MONTH 3 -- Share Your Progress Here

[Janet M.]

I’m glad month three is complete. I decided to carry the 4 center circle colors into the corner circles.

[Ursula C.]

Super idea the coöoured corners

[Mary F.]

Janet, LOVE the colored corner circles! I am going to adopt this method - it definitely helps to keep the background fabrics from peeking through!

[Christine R.]

I wasn't sure I liked the circles either and have been thinking of alternate designs. This is a simple and effective solution. I think I will do it too.

[Judith A.]

[Judith A.]

I thought I commented on my picture, but I don’t see it. Month 3 is done for now. I redid the circles several times and I’m not really satisfied with them. However I’m going to sit with them for now and see if I can live with them. Looking forward to month 4!

[Pat A.]

I'm done. I did not ace construction. I ended up appliquing a square in the middle. Further my brown borders are darn wonky. My second photo shows that I made an overlay of pattern fabric I had, you could also use paper, but you need something bigger than 36.5 square. And you must cut it precisely and squarely.

I think there might be a different potentially easier way to construct this block. But I did not use it and I was reluctant to tear out my work. (Because wow this fabric is ravelly!) Instead I adjusted where I could and then decided to applique a larger square in the center.

Here is my alternate construction thought. I strongly suggest you make up two additional points and one corner and center square and do a sample. Both methods use a y-seam construction. Mine allows you to take one corner at a time.

Sew the tall center points to adjacent sides of the square. Leave the corners of the center square unsewn in the first 1/4 inch of the seam. Making a dot on the backside of all these pieces would be wise. Once the two points are on the square, you may sew first side of the corner piece on. As before do not sew the internal 1/4 inch of the inside square. Sew from the center out. Carefully line up the second side on the corner and again sew from inside to outside.

[Helen W.]

Pat A, I really like the white square with the black ring in the center. I use your idea of the overlay all
the time. I started using it for applique placement in quilts, and realized I could just tape vellum pages
together to the size that I was squaring up to, and tape them on top of the block. Easy to see thru
to make sure it is equally centered and then rotary cut right thru the tape. Nothing moves and it
is always perfect. Then I still use that vellum paper for something else. HelenW

[Kathryn N.]

Pat/Helen - love the idea of making overlay out of vellum or other material to help square up large block, going to steal that one for another time!

[Melanie H.]

All was going well until I put it up on the design wall. How did the white circles get so off center? I hand appliqued them and measured so carefully..... They will be easy to remove and stitch on again. My points were right on, thankfully.

[Kathryn N.]

I'm sure it's those pesky gremlins that come in overnight and move fabric pieces! I intended to have the circles overlapping the points as in the pattern, but once I'd sewn the first one on it had moved so that it was at the end of the point. Had to unpin the others and move them to match rather than unpicking the sewn one.

[JANET E.]

l was inspired by Barbara's reddish border. I haven't decided if I'm going to add small circles to the corners of the inner square. I think I can live with it the way it is.

I had the same problem with appliquéd circles not behaving. I have dithering down pat so instead of stressing I just choose a Karen Kay Buckley circle close to the pattern size and centered it on the corner pieces. While celebrating that success, discovered I needed to take out one of the initial white pieces, reconstruct and insert! It worked great! It’s a challenge for me but I refuse to not enjoy the process!

Andrea G.
Sun City West, AZ

[Ellen J.]

I have tried and tried to convert my picture to a smaller size and am unable to do so. It used to be easy but not any more,
I would appreciate suggestions you might be able to give me.

[Ellen J.]

It seems I have managed to do it!

[Jean E.]

This month was a challenge! I’m glad Barbara suggested the tiny circles because those corners didn’t match as well as I would’ve liked, despite my best efforts and lots of fiddling.

Well this was a heavy lift - not perfect but very happy that it is done!

[Bbmom1989]

Am truly glad to be ready to move on to Month 4. I am going to put small circles in but believe I will wait until the top is done to see which color should be accentuated a bit more.

[Pat C.]

I am behind and still have some catching up to do, including sewing the center piece. But I wanted to mention that I used a Cricut Maker machine to make my appliques as I will be machine sewing them to the quilt. I used Heat and Bond ironed on to the wrong side of the fabric and used the pink mat with the bond side down on the mat. I also used the blade that came with the machine. I set the cutting guide to bonded cotton, and my circles are much nicer than I could have made myself. I made several changes along the way, mostly due to errors, but as they say, every mistake is a design opportunity, and I have had lots of design opportunities!

[Laura C.]

Finished Month 3!!!

[Toni J.]