Month 1 Blocks

[Kelly G.]

I'm so glad someone asked the question about the 5 1/2" squares.....I'm just sitting down to do mine and found they had nothing to match up with! I'll save them for a later month though!

Kelly

[Rhonda B.]

I have finished the first months blocks and hve posted them on show and tell. Now onto Hugs and Kisses

[Jo H.]

Okay, I'm not a good paper piecer and I admit it.

I'm trying out this month's 6 inch blocks. I print the paper templates and followed the directions. I must have done something wrong because I need to print out more templates in order to have enough pieces to complete the 6 blocks. Did anyone else find they were short on half-square triangles? I spread them all out in the order they should be sewn together and that's how I knew I needed to sew more.

I'm pretty pleased with how the block went together. All of the points line up well but there are a couple of seams that are pretty thick. Are others pressing these seams open on the back? This doesn't appear to be a block that will press nice and flat or am I just too afraid to press!!!

JoJo

[Jo H.]

JoJo, I can't answer your question because I didn't make my blocks (picture just posted) the way Sue calls for. I used some flying geese units for the outer star points. That meant I had to pick and choose which half-square triangles to make, so I just looked at the pictures and counted what I needed. I also made enough to have the leftover ones that she said to save for later.

I'm not going to do the appliqué quilt. I've tried appliqué and have been reasonably successful with many methods, both by hand and machine, but find I really don't enjoy it. On the other hand, by watching Carol Doak's paper piecing DVD I've come to really enjoy the paper-piecing process and have gotten a lot better at it.

[Jo H.]

JoJo, I forgot to mention. I did press a lot of the seams open. When we did the 2009 quilt, Sue suggested doing it this way and I found that it helped a lot. My blocks lay flatter and were more accurate as far as their sizes were concerned.

[peg j.]

JoJo, I'm not sure why you didn't have enough 1/2 square triangles. I printed out one of each page in the instructions and ended up with just the right amount for the blocks and the leftovers Sue said there would be. Could you have missed a page? The only error I noticed was that we did not need the 5 1/2 squares mentioned in the cutting directions. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
I also press all my seams open in the star blocks. It's more tedious but I learned from the 2009 BOM that it's worth the time - the blocks lay much flatter.

[Jo H.]

JoJo, I'm not sure why you didn't have enough 1/2 square triangles. I printed out one of each page in the instructions and ended up with just the right amount for the blocks and the leftovers Sue said there would be. Could you have missed a page? The only error I noticed was that we did not need the 5 1/2 squares mentioned in the cutting directions. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
I also press all my seams open in the star blocks. It's more tedious but I learned from the 2009 BOM that it's worth the time - the blocks lay much flatter.

Oops... you were right. I had a page missing! Guess I'd better check each page from now on once they print. Thanks for thinking of that. I was stumped.

JoJo

[Jo H.]

JoJo, I forgot to mention. I did press a lot of the seams open. When we did the 2009 quilt, Sue suggested doing it this way and I found that it helped a lot. My blocks lay flatter and were more accurate as far as their sizes were concerned.

Thanks for telling me about pressing the seams open. It made a huge difference on the two blocks I finished last night.

JoJo

[Margo C.]

If you check my tutorial for January, I show how I "twirl" the center intersection to make it lay flat!

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...76125610kIOCkI

[Jo H.]

If you check my tutorial for January, I show how I "twirl" the center intersection to make it lay flat!

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...76125610kIOCkI

Thanks Margo. I looked at the pictures (love your fabric colors by the way), and it looks like you cut the fabric at the center and then pressed it. Am I understanding the picture right?

P.S. I should have done flying geese and will next time. I wasn't thinking and just sewed all of the half squares together and that's why certain areas were kind of tough to sew and flatten the seams.

JoJo

[Margo C.]

No, no, JoJo! Don't cut the fabric! You just need to loosen the stitches of the previous seam, and you can usually do that by just mashing with just your thumbs, or picking them out with a seam ripper.

Try it, you will like it! And the starch helps a LOT!

[Mary H.]

Is anyone having this problem or is it just me??? All my HST's are about 1/8" too small (and I have them all made for this month). I checked and double checked the scale of my printer with the printed test square in the instructions. I was out of thread when I sewed them, but I used a prefilled bobbin for the top and bottom thread. When I got to my LQS for some Masterpiece thread I compared the two and they are the same size. This is very frustrating. Any suggestions? Mary

[Mary H.]

Mary, I don't know what your problem might be, if you checked the 1" box and it measured correctly. Could you be sewing slightly to the wrong side of the lines? Mine came out to be the right size.

[Mary H.]

Nope, sewing right on the lines.

[Margo C.]

Mary, if you checked the 1" test square, the paper pieced HSTs should come out to the right size. Could you please run another copy and check the test square and make a couple more units to see if they come out to the right size? Let us know how it goes.