Almost there! (stash report week 2)

WooHoo!  I feel better now.  Not only physically, but here's a UFO that I drew out on graph paper when my son was 6 months old.  He's now 6.

It feels good to: (1) get these 35 Jacob's Ladder blocks done and (2) get them put together.  Now to figure out borders.

sorry for the poor pic, 60x84

It is so eye opening to see the difference between the blocks I made a few months ago and the ones that I made a few years ago.  Between using different machines, honing my cutting skills, and discovering that my original quarter inch foot was actually a 3/8 inch foot when sewn to the guide on the ride side, some of the blocks were off by 1/4 inch.

Initially, I constructed the HSTs with Thangles.  For the latest blocks I used the Easy Angle ruler.  I think this also contributed to the size discrepancy.  I prefer the Easy Angle because it seems faster for me to stitch the two triangles together and press and voila!, a HST.

I put the top together in sections, not row by row.  Doing this helped tremendously in dealing with the block size discrepancy, allowing me to ease in blocks a bit at a time.  Now, that doesn't mean that some of my seam allowances aren't a bit small in places!

Lots of quilt patterns tell us to put tops together row by row.  In my beginning quilting class, our LQS owner/instructor showed us how to put blocks together in pairs, then into 4 patches, then 8 patches, etc.  This prevents us from sewing long seams over and over again.  I use this method with complex blocks, too.  For example, rather than sewing a 16 patch block together row by row, I create four 4 patches and sew those components and my blocks come out more precise.

To the numbers!  I don't count yardage piecemeal.  Usually I wait until the binding is done before I count the yardage.  However, since I plan to do some "quilting by checkbook," I will count the top and backing once the quilting is complete.  I can count the binding later, when it's being added.  So, nothing "used" this week.

Have a great week!


Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 0
Added this week: 0
Added YTD: 0
Net added YTD: 0

See more Stash Reports over at Patchwork Times.