Another lazy day -

 

 

With no sewing - 

 

So I'll show you a photo of some stuff - 

That's still on my "to do" list - 

 

These projects still need sorting - finishing - etc. - 

One of these days - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Lazy day -

 

 

With no sewing - 

 

So I found a couple of puzzle photos to share - 

 

We finished this one a while back - 

I like the circular ones -

 

Maybe I'll do some sewing tomorrow - 

Maybe not - LOL - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Another experiment -

 

 

Was on the agenda today - 

 

To see if I could make a 6-1/2" version - 

 

Of the Square-in-a-Square unit - 

 

In a "different" way - 

 

And this one came out just right - 

 

 

My "different" way - 

 

Was to see if I could make the center square using my LEFT-EZE™ Rule - 

 

So yesterday I tried cutting the center square as a folded QST - 

 

But the whole "unit" came out a little too big -

 

And the strip size needed to cut it properly is an odd size -  

And not worth the time and/or trouble -

 

So today I cut the center square as a "regular" 4-3/4" square - 

 

And the experiment worked -

 

And it's not "different" at all - 

It's just the "regular" center square and corner HST way - LOL - 

After cutting the center square - 

 

I can use either my LEFT-EZE™ Rule - 

 

Or one of my dies for the corner HSTs - 

 

And the larger "version" of my Antique Squirrel - 

 

Could/would use 2-1/2" jelly roll strips for the bar units -

 

And no - I didn't plan on adding bigger blocks to the quilt -

 

I was going to make a larger version all by itself - 

 

And didn't think to combine them in one top - 

 

Until Gene mentioned it - 

 

It's not a bad idea -

 

I'm just not "there" yet - LOL -;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

 

 

An experiment -

 

 

Was on the agenda today - 

 

To see if I could make a 6-1/2" version - 

 

Of the Square-in-a-Square unit - 

 

In a "different" way - 

 

But it came out a bit too big - 

 

 

 

So - 

 

Back to the drawing board - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

Antique Squirrel - Test Block -

 

 

A few day ago - 

 

I mentioned that I could think of a couple of ways to assemble this block -  

Since it is basically a 9-patch - 

The easiest way would be to sew three rows of three units - 

Then sew the rows together - 

The TOP row has the "bar" unit seams pressed to the LEFT - 

 

And there are no seams to match on this side - 

 

 

Or on this side - 

 

 

The MIDDLE row has the "bar" unit seams on the LEFT pressed DOWN -

 

 

And the "bar" unit seams on the RIGHT pressed UP - 

 

Again - with no seams to match on either side - 

 

 

The BOTTOM row has the "bar" unit seams pressed to the RIGHT - 

 

With no seams to match on this side - 

 

Or this side - 

Three suggestions - 

 

#1 -

When you sew the rows together - 

 Sew the units together with the "Square" unit facing UP - 

 So that you can see the "POINT" when you sew over it - LOL - 

 

#2 -

Press the first/third rows AWAY from the "Square" units - TOWARD the BAR unit -

And the middle row AWAY from the CENTER unit -  TOWARD the BAR units - 

#3 -

Stitch the rows together - 

Press the top and bottom rows AWAY from the MIDDLE row - 

That way - two "middles" will be pressed "IN" - 

And two "middles" will be pressed "OUT" - 

Making it easy to nest the seams from block to block - 

Simply by rotating one a quarter turn - 

 

Another way to assemble the block - 

Would be to sew four "combos" - 

 

One "Square-on-point" or "Square-in-a-Square" unit to a BAR unit - 

With the seams of the BAR unit pressed DOWN - 

 

Then arrange the four around a center "Square" unit - 

And sew them together using partial seams - 

 

 

That might be an option if you don't mind partial seams - 

Or if you want to "match" a "Square" unit to a BAR unit as you go along - 

Personally - 

I would probably just make 9-patches - 

 

And sew them together the "easy" way - 

But it is nice - 

To have options - LOL - ;))

==

 

That was what I had "scheduled" for today's post - 

 

But then I made a "Test Block" - 

 

And most of that went right out the window - LOL -;))

 

The "pressing plan" didn't work - 

 

And the idea of using partial seams seemed unrealistic - 

 

SO - 

 

ERASE - ERASE - LOL - ;))

 

I went back to the "drawing board" - 

 

And made 4 new "Square-in-a-Square" units - 

 

With NEUTRAL centers -

 

To add to the one I "stole" from the first batch that I made - 

 

Then I "stole" 4 of the "BAR" units, too - 

 

And laid them all out on the ironing board -  

 

 

I decided to press the BAR units - 

 

In the TOP and BOTTOM rows - 

 

TOWARD the CENTER of the patch - 

 

And the BAR units in the MIDDLE row -

 

AWAY from the CENTER of the patch - 

 

BOTTOM row - same pressing as the TOP row - 

 

TOWARD the CENTER of the patch - 

 

 

Sewed the units together in each row - 

 

The sewing/pressing suggestions from above still apply - 

 

#1 -

When you sew the rows together - 

 Sew the units together with the "Square" unit facing UP - 

 So that you can see the "POINT" when you sew over it - LOL -

 

#2 -

Press the first/third rows AWAY from the "Square" units - TOWARD the BAR unit -

And the middle row AWAY from the CENTER unit -  TOWARD the BAR units - 

And - YES - I saw the wonky top seam in the BAR unit on the right - 

And I fixed it before I sewed the rows together - LOL - 

 

 

#3 -

Stitch the rows together - 

Press the top and bottom rows AWAY from the MIDDLE row - 

That way - two "middles" will be pressed "IN" - 

And two "middles" will be pressed "OUT" - 

Making it easy to nest the seams from block to block - 

Simply by rotating one a quarter turn - 

 

 

 

Some of the "points" don't seem to want to go the way I want them to - 

But I don't think it's worth fighting them - 

So I'll let them go whichever way they want to go - 

As long as the "outside" edges nest with the seams in the next block -

They should be fine -

 

Some things worked out "in real life" - 

 

The way they worked in my head - 

 

Some things did not - 

 

And THAT'S why - 

I like to make a TEST BLOCK - LOL - ;)) 

I think the NEUTRAL center squares in this version will work nicely - 

And I kinda like the NEUTRALS that show up in the CORNERS - 

And the BARS, too - 

So - once I cut the center squares from my NEUTRAL scraps - 

The rest can be "kitchen sink" - 

And it should be just fine - LOL - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Some sorting -

 

 

Of the "center squares" that have already been cut - 

 

For my Antique Squirrel - 

 

Found these "neutrals" - 

 

 

 

I'm not sure about the GOLD in the lower right corner - 

 

It might be a bit too dark - 

But if I cut more from squares from my "neutral" scraps - 

I could do Version A - 

 

 

 

AND still keep it "scrappy" - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

Antique Squirrel - Version A -

 

 

Version A seems to be the favorite - 

 

 

And I tend to agree -
 

It would work well - 

 

If I used my die and some neutral yardage -

Or if I made all of the "squares" ANY "constant" color -

 

The rest of the scraps could be "kitchen sink" - 

 

The "neutral/constant" would "contain" the jumble of colors - 

 

And give the eye a place to "rest" -

 

And I wouldn't have to worry about - 

 

Which scraps I used for the corners - 

 

OR the bars - 

 

It wouldn't be like the original -

 

But it also wouldn't give me a headache - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

 

Antique Squirrel - 3 ways -

 

 

Just for fun - 

 

I played with some versions of my Antique Squirrel - 

 

In EQ - 

 

And colored a layout three different ways - 

 

Version A - 

 

The "Center Square" in "neutrals" - 

 

Version B - 

 

The "Corners" in "neutrals" - 

 

Version C - 

 

A combination of Version A and B - 

 

Alternating both blocks - 

 

I like all three versions - 

 

And am leaning toward Version C - 

 

Which one is YOUR favorite? - 

 

And why? - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

 

Antique Squirrel - Unit B -

 

 

The second unit needed for my Antique Squirrel - 

 

Is a three-strip "bar" or "Rail Fence" unit -

 

The strips are cut at 1-1/2" wide - 

 

By whatever length of scrap you have - 

 

But the scrap should be at least 3-1/2" long - ;))

 

===

 

I cut a bunch of 1-1/2" strips - 

 

And laid them out on my ironing board - 

 

Roughly by the length of the strip - 

 

 

Then I chose three strips of roughly the same length - 

 

And sewed them together - 

 

Pressed the seams in one direction -

 

Took them to the cutting mat - 

 

And laid them out so that I could cut "with" the seams - 

 

Sometimes I cut with the seams showing - 

 

So that I am sure to cut in the same direction - 

 

Anyway - 

 

Sub-cut the strip sets into 3-1/2" segments -  

And save the scraps for another project - 

Un-sewing any strip longer than 3-1/2" - 

 

And adding it back into the mix -

 

I cut several strip sets - 

 

And chose four at random - 

 

For the "middles" - 

 

And laid out a "kitchen sink" block - LOL - 

 

I have NOT sewn the block together yet - 

 

If you flip the "Units" over - 

 

You can see that there are no seams to match from one unit to the next -

 

You will have to match the seams BETWEEN the units - 

 

But that's it - 

 

And if you turn the "bar" Unit B - 

 

So that the TOP one has the seams going to the LEFT - 

 

The one on the LEFT has the seams going DOWN - 

 

The one on the BOTTOM has the seams going to the RIGHT - 

 

And the one on the RIGHT has the seams going UP - 

 

All of the "bar" Unit Bs will have the seams going around in a circle - 

 

Counter-clockwise - 

 

Making it easy to nest the seams from block to block -  

 

Because the seams on the TOP block will be going UP - 

 

And the seams on the BOTTOM block will be going DOWN - 

 

As the two blocks go under the needle - 

 

The corners of each block will not nest - 

 

Unless you want to get fancy with the pressing - 

 

And may get a bit bulky - 

 

But I don't really want to mess with getting fancy - 

 

So I'll leave those alone - 

 

I can think of a couple of different ways to assemble this block - 

 

And will share those - 

 

When I get there - LOL - 

 

Right now - 

 

I want to experiment with a "controlled" version of this block - 

 

I know that the original was the "kitchen sink" variety - 

 

But I think that their scrap stash may have been somewhat limited - 

 

Mine is not - 

 

I have LOTS of scraps - 

 

In all colors - 

 

So - 

 

The question is - 

 

Do I want it to look like a jumbled mess - 

 

Or do I want to limit my color palette? - 

 

I'm leaning toward limiting the colors - 

 

A jumbled mess might give me a headache - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

Antique Squirrel - Unit A - continued -

 

 

Today I was able to sew - 

A few more of these guys - 

 

I chose center squares and HST at random - 

 

Laid them out - 

 

And realized that I needed a fifth one - LOL -

 

I used the one that I had already made - 

 

As the center unit - 

 

And made four more -

 

For the CORNERS of the BLOCK - 

 

 

One corner of the Unit A on the BOTTOM LEFT - 

 

And on the BOTTOM RIGHT -

 

Looks a bit light on the WHITE board - 

 

Those corners are WHITE with little PINK polka dots - 

 

From a project that I made years ago -  

 

Some scraps seem to live on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. - LOL - 

 

 

Tomorrow I'll show you how I  make Unit B - 

 

Those units will fill in the "middles" of the block - 

 

And are even easier to make than this one -  ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go- gotta sew - 

Same -

 

 

As yesterday - LOL -

 

 

I got no cutting or sewing done today - 

But I did do some paperwork "chores" - 

 

So maybe tomorrow I can SEW!! - ;))

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -