Don't try this at home!!!!!

Wow - that Lexi is a pretty time consuming dog.  But what a personality and now she tells me that she has so many stories that she wants to blog every day.   "WHOA!  I said!   I don't think so." She's off sulking!  But if you want to read her latest adventure - check out her blog.

Well last night was Saturday night and you know what that means in my house.  Yep - a meeting with that DAMN BOOK.  I still haven't named it yet - but I must.  Well I have a confession - I skipped the meeting - actually I postponed it to Sunday morning.   Actually I was hoping to do the same thing as last weekend and have the meeting on Sunday morning to try and finish off the 365 Block Challenge blocks.  However that didn't happen - have a look why.

So here are the blocks I was working on.   Oh how pretty and look at those points - not bad for matching - not perfect, but good enough.

February 1 block

February 2 block

Do you see what I see????   Oh yes - these don't look super hard except.................

Look at the size of them....................

These are THREE INCH blocks!!!!!

Wowie - by the time I rooted through the scrap box to find pieces.  OK - so yes - I could just hack off some fabric, but NO - if the requirement is for a 1" strip - then I try to find a 1 inch strip.  Oh yes - there is definitely a crazy streak to my mentalility.   It's like a puzzle or a challenge to find something just right size wise.

And then there is the actual construction of them.  Make those half square triangles and trim - to 1 1/4". SERIOUSLY????   That is pretty teeny tiny!!!!!

And let's not forget the pressing.  Someone asked me yesterday how to deal with the seams and my response is EXACTLY the same way as if you were doing a big block.   No need to press open.  Nope - I spun seams where appropriate and then nested seam allowances and I have to say that I even learned a new trick.

Beautifully pressed block

This might get technical and you may not understand but hopefully you will because it's cool.  Normally when you twirl seams (like the four patches above), you twirl them all in the same direction.  If you don't, the seams won't match up properly.  

In the block below, those four patches do NOT touch each other and there is one seam inbetween them.  So if you twirled the seams all in the same direction - two seams would not match.  And on this small of a block - that would be bulky.  So I figured out (why does it take so long sometimes?)  that if I twirled two in one direction and the other two in the opposite direction that everything would match up just nice and it did!!!!

All seams match!!!!!

The two matching twirling blocks are in opposite corners from each other.  Hopefully you can see in the picture above what I'm talking about.

I won't tell you how long it took to make these two blocks and there is ONE more with teeny half square triangles for Feb 3.  Then she moves onto something else. I still hope to get them all done today, but I also have a lot of quilting to do today.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about - here is the quilt.  And here is the link.

365 Block Challenge

If you are making these blocks - don't get discouraged.  Just remember to do everything for the small blocks EXACTLY the same way you do the big ones.  No need to press seams open, no need to trim seam allowances, use steam, use your stilleto (quilter's awl) and that 1/4" seam allowance is ABSOLUTELY imperative!!!!   Good luck and if you have blocks - I want to see them!!!!!

I "stole" this picture from Facebook.   A friend is making this quilt as well and I LOVE the colors that she is using.   Thanks for letting me pilfer your picture!!!!!

January blocks 

Although I haven't checked the BOOK yet - I know that I must have accomplished at least half of the tasks last week so that was a good week.

On that note - I have some e-mails to get out this morning and I better get started.

Have an awesome day!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!