Sunday, July 17, 2016

"Green Side up"

There used to be a joke about laying sod. I can't remember the joke but the punch line was... "Green Side Up".

Yesterday I started a Snails Trail baby quilt and I am using the "Square in a Square" ruler and method to make the blocks. I love this system for making any block that has a square in a square. Every block is square and the same size and although the squaring part is tedious, not having to be sewing bias constantly is a blessing. (If you are not familiar with the "Square in a Square method" check this web page http://squareinasquare.com )



 I find that the regular method of sewing triangles to opposite sides of the square and then trying to get it to square up properly or have an accurate 1/4" seam allowance so you don't lose all your points after squaring is painful!

Right side      -           Wrong side
My friend Aimee has a mantra when she sews... "Right side together".  I laugh silently when I sew with her as she reminds herself that she needs to match the right sides.

White is so hard to tell the difference from right and wrong sides and the fabric I am using is almost impossible. So I am continuously saying "right side up" every time I place a white strip down (sorry Aimee that I laughed at you). I have several pieces in the blocks I have made so far that I see the white is upside down but I am not taking them apart. If I couldn't see it before, no one else will ever notice. Right?

And there was one time when I remembered "right side up" but forgot to put the block right side down on it!  grrrrrrr!



I am also having to remind myself that the blue goes on the bottom. The centre blocks are little 4 patches of white and blue. I am chain piecing the white portions to the 4 patches and with 36 blocks at a time, I am repeating "blue at the bottom" 36 times x 3 rounds.

And last but not least... That pesky 1/4 inch.

The one thing about the "square in a square" method is that you have to sew an accurate 1/4". I don't always do that! I tell people as long as you sew the same 1/4" throughout a project it doesn't matter if you sew a little scant.  Just always sew the same. MY same is to put my regular sewing foot on and move my needle two places right of the most left position. I always sew like that... ALWAYS!

Except after putting the completed block above together, I realized my 1/4" was too scant. So I put on the proper 1/4" foot, set my guide and changed to the single hole plate and perfect... exact 1/4"!! Yeah!!

My exact 1/4" setup on my Bernini 790


Except for the fact that I had completed 3 blocks using my standard everyday, always use it 1/4" and after all six of the blocks I needed were done... the results were not pretty!

block on the left is my 1/4", block on the right is the exact 1/4"
at least 1/2" difference in the overall size of the block.
So I am back to making more blocks! I will have to make 6 using an accurate 1/4" and 6 using the not so accurate 1/4". But the good news is I will have a second quilt ready for the next little boy that comes along!





1 comment:

AimeeDP said...

Laugh away, especially when you're picking ;)