Day Five

This morning I decided to wake up at a decent hour (about 9am) and pick out a block to quilt and try to complete it by the afternoon. The reason for this is I know I won't have a chance to quilt tomorrow, so I wanted to be sure to get at least a little practice in before I started the day. 

I went to McCall's website and found the Chinese Coin Block. I decided do try my hand at this because it was similar to the Bridle Block (day 3), but it had a fun outside border, and only used three colors which was a perfect way to start using my peacock fabric! 

Because the pattern called for me to cut squares and strips I had to start with my large pieces of fabric and get them broken down into something I could cut on my 18 by 24" cutting mat. Once I had the fabrics broken down and ironed I set to cutting my squares out. There were quite a few smaller pieces for this one so I ended doing a lot of sewing. I've really gotten much better at matching my seams when adding rows together, makes me happy! The only part I struggled with on this one was my Half Square Triangles (HST). The HST in the pattern were 3 7/8" by 3 7/8", I knew from my 101 class that I should give myself that extra 1/8th inch and just go 4 by 4. This was helpful but I didn't cut my material as straight as I thought because when I was squaring up (cutting the HST's down to the required 3.5" size post sew), my edges weren't straight. This meant that when I finally combined everything together my 1/4" seam allowance on the HST triangle that connects to the Pastel in Row 2 on the Left side, the fabrics meet but aren't actually sown together for about 1/2 an inch. Oops! I didn't want to make a new HST, so I just went with it. If I decide someday to use this in a quilt or make something out of it I will rip the seams and fix it, but until that day-- this is practice. :) 

Completed Chinese Coin-- What do you think of the Peacock Fabric? I love it!!

Christmas Quilting on Thanksgiving!

Day Four:

On Thanksgiving Morning I had a few hours of quiet to work on some quilting. I spent the first 20 minute of the morning ripping out the seam the last row of the Bridle Block I created on Day 3 at 2am :) I finally came to my sense and realized that even though the snowmen would be upside down, they'd look a whole lot better with the blue and white fabric going in the same direction as the rest of the block. It took me about 40 minutes all together to remove the seam between the 2nd and 3rd row, and between the end squares and blue/white blocks, but I was able to piece the block back together with much prettier results.

Ok, Day Four Means Perfection instead of Practice.

After feeling I had a successful block with the Bridle pattern I went back to McCall's website and picked out the Log Cabin Block. Part of the reason I chose this block was because I really wanted to let my snowmen get their featured role, since they all got cut in half in the Bridle block!  This block took about an hour and a half from cutting, sewing, and pressing but it was very easy to follow along and turned out beautifully. I even did a great job of ironing to the dark (which helps the block lay flat and look super nice)! 

My plan is to add batting and a backing and make it a table topper.. when I learn to do those things of course.

After this block was completed it was time to get the Thanksgiving Festivities started. When I returned home about 8pm I chose another square to try. This time I picked one with just two fabrics, it is a Shoo-Fly Block. Partly I choose this because I've really only been using the fun Christmas fabrics and I need to go out and get more variety to play with.  I cut out all of the pieces, ironed them and then arranged them and then took them to the sewing machine. I really enjoyed this block because it didn't need me to pin any of the squares as I fed them through the machine :) I think it turned out really nicely, but my husband informed me it reminds him of a Ninja Star with Christmas Fabric so he wouldn't encourage me to use it in an actual quilt.

What are you thoughts? Ninja star or Great Block Pattern?