I only did one because I find if I'm making mistakes when I sew at night it is better to just quit and give it a rest.
The bottom two hearts will be going to Angels in Gumboots. Their goal is to make 50 quilts for survivors of the shooting in New Zealand. Check out the directions and other information on The Joyful Quilter Blog. The blocks finish at 6.5". If you read through all the information you will see that some colors and fabric designs would not be appropriate. Also at the bottom you see you can mail your blocks to Joy with a dollar or two to help defray the postage costs and she'll mail them on. Thank you Joy for making it so easy for us to help with this project.
I started making these blocks tonight and yes, I did make a mistake or two but I decided I wanted to finish the two I started. But here's the brilliant thing I did.
At the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show I purchased a Corner Pop ruler by Deb Tucker or Studio 180. As I was making these I realized the ruler would help with the lower triangles. Brilliant. Earlier in the week I watched a video about using the ruler. It seemed straight forward when I watched the demo at the show. I re-read the directions (more skimmed for the info I needed.) Here's the main process -- cut off the correct amount on the base fabric, cut an enlarged triangle to put on the cut edge and then trim it to the correct size. Sounds easy peasy. And guess what! It definitely is.
First I trimmed the excess from where the triangle is going to be placed. This will be the bottom of the heart. The directions were to cut a 2.5" square and mark the center line, sew and then flip. The top of the heart used 1" squares which are too small for the ruler.
The directions said to cut a 3.5" square and cut apart on the diagonal. Nothing too hard doing that. Then came the sewing. I actually found the middle of the triangle and the base fabric to make sure it was right. My guess is I didn't need to do that because the triangle was definitely oversized.
Go back to the top to check out the finished blocks. They really did come out nicely. I think I will plan a new quilt using the Corner Pop ruler. Now, what should that new quilt be? Something for the Hands 2 Help project at Confessions of a Fabric Addict? Oh wow! I was just reading about some of her wonderful sponsors. Sarah does such a great job gathering prizes. She's got a lot of new corporate sponsors -- I'm going to make a few quilts! Go sign up if you haven't yet.
The center block was in a collection of fabric and projects I got earlier from the estate of a quilter. I'm hoping to send it to Jack's Basket by making it big enough with some borders. I like the the grey and blue but I'll need to bring the center block from 15" to about 36" for Jack's Basket. I have one other blue I'm going to use. Any suggestions on the border?
Moving right along, I was pretty successful on my one monthly goal this month. I won't be showing the finish because it is going to be a gift. I'm happy to say I did finish the t shirt top and I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. Here's last week's goals list.
March 25, 2019
Finish sashing T shirt √
Hand quilt on Old Christmas Quilt√
Spend some time reading√
Make blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge√
Work on next granny block quilt Didn’t happen
And here's what I hope to work on this week.
April 1, 2019
Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt
Finish hearts for Hearts for Gumboat
Begin work on the snowflake quilt
Pick a UFO to work on
Work on next granny block quilt
That seems like enough to get done. Who knows I may pick a quilt in the closet and quilt it. I find it is easier to store quilt tops rather than finished quilts. So I have quite a collection of quilts ready to be finished.
I'm linking up with my favorite linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. Since I'm posting this on Sunday and not all the blogs are posted, I'll come back and link up as they are available. I'm looking forward to some quiet time doing some blog surfing.
Happy Quilting! Bonnie
A woman in our guild is a certified Studio 180 instructor. I've bought several of the rulers from her although I haven't been able to take any of her classes. Deb T's concept is to cut large and trim to size. [Now that i think about it, Studio 180 was yet another vendor who did not have a booth at the Chicago Quilt Festival.] Hope you have nice spring weather this week!
ReplyDeleteyou are working on may things! so often I have to make blocks oversize and trim to correct size
ReplyDeleteI nearly always cut larger and trim - it helps me from getting frustrated and I rationalize that I save time and fabric with the bit of waste it creates.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your goals! Thanks for linking up with Moving it Forward!
ReplyDeleteThat neat blue and white block will make a great center medallion for JB! How about echoing the nine patches and rails in a lighter blue with white? Maybe a stop border in the gray first, then a round of rails with 9 patch cornerstones, then another gray if needed for size?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out, Bonnie!! I'll be collecting GREEN Heart Blocks for Angels in Gumboots through the end of April. There's still time for your readers to participate in the Block Drive!
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