Friday, May 09, 2008

New Blocks done for my Dear Jane quilt

I had a nice afternoon yesterday with my quilter friends. I got out the Dear Jane tote and made three blocks. I whipped out a couple of quick and easy blocks to get me in the mood, then tackled the last block of Row C.

The first block I did was I-2 , Kaye's Courtyard. Easy as could be, just a simple 9-patch set on point. The measurements for the 9-patch were a little finicky, but it came out just as perfect as could be. I'm not troubled by working with sixteenths of an inch because I had a ruler when I first started out that was actually printed a sixteenth of an inch off so I always had to measure that little extra to make my blocks come out right. Now I'm quite good at eyeballing that space between the eighths!
The second Block I did was I-1. For this one I wanted to use a civil war reproduction that was given to me by my fellow Dear Jane quilter, but I totally miscalculated the large squares and cut them 1/4 inch too small. Since I discovered this after cutting and sewing the 9-patches I faced a dilema - my decision was to add a second blue fabric to the block. My original plan was to use a different blue in each square, one blue per square. Well, I've already accidently duplicated a couple of fabrics, so what's the problem with making a block with two blues? I found one that worked, and finished the block. No one will ever notice!

Now that I was all warmed up and in the mood I decided to tack C-13. I've been stalled on this one for a while due to fabric choices. Well, since I've gone over the line and used two fabrics, I stepped all the way over and not only used 2 fabrics, but I used three fabrics, and one of them is red!!! Talk about pushing the boundaries! To tell you the truth I'm liking the red white and blue block, and may add a few more subltle dashes of red. After all this is an election year, and I think it is quite appropriate to the quilt. This block also had some finicky small measurements, ant the finished size of those triangles is 3/8 of an inch. That's a small triangle! Big thanks to the tips in Sally Collins book on precision piecing - sew larger and cut down to size is the trick with these little babies!

Acually there is one more block in the C row and then it will be done. It's an applique block, and my pieces are ready to sew, so when I'm ready for a sit-down break this afternoon, I'll be doing that. Hopefully I can get in the grove of making a block a day or so. If I can do that I could get the top done this year. Wouldn't that be fabulous?

Hope your day is sew wonderful, too!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that flash of red, I think it's really effective.

pchickki said...

This is so pretty Pam. Your work is fabulous!

OCEAN Buddy
Patti