Classic Yuletide BOM - #6 - Catching Up

I am finally catching up with the Block of the Month projects!  I decided to start with Fig Tree's "Classic Yuletide BOM because I am the farthest out with this one:  two months behind with a current month, #8 just arriving for me to sew.

This is block #11 called "Birds in the Air."  Joanna asked us to leave the four parts unassembled because
"There are different ways that they can be put into a block."  I photographed one of the options that are shown to the right.  She added, "We will make that decision later in the assembly process." 

Each smaller component block is 8" finished or 8 1/2" unfinished so the entire "Birds in the Air" is 16 finished or 16 1/2" unfinished.

The second block of month #6 is Block #12  called "Milky Way."  Joanna made this block easy to assemble because she made one of the side pieces from two half square triangles.  Thank you, Joanna! 

Each of the smaller component pieces are 6 3/4" finished or 7 1/4" UF.  Sewn together the entire block is 13 1/2" finished or 14 1/2 UF. 

  


Lastly, I neglected to post a photo of the three border pieces of the "Flock of Feathered Stars" BOM from last week.  I don't know if I mentioned that this block of the month is 18 months in length.  There are 48 blocks in the border.  We sew 3 of these blocks each month so at the end, we will have 48 blocks for the border. 

Flock of Feathered Friends - Month 4

The first Tuesday of each month is our class meeting for the "Flock of Feathered Star."  Not many of us showed up--only five out of twelve.  It was fun getting to know four of the other members because when all twelve are there, it is noisy and difficult to get to know everyone.

This block is called "Feathered Star No. 5."  This was fun to sew together but so far, my favorite was last months feathered star.

 

Month 4 - Arcadia Avenue BOM

Wow!  I finally finished something since my last post!  I had to work at the local high school last week.  I subbed for a woman that was sick!  There was some kind of fever, headache and general coughing making its way through the student population as well.  Needless to say, I became sick also with the same symptoms that I mentioned earlier!  It was horrible! 

I cannot believe that I finished one block of the Arcadia Avenue BOM.  The name of the block is "Spiderweb."

 

A Flock of Feathered Stars - Month 3

I came home from work and decided that I needed to finish the 3rd month of "A Flock of Feather Stars" block.  I just love paper piecing!  Here is the block for this month and it is called "Feathered Edge Star."

 

Working on "Threads of Time"

Last month was the end of the Block of the Month (BOM), "Threads of Time."  I made all of the 36 blocks but only 35 of them are needed to complete the quilt.  I did all of the flying geese that the pattern wanted us to make and that was quite a few....over 300 of them!  

The pattern suggests that we sew all of the flying geese in column 1 together.  That is 40 flying geese!  Next we are told to sew the second column and sew it to the first!  Well....I am easily frustrated by trying to match points.  Instead of doing that I decided to go with another plan.  

Each 8" block has a four flying geese to the left and four flying geese at the bottom with the exception of the last row.  The last column of 8" blocks has a row of flying geese to the right also.

What I decided to do was the following:

Sew four flying geese together and sew it to the left side of each 8" block.  

I sewed on the six flying geese:  two that are sewn in the same direction as the first column and four pointing to the right.






I had to do this to 30 of the 8" blocks and the bottom row only had the four blocks to the left, no flying geese to the bottom of the blocks.  I had to sew 6 flying geese to the right sides of the 8" blocks of the last column.

I laid the blocks out this past weekend.  I selected which blocks I wanted in each row.  I stacked the blocks by row (see photo to the right).  It took me so long to sew the flying geese on that I need a bit of a break from matching all of those points!

On the bottom of each stacked row, I placed the last block with the flying geese to the right.  You can see them hanging out.  

I plan on sewing the first block of row 1 to the first block of row 2.  The second block of row 1 to the second block of row 2.  The third block of row 1 to the second block of row 2.  This will continue until I have just a few blocks to sew together.  

I haven't even started the outer blocks yet!  I will post a photo of the blocks when I get back to the quilt. 

Rapid Fire Hunter's Star by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design

I know that I was supposed to start working on my BOM kits but I had a wonderful distraction, the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design!  I spent the last two days watching the DVD, deciding what size of project that I needed to sew, determining how much fabric that I will need and running to my local fabric store, Fabric Garden to purchase the fabrics.  So EXCITING!  

I had been introduced (at Fabric Garden) to one of my most favorite rulers that Deb Tucker makes, the Wing Clipper.  It is the most extraordinary ruler that makes every flying goose/geese PERFECTLY!  I met Deb Tucker at PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival) three years ago in Santa Clara.  I realized that she had other EXTRAORDINARY rulers to make your sewing so much easier.  I always buy locally at the Sacramento area quilt shops first before I purchase from an online store.  I am embarrassed to say that I started buying Deb's rulers at Fabric Garden even though I haven't used them but I have every intention of doing so.

I purchased the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star (petite star) ruler years ago but I decided to purchase the "Field Guide" last year at PIQF.  It is full of layouts for quilts and yardage that you need for each project.  It's an amazing guide.  By the way, her videos are amazing too!  Check out her website:  www.studio180design.net

I love red, white and blue quilts so these are the fabrics I selected.


It was an absolute delight to sew this quilt!  I put the whole 4 x 4 blocks quickly.  Of course, I did not include the time that I watched the DVD which I just purchased a couple of weeks ago from the website. I admit that I am a student and love to explore and read anything new that I am interested in trying. 

 

 

I came up with this....so fun and enjoyable to sew!  As I said before, this is the 4 x 4 block layout of the 6" Block.  It is 36" x 36" finished.  I was so surprised by the ease of sewing this together!  I thought that I would be ripping out seams at the corners of the stars for hours!  NOT!  I must say that I did not watch the entire DVD especially the end!  Deb has remedies for correcting errors in other words:  troubleshooting.  I did not watch those until just now.  I could kick myself because I do have some errors which I could have avoided if I watched it all the way through.

Thanks Deb and Studio 180 Design for another fabulous technique and ruler!

Arcadia Avenue BOM - Block 1 - DONE

I am finally done with block 1!  I should've been done yesterday but I had to work and I was feeling tired so I took a break....a half day break!  

I wanted to be sure that I sewed the two halves together as well as I could.  I finished half of block.  I don't want to go back to fix the center as I have to do on block 3.

The pinning for me is the most difficult.  I usually squeal with pain each time I touch the block because I pierce my skin many, many times during this process.

I am thinking that I am falling behind my other BOM's so I will put the fabric and book away to try to catch up, a common theme in my quilting/sewing life.