Schedule Change

Just a reminder that we will not be able to use our building for sewing Tuesday, April 28.

Next sewing days are: Friday and Saturday Sewing on May 8 & 9th

Hope to see you then!

Wonky Square blocks

How are you doing on your wonky squares blocks?

Don't be surprised of they look like this when you are done. These are all OK! I'll trim them once I have them all back. These 3 are all going to be perfect in the quilt.

April's Block - Wonky Square in a Square

Our April block is a wonky square in a square block. The fabrics you have from the meeting are patriotic. These photos are from blocks that I'm making for another quilt. The blocks that you make will be made into a Quilt of Valor.

 

 

It's a pretty straight forward block to make but we want to make these blocks so that each "square" is complete without cut off corners like the block on the left. We want to avoid having blocks look like the one on the right.

 

You have 3 fabrics. Stack them together and cut them all at once.

 

 

 

The first 2 cuts are diagonal on opposite corners. They are wonky so they can be at any angle but at least one end of the cut should extend beyond the middle of the block (white lines).

 

 

The next cuts are on the other corners. Cut these far enough into the block so that end edges are blunt, not pointy like is shown in the white circle. This is how you make sure that none of the corners are cut off.

 

That's the outside square done.

 



Next we cut the middle square. Cut it with the same rules. The ends of the cuts should extend beyond the middle of the shape.

 

 

Cut the other 2 corners again with wide blunt edges. That leaves the center shape. Don't worry about how small this might be. It's OK!

 

 

Now sort the fabrics so that you have some of each fabric in each of the 3 blocks. I take the top fabric from the 4 outside corners and put it on the bottom and then take the bottom fabric from the center and put it on top.

 

 

Now, sew your 3 blocks together. Sew the pieces together in the reverse order of how you cut them. The blunt cut corners get sewn first. It's easy to get things out of order with these wonky shapes so give yourself a system to keep everything in order and turned in the right direction.

 

 

As you sew these wonky shapes together you will need to trim off edges so that you have an even edge to sew to.

 

When your 3 blocks are done you are done. Don't trim them. Once I get all the blocks back I will measure them and cut them to the largest possible size.



Veteran's Quilts 13 - 20

It's only April and I've reached half of my goal for the year. I set 40 as my target (and limit) for quilting veteran's quilts so that I make sure I set aside time to quilt my own quilts. Last week I decided to roll through as many of the ones I have here as I can.

I'll be taking a break from veteran's quilts for a few months and will start taking them again in July. I have several of my own quilts that I need to focus on for a while. Besides we are basically out of backing fabric so I could only quilt a couple more right now anyway.

Here are the quilts that I'll be bringing to the Friday sewing and the meeting on Tuesday.

This one was donated by a blog reader and needs someone to bind it.

This is another donation that needs binding.

 

These 2 were also donated and Elsa has volunteered to bind them.



Spraying starch

Carrie Nelson writes a nice blog for Moda Fabrics and I want to share this blog with you - a tool to make starching fabric much easier. You can buy these anywhere they sell spray paint, and it can be used on any spray can!



It works like a charm with no pressure on your index finger.

Happy spraying!