Design Wall Monday - 7/1/13

DESIGN WALL MONDAY - 7/1/13
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. at Patchwork Times
on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
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On my design wall - kinda/sorta - is a TEST block -
Because I saw the prettiest quilt the other day -
And I HAD to make ONE block to check it out - ;))

The pattern is found on the Moda Bakeshop site - HERE -

It’s called Simply Woven by Jess Kelly of SewCraftyJess - HERE -

And then KatieZ - Zana’s Ninis -
Posted that she had made one - HERE -

It was very weird -
Because the day before I read Katie’s post -
I had been checking my stash for jelly rolls to play with -
And had chosen a couple in blues and greens -
Just like Katie did - ;))

Then I made a TEST block -

And the very NEXT day -
KarenM - Karen’s Sewing Room -
Posted that she had made one - HERE -

BOY - Great minds DO think alike!! - ;))

Thanks for the pattern, Jess!! - ;))

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Now about my TEST block -

It may not be obvious to a Right-Handed quilter -
But most photos included in patterns -
Are RIGHT-HANDED -

And since Lefties cut from the LEFT side of the ruler -

The photos are BACKWARDS to us - ;))

And for those of you who say “JUST REVERSE IT” -

It may be obvious to you -

But sometimes the obvious messes me up -

Do I reverse LEFT/RIGHT -

Or TOP/BOTTOM -

Or BOTH? - ;))

That’s what I need to know -

So -

Before I invested my time and energy -
And jelly rolls -
Into making a huge quilt -

I thought that I would make a TEST block -
And work my way through the instructions -
To see if I could get my block to “weave” properly -

And I decided to use Christmas fabrics -

Just because - ;))

Notes I made along the way -

#1.
For this TEST block -
Reverse LEFT/RIGHT only -
See what happens - ;))

#2.
If you are making a TEST block -
And cutting each strip individually -
PAY ATTENTION when you cut the background strips -
As they are NOT cut the same width as the jelly roll strips - ;))
I learned that the hard way when my first set didn’t “measure up” - ;))

#3.
When I sewed the sections together -
I sewed the NARROW section to the NEW strip FIRST -
With the NEW strip on the bottom -
And used the NEW strip as a guide for the finished size of the new section -
Easing the top piece as needed - ;))

#4.
If you step away from the block for a bit - and come back later -
You may not remember which strip was the NEW one -
It’s the one that goes ALL the way from one side to the other -
Because you haven’t cut it yet - ;))

#5.
When measuring for the next cut -
Make sure the NEW strip is at the BOTTOM of the block -
Running horizontally - left to right - like in the photo -
And place the 2-1/4" mark on the LEFT side of the first vertical strip -
Make the cut - separate the pieces - that is where the next strip goes -

#6.
The pattern didn’t specify which way to press the seams -
Bummer!! - THAT information would have been useful - ;))

So I decided to press the first set IN - toward the center/NEW strip -
Then after I made the first cut - and sewed it back together - I pressed OUT -
Then after I made the second cut - and sewed it back together - I pressed IN -
And so on -

My pressing seems to have worked out -
One direction has the seams pressed one way -
The other direction has the seams pressed the other way -
So when the blocks are laid out - and some are rotated -
The seams should nest nicely -
I hope - ;))

My final block is a LEFT-HANDED version -
A MIRROR IMAGE of the one shown in the pattern -
And although the edges appear to be the same -
The weave is different so it may not look right -
And may or may not play nice with a RIGHT-HANDED version - ;))

AND -

After taking it step - by - step - by - step -

And taking TONS of photos as I went along -

To jog my memory later on -

I now realize what should have been obvious -

I probably could have saved myself a LOT of trouble -

AND made a RIGHT-HANDED version -

If I had simply taken the photos provided by Jess -

And turned them UPSIDE DOWN -

Making sure that the NEW strip was always at the TOP of the block -

And cutting off the LEFT side of the block -

DUH!! - ;))

So now I KNOW -

To reverse BOTH -

And that’s EXACTLY what a TEST block is for - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -