seam

that runs the side of the block on the straight of grain. That often prevents waves along the edge
of the block. The cross grain does have some stretch and I have had problems in the past when
I made borders using crossgrain cuts of fabric. Lay your templates on top of the pieces in the
block to confirm they are perfect size. You might try pressing the block, when I super zoom your
block, (click on the picture and then click on the first symbol in the upper right corner). I can
see a shadow that means the cresant is not flat. Don't know if that will help. Good pictures of your block and templates can
you post a picture of the back? Maybe we can see something in the seams that might have caused it.
HelenW

I just took a piece of ruled paper and it looks like the red striped fabric is about 1/4 inch wider than the
other 3. Could be the angle of picture when you took it. I have an iMac 27 inch screen, so it seemed
noticeable on something that big. Worth a measure.