MONTH 1 — Share Your Progress Here

[Barbara B.]

Please use this TOPIC to share your progress.

[Carole B.]

No progress yet, but wanted to say I watched Becky’s four Month 1 videos and they were fabulous! My vellum has arrived, so I’m ready to print and get my pieces ready. Looking forward to Barbara’s live video on Monday.

[Barbara B.]

Yeah! Aren't those videos great? Watched them all again today so I don't forget anything important.
I am excited to see Becky's show tomorrow morning.
Glad you are playing along, Carole.

I agree. She is a fabulous teacher. I am an experienced paper piercer and enjoyed her description of this process. She knows how to break each step into the important parts and demonstrate her work. I look forward to listening to the future lessons.

[lholzhu]

So this is my test or will be my print one. Excellent directions! My only hang up slightly was the second part, positioning of the white. I took a picture of my orientation of patterns, blue and white for reference. Also check as Becky says to make sure your end points have good coverage.
Hubby said it looks like a Christmas Tree. He is not crazy about my fabrics.
Look forward to the reveals tomorrow and of course Barbara.

[Barbara B.]

The more fabrics you add the better it becomes. I love your batik.

[sewskeel]

I’m using freezer paper for these first units. When sewing unit 6/7 to base unit , I used glue to make the match. Before removing the paper from each unit, I used the match point to pin the point. Then I glued along the seam. Carefully removed the papers from each unit and sewed. Worked well
Hope this helps someone
Susan

[sewskeel]

I’m happy with the way my units turned out
my glueing method worked for me

[Barbara B.]

Thanks for sharing this tip!

[Bbmom1989]

I got my 4 pieces done. I don’t care for brown so am substituting 3 grey shades.

[Barbara B.]

Excellent. That gray is lovely.

[Helen W.]

Sample block reduced to 65%.HelenW

[Helene H.]

Hello Helen, I really like this. Are you planning to do a smaller version ? I’m thinking about it , I’m just afraid that some pieces will be too small.

[Helen W.]

Hi Helene, Yes I am thinking about a smaller version. Might still try a 75% sample. If you plan
to do the exact pattern, some of the blocks might be challenging. I am thinking of doing like
Barbara Black and changing out some of the border patterns. HelenW

I took another look at the coloring page and focused on the blocks in the borders. They all look
like they would work fine for paper piecing at 50, 65 or 75%. At first I was thinking I would have to
wait for Becky's patterns, but I can draw any of them in EQ8 at the 3 or 6 inch block size and then
print them at that size and use Adobe Acrobat to print them Custom at any % size.

[Carole B.]

Did a trial this morning. My point isn’t perfect, but I learned a lot. First time working with vellum. Folding on the sewing line to cut using the add a quarter ruler is not my favorite thing to do. I like sewing on the line so may try again using foundation paper I can run through the printer. I’m not so concerned about seeing through. The freezer paper method may also be in my future. Happy New Year!

When people are looking at the whole quilt, I don’t think they will notice our points that don’t match. I think yours is within range but you can always fuss with it if you feel you need to.

[Helen W.]

Hi Carole, Nice selection of colors. I think it is a good idea to try out all the ways of doing foundation
paper piecing. I love being able to see thru the paper. If you find you like the newsprint or printer paper better and you have a hard time getting the fabrics to cover the whole area needed, you can
stitch just the paper on the lines and that puts holes on the back side so you know where the area
is. Or you can lay it on a light box and trace the lines to the back. Did you try Barbara Black's idea of basting the match points, looking at it to see if it was good
enough and then stitching the seam. I did that and really liked it. My few attempts in the past with
freezer paper were not successful. It kept falling off, but back then I did not use glue. That would
have helped I am sure. I plan to try 2 more sizes before deciding what I will use for the whole project.
HelenW

[Helen W.]

For those who are considering making a smaller version. I wanted to see what each would look like,
so I made sample blocks. I also looked at the coloring page to see each of the 3 and 6 inch blocks and
I feel I could make all of them in any of the 3 sizes I am considering. It is fun to see how cute they look.
The red lines shows redrawing the seam allowance, thanks Lynnanne for that tip. HelenW
CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE THE WHOLE PHOTO ENLARGED

[Lynnanne]

Thanks for experimenting Helen. I’m going to try 65%

[Helen W.]

Christmas sale that I could not resist. I was planning on just using my stash, but I could not resist these fabrics.
Now I just have to wait for them to arrive. HelenW

[Aimee M.]

Game On! Just finished my first block. I am using the solids kit. I think it came out OK, I’m a little concerned about The seam allowance bottom left of the triangle, but I’m gonna leave it for now and just be careful and maybe use a little bit more glue in that point on the next one. I really like the vellum it printed out nicely in our laser printer. It was a little fussy, lining the sheets up and stapling them, but seems to be OK.

The videos and written directions, and Barbara’s tips were so helpful, especially in watching how to orient the white fabric at the end. It seemed like I had plenty of space, but just barely nailed it, I really have to watch those long points that extend out.

Now I need a nap, that’s a lot of brain power.

[Barbara B.]

Aimee, you are correct, those acute angles take a bit of double checking before sewing to be sure the placement allows the fabric to cover the space it has to cover. This will be even more important in February, Month 2, when we make the corners.

[Barbara T.]

I have decided to reduce the quilt to 75%. The photo shows the original size next to the 75%. I first thought 50% but didn’t want to get too small on those borders. Now what to do until February? I have a paper piecing project started by a guild member that I picked up at our annual auction. Working on that will keep the paper piecing mojo going! And I’m signed up for an Angela Walter’s free motion workshop. Guess I can keep busy.

[Linda Lee]

I bought the solid kit and decided to do prints as a practice before I did the kit fabrics. So here are my prints.

[Ellen L.]

Love the stars and they way the dark sets off the colors in the triangles.