Squirrel's Batik Brother #2 -

After I finished my chores -

I cut another set of Fat Quarters -

Using one of my strip dies -

But I didn't get much sewing done -

The FUN part is deciding which fabric I want to use for the "Star" -

And I'm trying to get my cutting sequence more organized -

How many of "what" can I get from this pair of strips? -

Should I cut "these" and "those" or cut "these" and "something else"? -

Which combo will be best so I don't waste fabric and/or come up short? -

Then I keep "re-counting" to make sure that I have all the pieces I need -

Especially when I don't get as many from a set of strips as I thought I would -

So - when I get that perfected -

These should go MUCH faster - ;))

Chain piecing is great -

Once I have the pieces cut - they're ready to sew - ;))

More chores are planned for tomorrow -

So we'll see how much sewing I can get done - if any -

And whether or not I'll have another finished block to show you - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Sewed the block -

For the Squirrel's Brother - ;))

I sorted the rest of the Batik Fat Quarters that I pulled the other day -

And should have enough to make a total of ten blocks for two tops -

6 blocks - set 2 x 3 = 48" x 72" - a nice lap size -

4 blocks - set 2 x 2 = 48" x 48" - a nice table topper size -

The backgrounds will all be different because I decided to use Fat Quarters instead of yardage -

Some blocks will be high(er) contrast -

And some blocks will be "blendy" -

But that's the FUN part of using Batiks -

The color ranges are beautiful -

The combinations are interesting -

And the finished blocks should be a pleasant surprise - ;))

Some of you may remember that I WAS playing with the backing for my Blue Floral Crumb Squares when I saw THIS Squirrel's brother on Katie's blog - HERE - and decided to chase him - caught him - and then decided to chase THIS one. Now that I finished the first block - and sorted the Fat Quarters for the next ones - I have yet ANOTHER work in progress -

And you wonder why I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many UFOs - ;))

It's those dang Squirrels -

I can't quit chasing them -

And BOB says it's good exercise - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Cut the pieces -

And sewed the "units" -

For the Squirrel's Brother -

But that's as far as I got -

And BOB is all happy -

Because she was RIGHT - LOL - ;))

I WAS able to cut everything from Fat Quarters -

MY WAY -

AND I even had enough to re-cut the ones that I messed up - ;))

Tomorrow I'll sew these together and show you guys -

I spent most of the day trying to catch up on reading blogs -

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO far behind -

But I'm really enjoying reading about all of YOUR adventures -

You guys are VERY inspiring -

With ALL of your dang Squirrels - LOL -

And far more productive than I am - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Yesterday's Squirrel's brother -

Or maybe it's his sister -

Or his cousin -

I'm not sure -

But I KNOW they're related somehow - LOL - ;))

Yesterday I said that I might try the "Swoon" block by Camille Roskelley again -

BUT that -

I certainly wouldn't try to cut it from Fat Quarters -

And then BOB said - Why not? -

What if you COULD cut it from Fat Quarters? -

Try it - what have you got to lose? -

Other than a couple of Fat Quarters? -

And it's not like you don't have any - LOL - ;))

So - now I'm chasing Yesterday's Squirrel's brother -

I pulled some batik Fat Quarters from my stash -

Chose some that I thought would work - and that were close enough that I could substitute a "similar" color if I messed up or ran out of fabric - so that it wouldn't be a total waste of time - and I would still end up with another "Swoon" block -

Narrowed it down to these three - with the other three as "back-up" -

Then I played with re-drafting MY WAY to use Fat Quarters -

And I'll have to wait until tomorrow to play with cutting it -

Because - by the time I caught up on some of my regular blog reading -
it was time to fix dinner and write up this post -

And if you haven't seen it yet - please stop by Julie's blog for her posts on the Yokohama Quilt Festival in Tokyo - to see some AMAZING quilts!! -

I left her a comment -

WONDERFUL!! - As always!! - I got behind in reading all of my regular blogs - and was "saving" yours and your "Quilt Show" for today. Thank you for sharing all of the AMAZING quilts - they are SO GORGEOUS - and so VERY humbling to a so-so quilter like me - ;))

I am so NOT in their league - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Caught the Squirrel -

And it looks pretty good to me - ;))

I made a "Swoon" block by Camille Roskelley using the Blue Floral and the Sage Green and the "matching" Gold version of the Sage Green as the "background". I only made one "test" block to incorporate into the backing of my Blue Floral Crumb Square quilt top. It's a little "low contrast" - but that's OK. I was really "testing" whether or not MY WAY would work - and it did - ;))

Would I make a whole quilt using this block? -

Maybe -

BUT - no offense to the designer -

I certainly wouldn't try to cut it from Fat Quarters -

Nor would I use her method(s) of constructing the HST and Flying Geese -

I would do it MY WAY -

It's easier - at least for me - ;))

===

And on a personal note -

The entire month of June has been difficult for me these past few years -

Tuesday marks the fourth anniversary of the day my husband died -

And though the rest of the year has our anniversary - birthdays - and holidays -

Those don't bother me as much because I have a lot of memories of good times -

The month of June is different -

In years past I tended to relive his "last days" and it was not pleasant -

So this year I tried something different -

I have been posting daily as a way to keep myself busy and "distracted" -

And it has helped a LOT -

Thanks to all of you guys and your comments -

And your Squirrels -

So - THANK YOU!! - ;))

We were married for over 39 years -
And on the day he died - I posted My Guy as a tribute -
And I miss him E.V.E.R.Y. S.I.N.G.L.E. D.A.Y. -

Lari White has a song that pretty much says how I feel these days -

I always wondered how I'd live without you
If you ever said goodbye
Would I just live in dreams about you
With tears in my eyes
Would I fall to pieces when you go
I always wondered how I'd live without you
Now I know -

I'm doing alright
I'm strong enough to make it on my own
I'm not afraid of the night
I'm learning how to face it alone
I've been good at holding on
Now I'm learning to let go
I always wondered how I'd live without you
Now I know -

Lari White - Now I Know - Lyrics are HERE -
Songwriter(s): Chick Rains, Don Cook, Cindy Greene
Record Label(s): 1994 BMG Entertainment





Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Two birds -

With one stone - ;))

At least that's what I thought when I saw a Squirrel the other day on Katie's blog in this post and realized that I could incorporate it into the backing top that I'm playing with for my Blue Floral Crumb Square quilt top -

So I cut all of the pieces for one "Swoon" block - and will play with sewing it together tomorrow - ;))

I bought the "class" - so I already had and paid for the "pattern" - but I redrafted it - and I probably can't share what I did or how I did it - because that doesn't see to be allowed - even though the designer freely admitted that she found an "antique" pattern and didn't like the "Y-seams and templates so (she) spent a few days drafting it using only HST and Flying Geese to see if (she) could make it a little bit simpler." She basically took a pattern that been done BEFORE and redrafted it - making it her way - then sold both the "pattern" and the "class" - to all of us.

Well - BOB and I basically did the same thing (except for the selling the "pattern" and the "class" part) - we tried to simplify it - because we didn't like the way she cut hers - and I wanted to see if I could use pre-cut Strips instead of Fat Quarters -

I also didn't like the way she made her HST and Flying Geese - so I did those differently, too -

We ALL know that there are LOTS of ways to make HST and Flying Geese - and I certainly don't want to infringe on her "copyright" - so I'll have to leave it to your imagination as to what I did and how I did it - since I won't be posting any of my "process" photos - just photos of the finished block -

So stay tuned - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Moving on -

I won't bore you with all of the "process" photos on this part -

You've seen me press and pin before - LOL - ;))

So after I fixed the corner and sewed it back it on -

It was time to see if I actually FIXED it -

Pressed it in place -

Pressed it open -

And it looks good enough to me -

So I consider it DONE - ;))

Three of the corners look like the one above -

Separate corner section -

The fourth one looks like the one below -

The side triangles are sewn to the long rows instead -

I doubt that anyone will notice - and if they do - they'll have to read this blog to see what happened and why I did it that way - and I doubt anyone will bother - ;))

So -

NOTE TO SELF - Original plan of sewing long rows from center out to corner sounded good - Row #1 with a Left Triangle - then Row #2 with one on each end - etc. - to the corner -

Turn it around and repeat - Row #6 on out to the corner -

BUT - that resulted in a "bunch" in the bottom LEFT corner - at the large STAR-X -

So -

Revised sewing sequence - for future reference -

Sew a center section 6 blocks x 4 blocks -

Sew two END rows with 5 blocks and a Side Triangle on the LEFT end -

And four identical Corner Sections -
With one row of 3 blocks with Side Triangles on each side -
And the corner row with one block and Side Triangles on each side -
And the corner triangle -

Then assemble it like a "Square-In-A-Square" -
Add End Rows to opposite sides of the Center Section -
Then Corner Sections to two opposite sides -
Then the remaining two Corner Sections -

That should work - at least it's worth a try -

I think I'll assemble the Deep Red Crumb Square top that way -
When I get there - ;))

Anyway - after I fixed that - I folded it up neatly and set it aside -

Because BOB and I wanted to play with my LEFT-EZE™ Rule and make some Hourglass Blocks for the backing top we're going to make next -

I cut two 2-1/2" strips - one each of the Blue Floral and the Green -

Starting at the RIGHT end of the strips -

Trimmed off the selvage ends -

Put the strips Right Sides Together with the GREEN on TOP and folded it over so that I had four layers with the GREEN on the "inside" if that makes sense -

Then the ends got wonky and I had to trim them again -

You can't see it in this photo -
But there are four layers there -
BLUE - wrong side up -
GREEN - right side up -
GREEN - wrong side up -
BLUE - right side up -
Like in the photo above -

Cut a HST -

Then line up the strip with the 45-degree line on my cutting mat -

Cut the first QST straight up the LEFT side of the ruler -
4 layers - enough for one Hourglass Block -

Cut the second QST straight across the TOP of the ruler -
4 layers - enough for one more Hourglass Block -

Rinse and repeat until I get to the fold -

By this time - I have 6 sets of QST -
Enough for 6 Hourglass Blocks -
And the HST that I cut at the very beginning of the strip -

So - open up the folded piece and see what I can "make" with it -

The HST - because I cut two sets BLUE/GREEN right sides together -
Gave me two sets of mirror image HST - one BLUE and one GREEN -

So I opted to cut two QST to go with them - for Flying Geese -

What else can I "make"? -

I have enough for one more set of HST -
If I cut it UP the LEFT side of the ruler -

So I did -

That left me with this -

And it's not QUITE enough for another set of HST -

But it kinda looks like a "chisel" and a "corner" -

So I'll sew that together and see what I get -

All together -

From two strips 2-1/2" x WOF -

I cut 6 sets of QST for 6 Hourglass Blocks and 2 Flying Geese-
And 1 HST and 1 "Chisel" -

The HST only has the top "dogear" to trim -

And it measures 2-1/2" square - in case you're wondering -
Because I used a 2-1/2" strip -

I trimmed the "chisel" down to 2-1/4" x 4-1/4" and have no idea where I will use it -
But it's trimmed and it's straight - LOL -

The Flying Geese need the dogears trimmed -
And will be 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" -

So - 6 Hourglass Blocks - 2 Flying Geese - 1 HST and 1 "Chisel" -

By the way - the Hourglass Blocks measure 4-1/2" x 4-1/2"

And since the Flying Geese measure -2-1/2" x 4-1/2" -

And the HST measures 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" -

They will ALL fit together (except for the oddball "chisel") -

Because I cut them ALL from the SAME SIZE STRIP - ;))

TWO strips and ONE ruler -

And no "backhanded" cuts -

And no "upside-down and/or backwards" numbers -

Except for the times I ignored the numbers because I was using the LINES - LOL - ;))

Now BOB and I can play with making the backing top tomorrow -

And use what we made today together with the 1/4 yard cuts that we pulled the other day -

Tomorrow should be s FUN day - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -