Block For Mary

Hello Everyone,

Mary, it is done!  Actually, I must confess... I finished it on the last day of January.

I have been procrastinating sending it out because I love it so much and it looks fantastic on my design wall.  But alas, it will be in the mail tomorrow!  

I love it and I hope you do too!

Until Next Time...

Blocks for Mary and Jackie

When Jackie's block packet arrived in the mail, then and only then did I realize that I hadn't yet done Mary's block from the month before!

Seeing as how they were both foundation pieced, and given that I tend to procrastinate on things I'm not especially proficient at, I figured I'd better just jump in and do them both without stopping, or I'd just get even further behind.

So . . . I did . . . and here's Mary's . . .
And here are Jackie's! So glad to be done, and neither one of them was nearly as bad as I had myself imagining them to be. Whew!
Now I have the rest of the month to "rest on my laurels", meaning . . . to work on my Laurel Leaf quilt. I just got another block in the mail today -- thanks Jessica!

Block for Mary

I had fun piecing this, thanks to Mary's vellum, Tara's cutting map and Jackie's excellent tutorial!

Still, it seems like it came out a little lop-sided.  I may have cut one of the square blocks on the wrong line??  I've tried and tried to figure it out with no success.  I ended up re-sewing the 4 blocks together in a different way.   I'll go ahead and send it.  Mary, maybe you can figure out where I went wrong.  If you send more fabric and vellums, I'll be happy to do it over again!    

Spinning Geese

Hi Mary,
Here is my blog for you! This was fun to work on! I hope you like it and that I did okay. Thanks for the extra fabric. It was just the ticket! I can't wait to see how you finish this one! This will go out in the mail next week.

Stephanie

geese!

I was able to get my circle of geese quilt block done yesterday. This may be my best paper pieced block to date. Tara filled me in on all the tips and tricks that were shared here on the blog and some of her own from personal experience, too. Thank you, Tara! I was hesitant to cut out the shapes by templates, thinking it would be uber confusing (paper piecing is tricky enough to start with), but I learned that it actually helped a ton. I hate wasting fabric, so this was a great solution for saving fabric while paper piecing. Woo-hoo!

I added 3/8" seam allowance to all the pieces of the templates, then fit them together like a puzzle before cutting them out. In a few hours my block was completed!

Mary, I popped it in the mail today. And I left the trimming to you. :)

Working on Mary's Block

Gang,

I have to share with you what happened to me today. I decided to start working on Mary's block. I really enjoy paper piecing. I loved Mary's suggestion (and still do) of making a paper template of the pieces for the block. I decided to do that. I cut up a paper pattern, and I folded the fabric in four layers. I laid out the pieces on the appropriate colors, and I cut them out roughly. I tend to add a generous amount when cutting out shapes for paper piecing, because the funny angles can be deceiving about how much fabric you need. I decided I'd cut them all out and put piece #1 in a sandwich bag along with the pattern piece, #2 in another bag along with the pattern piece, etc. I started putting the pieces in the plastic bags.

That's when I saw piece #9 sitting on the table with no red fabric to go with it.

My first thought (after, "NO!"....) was, "Sh**! I already cut up all the red fabric."

Yep. Had to e-mail Mary and beg her for a little more fabric. (I felt like Oliver Twist...."Please, sir. May I have a little more?") LOL.

All I need is to cut out four of piece #9.

Mary was so gracious and is going to send it to me. How embarrassing.

Gang, I am really not totally inept. Promise!

I did sew one of the blocks, all for piece #9. It went together great. So, the strategy of precutting really worked great for me. Just make sure you get all the pieces laid out before you cut! haha! (And do cut generously, too! I cut at least 1/2" extra on all sides.) Having the pieces in plastic bags is a huge help. I use one out of the first bag, move it to a new pile, come back to the table after sewing, pull one from the second bag, etc. Really smooth.

I haven't used the vellum before for paper piecing. It's sweet. I think that will make tearing the paper off really easy.

Oh, and I asked Mary what the "extend here" part meant on the pattern piece. She said we should let the fabric "run wild" on that edge....that is, don't trim to the 1/4" line. I imagine it's so she can trim them when they are all done so they are the exact same size. Just thought I'd mention it.

Have fun paper piecing!

Stephanie