Just Sew It

It’s snowing!!!!! It’s our first official snow fall of the season. Wet snow so it will not stay long. Snow is pretty but I don’t like the cold that comes with it. The mountains are absolutely breathtaking in the winter. If you love to ski, the Alberta rockies have excellent skiing. I was once told that the snow in the Alberta rockies is one of the best. My cat is not too happy. He doesn’t get his daily jaunt. He is a cranky old man.

I have completed the mosiac square but my pictures did not turn out so well. Florescent lighting yellows pictures and is not very good for picture taking. I was supposed to complete the Monkey Wrench square but I ran out of two colours (purple and yellow). I need all of my chosen fabrics. I did not want to drive all the way to the quilting store that carried those particular fabrics. I tried Fabricland but their selection is an absolute joke. Fabricland is definitely not interested in catering to the quilting sewers. Their selection is not organized by colour and they have butt ugly fabric. Too cheesy and old-fashioned. I hope Fabricland reads this. Maybe they will smarten up with their purchases. Their fasion fabric sucks too. There fall/winter fabrics are so ugly. Again, old-fashioned.

I ordered a copy of “Rotary Magic” by Nancy Johnson-Srebro. Excellent book. Very thorough and great diagrams. I have Singer’s New Quilting by Machine and while that has wonderful photos it is not has thorough as Rotary Magic.

I purchased my copy at Chapters.ca You can also get it on Amazon.

Matt McConaughey.

Sorry Marco.

Pretty flower… eh? It’s a black eyed susan.

A friend and I took the kids to the museum which is perched up on the edge of our river valley. My favorite part of the city.

So onto this square. I only took one photo of this square. I found this square easier than the others.

I picked four fabrics and from each cut a 1 1/2″ strip. A strip is the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage.

Sew them together from the lightest to darkest. When sewing lots of strips together, never keep starting from the same end as this will cause a bowing of the strip set.

Measure the width of the set and then cut nine sections that width. The width should be 4 1/2″. If one is 4 3/8″, then cut the rest the same. Lay the sections out according to the diagram above, then sew the rows together to form the block.

I’m having troubles with loading my pictures! I can’t wait until my computer comes back from the shop. My logic board burnt out and my Mac dealer had to wait for parts. Hoe hum….. tick tock….. My dealer is actually very good. They offered my dh a replacement but since dh has his own mac… I’m using his. He hates that.

Tonight is my third quilting class so hopefully I can get photos to load soon.

OOPS! I published this before I added my photos. Photos to come.

I put together the “Counterchange Cross” square early this afternoon and then put my flower beds to sleep. A lot of work! It’s nice to be outside though. Soon it will be soooo cold. I was born and raised in central Alberta and I have never got used to our brutally cold winters.

Now, onto my quilting project….

I cut the following:

Purple: 2 squares @ 4 1/2″
– 1 – 2 1/2″ strip. Cut a 24″ length.

Focal: 2 squares @ 4 1/2″
– 1 – 2 1/2″ strip. Cut a 24″ length.

Sew the focal (light) and purple (dark) 24″ lengths together. Press towards the dark.

Cut into 4 – 4 1/2″ sections and 2 – 2 1/2″ sections.

Sew the 2 – 2 1/2″ sections together making sure the colours are opposite.

Layout block as above and sew it together in rows THEN sew the rows together.

If the top and bottom rows are press towards the right THEN the middle row is pressed towards the left.

This will allow the seam allowances to go in opposing directions and you are not left with a thick seam. Always plan your pressing as you go. One way to do this is to put a pin in the first block and have the point pointing to the right. The next row it would point to the left and the last row back to the right.