CHANGE OF PLANS

I had originally thought I'd need to put all of the pieces up on the design wall - which would have been very difficult, because it's not really big enough, and the pieces are easy to fall off.  But I don't want to make up a bunch of blocks and then try to arrange them either because I need to see the whole quilt all at once to get a good color flow and balance since I have such a strange assortment of fabrics to work with.

Once I realized that my orignal plan wouldn't work, for the above stated reasons, I realized I could make the block into it's three separate unit-parts (well, nine parts in all).  That way, I could put the pieces up on the wall and still be able to move them around to get the optimum color flow.

So, that's what I'm doing.

It's still pretty slow going, but still fun.

Only two of these are sewn together blocks, the rest are just the separate units - the 4 corner parts, which you can easily see here, the 4 arcs, and the center diamond.  Should be fun to mix and match when I get a bunch made up.

BIRTHDAY DINNER AT ENDOLYNE JOE'S

Endolyne Joe's Restaurant has quarterly themes.  Tonight's was 'Quebec'.  There was a giant loon flying through the restaurant with lots of maple leaves and other Canadian things.

The food was simple and excellent.

Happy Birthday Darrell.

MAKING THE FIRST BLOCK

I thought it best to make one block to see how it would go.

Luckily I read the instructions from the magazine.  I was all set to do it in a different order.  Their instructions make more sense.  You sew all of the straight lines together first.  You are then left with several long arcs to piece. 

I haven't done much curved piecing.  It's slow going.

First, the center section, all straight seams.

Next, the other two sections, still all straight seams.

Then add the arc to the corner pieces.

Lastly sewing the corner pieces to the center.

Actually, it's not difficult, it's just slow.

And, it turned out exactly the right size - 14-1/2" square (finished size will be 14").


This quilt should keep me busy all winter.  


Remember:  enjoy the process.

CUTTING OUT THE ARCS

I'm not sure I'm going to have enough of the whites and lights of the original fabrics to do all of the arcs and X's.  So, I'm cutting them first.

Only 392 pieces needed.  Here we go.

CUSTOM MADE TEMPLATES

I finally decided on the pattern for my Kentucky fabrics.

The pattern was found in a magazine, Quilt Life, April 2013 issue.

I redrew the block in Electric Quilt, making it smaller, so there could be more blocks on the quilt.  

It has lots of curves and odd shapes, necessatating templates.

I asked my wonderful husband if he could cut them out for me.

I printed the templates out with Electric Quilt.  I was thinking acrylic, but he asked if masonite would work, and I couldn't think of reason it wouldn't.  After all, they are just for this one project.  The masonite is easier to cut with his woodworking tools, whereas the acrylic requires special (expensive) blades.  We glued the paper onto the masonite then he cut them out with the bandsaw and sanded them down to the line.  He made it look really easy.

So, here they are:

Weird shapes, huh?

P.S.  I'm such a lucky gal.  Thank you, Darrell.