A Left-Handed Quilter: April 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 4/27/15

DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
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 - ;))
===

On my wall today -

Two Old Italian Blocks -

From Anita's book -
Rotary Cutting Evolution -
(c) 2010 - Anita Grossman Solomon - C&T Publishing - ;))

Last week I cut them on Sunday night and took the photo -
So that I would have something to post on Monday morning - ;))

I was hoping that they would match the Arrowhead block-
That I had already made - ;))

Some readers wished me luck and I told them -

That I would have to get back to them on the whether or not they did -

Because I had not sewn them together yet - ;))

Then Monday got away from me -

And Tuesday -

And Wednesday - ;))

On Thursday I finally got them sewn together -

But the center squares didn't measure the same in both directions -

One was 1/8" shorter than the other - ;((

I didn't have time to figure out why -

And I didn't dare trim them until they matched -

So they sat until Sunday afternoon -

While Friday and Saturday got away from me - ;))

Then I measured the center square in the Arrowhead block -
It was 1/8" short in one direction too!! - ;((

Oh, well - too late to fix that one -
It's already been trimmed -

So on to the Old Italian Blocks - ;))

This time I think I'm going to blame my "cutting" -
Because I don't think my 1/4" changed -
Between the time I sewed the side sections together -
And the time I sewed the side sections to the middle - ;))

AND the instructions say to cut a "scant" measurement -
Which I think that I am going to ignore next time - ;))

Anyway - I re-sewed them -
And re-measured them -
And put them on the wall - ;))

But the true test is whether or not the sides match -
The Arrowhead block -

And they DO - ;))

Unless I turn the Arrowhead block -

To the short side - ;))

And that - boys and girls -

Is why they are called TEST BLOCKS - heehee - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Monday, April 20, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 4/20/15

Monday, April 13, 2015

Design Wall Monday - 4/13/15

Before I knew it -
I had THIRTY of these little goodies - ;))

We have some "Batman" -

Some "Teddybears" -

Some "Candy canes" -
And "Clifford" peeking out of one corner - ;))

After I took a break -
And made a test block of Anita's Arrowhead block - Left-Handed - HERE -

I got sidetracked with some placemats -
In some beautiful batiks - ;))

And then I found Anita's book -
Rotary Cutting Evolution -
(c) 2010 - Anita Grossman Solomon - C&T Publishing
(I knew it was around here somewhere - ;))

So now I can't decide -

After I finish up the placemats -

And while the 9-Patch Twosies marinate on the wall -

If I want to make some more Crumb Blocks -

Or some more Arrowhead blocks -

Or try some of her Old Italian Blocks -
From her cover quilt - ;))

What's the difference? -

Here they are - side-by-side - ;))

Anita's Arrowhead Block -
TWO 8" squares yield ONE 8-1/2" finished square/block
With bias edges -

Old Italian Block -
TWO 8" squares yield TWO 6" finished squares/blocks
Straight edges -
Block orientation remains the same - ;))

I'm leaning toward the Arrowhead block -

Because I like the four-patch center -

BUT it has bias edges -

AND I only get ONE finished block from TWO squares - ;((

So before I decide -

I'll probably make an Old Italian Block test block -

To see which method I prefer - ;))

And then I keep seeing SQUIRRELS -

Gene is making more Arrowhead blocks - HERE -

And LindaL is playing with her Taxi stuff - HERE -

And LindaS just made a Jelly Roll Quilt - HERE - ;))

You gotta know -

That I have some Taxi fat quarters -

AND I even know where they are - ;))

AND I have Jelly Rolls just itching to be used - ;))

Bottom line -

I have NO IDEA what I'm going to play with this week -

I see SQUIRRELS EVERYWHERE -

And I have the attention span of a gnat - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter - 4/5/15

Happy Easter!!

Here's a photo of my Easter Sudoku Quilt -
That I made last year -
Check my page/tab at the top of my blog -
SUDOKU QUILTS for more info - ;))

It's still a top - but -
One of these days.... - ;))

May you have a VERY NICE DAY -

May all of your Easter Eggs -

Have VERY PRETTY COLORS -

And -

May all of your Chocolate Rabbits -

Have VERY LONG EARS! - ;))

Happy Easter, everybody!! - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Saturday, April 4, 2015

My FAVORITE Iron - AGAIN -

Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago -

My iron died - ;((

I did some research -

Tried out a couple of different irons -

And I did a comparison post -

Iron Man I & II & III
July 17, 2012
HERE - ;))

My favorite of the three was -

IRON MAN III -

Continental Electric CP43001 Classic Dry Iron

Well, that one lasted almost THREE years -

Of pretty much constant use - ;))

I left it on ALL day -

While I was sewing -

And because it has NO AUTO SHUT-OFF -

It WAS ALWAYS ON -

WHEN I NEEDED IT -

Until I unplugged it at the end of the day - ;))

So one day it was WARM - not HOT -

And I decided that I needed a new one - ;))

I found one on Amazon - HERE -

And - of course - there is FREE SHIPPING -

On orders OVER $35 -

And this is UNDER $35 -

So what is a girl to do?? -

Well, this girl ordered TWO - ;))

I know that I'll want another one -

When this one wears out -

So it will be nice to have one on hand -

When the time comes - ;))

I figure that the cost of the second iron -

Is covered by the shipping cost that I saved -

And it beats paying for ONE iron PLUS shipping -

TWICE - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Anita's Arrowhead Block - Left-Handed

I SEE SQUIRRELS EVERYWHERE!! - ;))

UP is one of my favorite movies -

And I identify with the dog - DUG - ;))

I get distracted VERY easily -

Which may explain why I have SO many UFOs -

That I really prefer to call SQUIRRELS - ;))

Anyway -

The other day - LindaJ - of life, quilts and a cat too -
Mentioned Anita Grossman Soloman's Arrowhead Block - HERE -

Here are the links -

Anita’s Arrowhead - Pattern -
http://www.quiltmaker.com/content_downloads/QM_Anita_s-Arrowhead.pdf

Anita Grossman Solomon - Website -
http://makeitsimpler.blogspot.com/

Anita’s Arrowhead Block - Alternate Sizes -
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5X5dp-XrLudalVlRk9IS1RRUVE/edit

Then today - Gene Black mentioned it again -

And - posted a photo of the one that he made - HERE -

I left him a comment -

Shoot! I was going to play with some more "Crumb" blocks today - but now I want to make one of these instead. And people wonder why I have so many UFOs - haha - ;))
And then I made my test block -

LEFT-HANDED - ;))

I read somewhere that you should make test blocks in "Christmas colors" -

That way you will eventually have a terrific sampler quilt - ;))

I thought it was a great idea -

And have a bunch of Christmas fabric handy for just that purpose - ;))

You don't have to use holiday-themed fabrics -

But if you set aside some coordinated fabric -

Before long - you'll have some "sampler" blocks - ;))

They may be all different sizes -

But that's what sashing is for - haha - ;))

Anyway - the block -

I won't give you detailed instructions -

Or the sizes -

You can download the pattern from the links above - ;))

Just let me say that -

There is a difference between "instructions" and "directions" -
(See my post - HERE - which distinguishes between the two)

And these "directions" are RIGHT-handed - ;))

I want to show you how to cut it LEFT-handed - ;))

===

I chose two squares -

Followed the instructions -
Until it came to the first cut -

Cut the diagonal - LEFT-handed -

Stacked the triangles with the diagonal edge on the LEFT side -
Then made the two cuts - as instructed -

Laid out the pieces -
Watch that the same colors don't touch -
The corners are mirror images of each other -

And sewed it together - ;))

Anita suggests pressing the seams open -

But one of them didn't get the memo - ;))

So I fixed that one -

And pressed it FLAT!! - ;))

Turned it over -

Trimmed it -

And VOILA!! - ;))

All in all -

This block came together quite easily -

And it probably took me longer to write this post -

Download all of the photos -

And set up all of the links -

Than it did to actually make the block - ;))

Thanks Anita, Linda, and Gene!! -

I LOVE SQUIRRELS!! - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A Left-Handed Quilter

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