No Way! Not Doing It.

I didn't sew much this week but I do have a little bit to show you.




First, what's a sewing session without a blooper? So I started with that!

(I swear I don't do these on purpose.) (Just notice I have the same fabric twice in this one. Darn!) (Nah! It will be fine once it is fenced in by the other blocks.)

Got it fix.

Now that that's done and out of the way, the rest of the session should go like a breeze, right? Of course!

Three different size headaches on my design wall.

Next block for the 365 Challenge is

Our Editor with 24 pieces. I think the bottom needs a little bit of editing.

Then comes October 13, Puss in the Corner.

I've never seen Puss in the Corner made this way but it makes a nice block.

I looked at the next block for October 14: Bachelor's Puzzle. And I said "NO WAY!"

"NO WAY!" 

What does the Bachelor's Puzzle look like, you ask.

It looks like this:

If you know me at all, you know I don't like Y-seams and they don't like me right back. Have you noticed how many Y-seams are in this 3.5 inches block? Look again. Look closely!

Waaaayyyy too many for this little girl. And that's in a 3.5 inches block!

"NO WAY!" I am not doing this one.


So, I went searching for another block.

Kathryn (designer of 365 Challenge) is so considerate of people's different levels of expertise, that she added a few "bonus" blocks during the year and I was smart enough to save them.

Somewhere during the year, it was my birthday, right? (yes, I grew older too even if it doesn't show much, lol)  So for this quilt, let's pretend it is October 14, okay?

Who said no?
Oh, com'on, Pink! play along, please?       Thank you! :^D


So I picked the Birthday Cake Block.

Ta-Dah!

Much easier.  More pieces though but still, they were 29 easy pieces to sew.

Voilà! That's where I'm at.



Oh yes! I did fondle some purple too.

One little 9-Patch and more purple fabric pressed and waiting on the ironing board. Hopefully I can play with my sewing machine some more this weekend.

Have a great one.

;^)

Joining Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Singing the Y-Seam Blues

Part of my OMG is to finish the blocks of Westering Women (by Barbara Brackman). Well, the ladies have a broken wheel on one of the wagons and they are singing the Y-seam Blues with me!

I was real proud of my August block Chimney Rock.

Armed with more confidence, I set to assemble September's block which is Sage bud. More Y-seams then I dare to count. But one at a time is all I can sew, right? It started pretty good actually.

The first seam with the yellow fabric was very good and the next one acceptable.

Same with this unit.

The more I added, the better it looked.

Then the fourth unit is ... to be unstitched.  It won't lay flat at all. It warps. ARGH!! So I restitched, and unstitched, and re-restitched and ... I examined the others, trying to find what I was doing differently. During the examination, I realized something.  The block is to finish at 12.5 inches so each unit has to be 6.5, right? Well, they are not! WHAT???

I took out the template (sorry but it is misbehaving today) and examined it a bit.

I copied this template as is and started to sew. It doesn't say "add seam allowances" so I didn't add ANY seam allowances. It makes no sense, the units are too small.  I went back to Barbara's blog and she does say it in the post : must add seam allowances. (paste huge sigh of discouragement here) THAT's what happen when you do a BOM block months later. You forget little important details! Angry at myself for wasting fabric, time and patience but it will past.

So if I am to start all these units over AGAIN, where I might end up making another big mess of the last y-seam, I might as well EPP it!! (EPP=English Paper Piecing)

Got some old Christmas cards some businesses sent to the office and drew the templates. Adding the seam allowances as I cut the fabrics.

This evening, I will keeping Kathy company, watching Mercy Street and Victoria on PBS while we both slow stitch, each on our own project.

To make sure my templates are the right size, I have started to assemble one.

Ooohhh! Can't wait for the supper's dishes to be done. It's going to be so much fun! Come and join us. Pick a needle and a project, and come share it with us. You can find Kathy right here. 


Until next time ... the Westering Women are getting that wheel fix real good!

;^)

Monday's Promises and Y Seams

Boy, am I proud of my work this week? YES m'am!

Sometimes we don't do much; sometimes we sew up a storm. Well, I did one better: I tackled one of my fears! (\O_ O/)

Let's see.

The Westering Women made it to June on their journey. Then they stopped in Nebraska for a very long time. Well, it's time to get them going again. This weekend, I gathered them back together with the basket of fabrics and started to cut the block for July. It was an easy block.

Courthouse Rock.

Then I cut the fabrics for the August's block; the dreaded Chimney Rock with the Y seams!!

My first plan was to cut the pattern up in order to eliminate all those Y seams but I thought if I want to learn I need to practice. Right? So ...

Armed with patience and much apprehension, I sat at my sewing machine, then I stopped.

I turned the computer on and started to google a few videos.

Needless to say I have wasted a good hour on that ... but did find what I was looking for. (along with a whole lot more not relevant to quilts!)


Now better armed with patience, less apprehension and an undeniably  great technique, I started to assemble the Chimney Rock.

Ta-da!

I truly surprised myself. No cursing, swearing, frustration and no sense of failure in any of the 12.5 inches of this block. I am so proud of myself. Best bonus; it lays flat. Flat like a pancake! In the beginning of the year, we had to make a Gumtree leaf block. (Can't remember which month, but anywho!) I made it with the usual method of sewing Y seams as it is explain in all the books I have.

My block looks like this. It is a very good effort but just an effort nonetheless.  I hope the quilting will tame these "bubbles" in the middle as it doesn't lay flat at all.
With the new (to me) method, I can even show you the back of Chimney Rock with no worries. Not going to do that with the Gumtree block. :^{

Yay! me. Will I redo the Gumtree leaf? Don't know yet.

The tutorial I found is from Kaye Wood. Her technique goes against all technique I have seen, read and hear on how to sew Y seams. If you are interested, you can see Kaye Wood's tutorial here. 
Not sure how that method works when you have rows upon rows of tumbling blocks but for this block, it worked like a charm.

Here are the two newest blocks. The Westering ladies are now in Wyoming and are closer to their goals and so am I. Only four more blocks to go to finish Westering Women BOM. The block for September is also full of Y seams, so I'll put the new technique through another test this week.

Last week, I also squared up some blocks and started to assemble the border  ...

... on the 365 Challenge.
The right border is all done and the left is slowly getting there too.

It will be nice when all the borders are attached and I can get my floor back. The borders are one foot each so it is growing big real fast. I barely have enough room to tiptoe around it. It is now spread for the picture but when you are not looking, it is folded up somewhat.

These are the things that will keep me busy this week. What about your week? Care to share with us? Join us at :

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward 

Chances are you will be inspired.




Until next time ....  y seams await their faith!

;^)

OMG February

I didn't do so well with my January OMG.  :^{  

The ideas and inspirations took too much of my time and then I was "absorbed" into another quilt. The design was finally decided and it is only a matter of STARTING it now. The first step is sometimes the hardest.

 So, I have put that project on the back burner for the moment as, once again, Plan B has showed up.


My goal for February is to have all the blocks done for two different tops. Is that too much?  In 28 days?



The first one is the BOM Westering Women. The main reason for this is that I need the fabrics. I mean, I usually set aside in a basket or box, the fabrics I intend to use on a project so I don't use them all up on something else. 

projects under the quilting frame

Unfortunately, this method does restrict me.  Sometimes, I forget about a certain fabric and miss using a bit in a great block and sometimes I'll look for hours for it before remembering it's in the restricted zone for another project. :^{ 

There's a lot of fabric here. The basket is more than half full and it measures 24 X 14 X 10 inches deep. AND it's starting to be a mess in there. 

Since the blocks from January to June were made, I need to finish July to December.  I 've kept all the patterns on my computer so I can tackle this BOM anytime. Some blocks have lots of Y-seams or inset seams. Either way you call this, it is still "Yuck" to me. I might have to "reform" some of the units on certain blocks.

January to June blocks in no particular order

The second project is for a new quilt. Yes, I want to make a quilt for a little 17 month old boy. :^)  This means I am starting ( ) another project. (at your discretion, you may insert "yet again" in the blank space.)

I would like something FAST but FUN. I am thinking an I-SPY kind of quilt. I am very inspired by Sarah's quilt  seen here.



The cutting has started.

The stars will be a calm yellow.

Now I am not crazy and yes, I do need to sleep, so my goal is to only make the blocks. If I get beyond that, it'll be a bonus but 28 days can go by so fast.



Linking up with Patty at Elms Street Quilts for OMG! 

Until next time ... I spy with my little eye ...

;^)