Laura Nownes

[Nancy R.]

Very nice, Rosemary! I love the soft colors of your hand dyes. They're going to look wonderful together!

Nancy

[Nancy R.]

Very nice, Rosemary! I love the soft colors of your hand dyes. They're going to look wonderful together!

Nancy

They are louder in the 'flesh', I was working on them last night & the electric light does them no favours.

[Nancy R.]

I've just cut my 4 1/4 inch squares and ready to put them together, so I'm glad that I've read these posts before beginning the sewing. I will try to keep the seam scant, for sure.

However,...it may be a while because my dogs just died, my feed dogs, that is. I had them down for some beginning adventures in FMQ, which Lois had encouraged me to do, and now they won't come back up, no matter what I do. I guess the machine will have to go into the repair shop,. I hope it doesn't take too long, I really want to do this project, and had wanted to keep pace. :?

[Marianne G.]

Part 2

I then pressed the seams to the dark side
Redrew the diagonal line onto the dark half, with a chalk pencil(this was the only one I pinned :P

and chain stitched 1/4" either side of the diagonal line again.

Rosemary, I tried the same technique yesterday but ended up with patches that are too small despite using the same method I used for the HSTs. I will do a second lot today reducing the SA on either side of the line by a smidgen and see if I get a better result. I have starched my fabric for these so they should be very stable. Thanks for the photos - always helpful. I often find step-by-step photos more helpful than a video
Marianne

[Nancy R.]

I've just cut my 4 1/4 inch squares and ready to put them together, so I'm glad that I've read these posts before beginning the sewing. I will try to keep the seam scant, for sure.

However,...it may be a while because my dogs just died, my feed dogs, that is. I had them down for some beginning adventures in FMQ, which Lois had encouraged me to do, and now they won't come back up, no matter what I do. I guess the machine will have to go into the repair shop,. I hope it doesn't take too long, I really want to do this project, and had wanted to keep pace. :?

Just to make sure, since it sounds like you haven't dropped them before, did you try sewing after pushing the button to put them in the up position? You probably already know this, but thought I check just in case. On my machines, you push the "feed dogs down" button again to put them in the up position, but they don't actually move until your first stitch. You probably tried this, but wanted to make sure just in case.

Nancy

[Marianne G.]

However,...it may be a while because my dogs just died, my feed dogs, that is. I had them down for some beginning adventures in FMQ, which Lois had encouraged me to do, and now they won't come back up, no matter what I do. I guess the machine will have to go into the repair shop,. I hope it doesn't take too long, I really want to do this project, and had wanted to keep pace. :?

Rotten luck! I had a machine that did that to me - turned out it was a fault with that range of machines so I got it repaired under warranty. I ended up selling it because it did not live up to expectations. I hope yours can be repaired quickly and without being expensive. Have you got another machine you can use for piecing so you can keep going?
Marianne

[Nancy R.]

I love your the sashing you designed in EQ7. Don't have the software but would love to do something like that with my blocks. Every time I see them I am more and more intrigued. Nice work.

Hi Lois -

This frame would be very easy to draft yourself, if you wanted to use it. The frame itself just looks like this:

It ended up being an 8" finished block so would just fit on a piece of paper if drafting by hand. Since I was printing it using my computer, I had to print across two sheets of paper and tape them together. And it's some of the simplest paper-piecing you can do! The hardest part is centering the pieced block in the middle, which I just do using the sliding glass door as a lightbox.

Nancy

[Nancy R.]

Thanks for the tip about the dogs, I will try it.
And, thank so very very much for posting that pic on the framed block. I just love it!

[Lois B.]

Thanks Nancy, I have been so psyched to try this but I didn't want to be stealing your design. I need to wait until I start adding some of the more graphic fabrics to the mix which will come with the stars and log cabin blocks to see what I would want to put in those amazing sashes. So I am asking official permission to use your design. Please? This is FUN!!

[Renata L.]

Well worth the wait for photos, Rosemary. Your hand-dyes look wonderful and I can imagine them looking even better in the daylight! Your explanation of how you went about making your blocks was interesting too.

[Renata L.]

Part 2

I then pressed the seams to the dark side
Redrew the diagonal line onto the dark half, with a chalk pencil(this was the only one I pinned :P

and chain stitched 1/4" either side of the diagonal line again.

Rosemary, I tried the same technique yesterday but ended up with patches that are too small despite using the same method I used for the HSTs. I will do a second lot today reducing the SA on either side of the line by a smidgen and see if I get a better result. I have starched my fabric for these so they should be very stable. Thanks for the photos - always helpful. I often find step-by-step photos more helpful than a video
Marianne

Glad to be of help. The 4 1/4" measurement seems to be an exact size, with no extra fudge room for generous seams. As an aside, you have checked how wide your 1/4" foot actually stitches for your lining up. If in doubt I would go for a scant/bare 1/4" seam, but it is always a case of getting to know your set-up

[Marianne G.]

Glad to be of help. The 4 1/4" measurement seems to be an exact size, with no extra fudge room for generous seams. As an aside, you have checked how wide your 1/4" foot actually stitches for your lining up. If in doubt I would go for a scant/bare 1/4" seam, but it is always a case of getting to know your set-up

Rosemary, I am not using a 1/4" foot but an ordinary foot and have drawn lines in front of the needle according to the measurements on my ruler like Laura showed for the HSTs. I am now about to sew together the second batch where I made sure the point of the squares where slightly inside the line on the paper. They look as if they are slightly more accurate than the last lot.
Next batch will be made with the SAs pressed open to see if that is what makes the difference.
Did you use 2 different red fabrics for yours. It looks like it on my screen but not entirely sure. Your quilt will have a very fresh look to it when finished.
Marianne

[Annis C.]

Too many posts this morning to reply but skimmed over them. I always add 1-1/2" to the finished block size instead of the exact 1-1/4" when making quarter-square triangles. I should have mentioned this in an earlier post. And I usually piece them similar to the way Rosemary did unless I need lots of them from the same fabric. The only difference is I clip the seam in the middle after sewing the first seams so I can twirl the seams when pressing with one half going to the dark and the other half going to the light. Then when doing the second set of seams I can twirl the seams again and they will all be going in the same direction.

[Marianne G.]

Too many posts this morning to reply but skimmed over them. I always add 1-1/2" to the finished block size instead of the exact 1-1/4" when making quarter-square triangles. I should have mentioned this in an earlier post. And I usually piece them similar to the way Rosemary did unless I need lots of them from the same fabric. The only difference is I clip the seam in the middle after sewing the first seams so I can twirl the seams when pressing with one half going to the dark and the other half going to the light. Then when doing the second set of seams I can twirl the seams again and they will all be going in the same direction.

Just finished my second lot and they are better but still leaves a lot to be desired. When you say you clip the seam in the middle after the first seam do you mean in the middle of the individual hour glass units or already at the HST stage?
TIA
Marianne

[Renata L.]

Marianne, go down in this thread to the one Margo wrote to me telling me how to do just what you asked about. If you follow Margo's instructions faithfully while looking at the pictures Lois subsequently posted, you should have no problem doing exactly what Annis explained in her most recent post. Hope this makes sense... :wink: