Thursday, January 27, 2022

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 - 


3 comments:

Gene Black said...

Ha ha.... I have found that those points just want to go the way they want to go. I have stopped fighting them also. Sometimes that means a seam is "twisted" but once quilting it doesn't show.

Jeanna said...

I've never made a test block but I can see the value in it, for sure. This is going to be so nice...neutrals in the center is the way to go!

Sue said...

I like test blocks so I can work out any bugs in what I think will work.

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