Snow Days

Hello everyone in the Snow Days class. I have posted some pictures of some of the stuff from the weekend to help you remember what we talked about.

For those of you who are NOT doing Snow Days, you might still want to read this post as there are some interesting tips and tools that are presented.

Snow Days - pattern by Crabapple Hill. It is very hard to see in the picture, but there is embroidery around that center group of pieced blocks

The floss "recommended" by the designer - Number 8049 by Cosmo. The floss variegation is very subtle.   

The closest alternative of variegated by DMC. The variegation is a bit more pronounced in this thread, but a close match to the COSMO

The solid colours by DMC that are the closest to the colours in the COSMO 8049, You could use one strand of one colour and another strand of another to get your colours. 

A sample of the different flosses stitched out. The bottom is COSMO 8049, the center is the DMC variegated and the top is two different flosses used together (one strand of each)

Here is the homework for the month of January.............

We are making ALL the churn dash blocks. Two - 12" blocks, four - 9" blocks and six - 6" blocks. I will likely remake TWO of those blocks - the top left (very heavy looking block) and the middle one on the bottom - again very heavy and that will draw the eye in.

Some are in the middle and some are in the border - here I have highlighted the churn dash blocks for you to see. 

(Note - the sizes mentioned below refer to the 12" block)
In the pattern, the cutting and piecing instructions have you make the Half Square Triangles (required for the corners) by cutting ONE 4 1/2" square of light and dark for EACH corner. You draw a diagonal line from corner to corner and then stitch 1/4" away from that line. After trimming - the leftover is in fact a LEFTOVER - you do not use it for something else. This is one of the reasons you "need" to have so much fabric.

See - the triangle on the left is LEFTOVER

 Another method to make the HST is to cut a five inch square of the light and dark and then make TWO half square triangles. Nothing is wasted and you have to trim down slightly.

TWO half square triangles made from 5" squares

 OR - you could cut a strip that is 4 1/2" and get all your pieces from that ONE strip.

Here I have cut TWO half square triangles from a piece that measures 4 1/2" by 5 1/4".

How did I do that?????   Below are TWO tools that make this cutting a snap...............

IF you have Marti Michell templates you can use the triangles templates to cut the HST. You will need both set A and Set B (B for the 12 and 6 inch blocks and A for the 9 inch blocks)

OR

You can use this MULTI SIZE tool called the Easy Angle by EZ Quilting. 

These last two tools take into account that "lost" dog ear that you cut off HST and so you can get away with cutting HST from a strip that is the same size at the squares required (in this case 4 1/2")


By cutting this way - there is little or no waste and the fabric requirements can be significantly less!!!!


If you have any questions - let me know.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!