SBS - Clay's Choice

Another simple block for this week. This is Clay's Choice.

SBS - Yankee Puzzle

The last couple of blocks have been a little on the challenging side so I did a simpler block this week. It went together in a snap.

SBS - New Mexico

The block I chose this week is called New Mexico. The more I work with little pieces, the more I realize I need more practice working with little pieces. The rail fence blocks were actually paper-pieced in long strips and then sub-cut. The same with the nine patch blocks. That helped quite a bit since this is basically a 25-patch block done in 6 inches. That makes for some tricky measurements.




I've mentioned before my journey with Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.  I'm glad to be back on track and am looking forward to having it done. This week's block is number 100! Only 40 more blocks to go! Some time ago I made a graph and have been inserting pictures of the blocks as I do them. Mostly I use this to keep track of the fabrics I'm using so that I don't use the same fabrics in blocks that are next to each other. But I also like seeing how the spaces are filling up. As I insert the pictures some of the blocks get cropped. I don't know why. But, you can get an idea of how this quilt is shaping up.

SBS - Laurel Wreath

This block was a little challenging. I don't usually draw seam lines when I piece, but I did on this one because of all the Y seams. I think it made a world of difference in getting everything to line up just so.

SBS - Glorified Nine Patch

The block I chose to do this week is Glorified Nine Patch. I really love this block. I hope to do a whole quilt in this block one day. If I do, the blocks will be larger than 6" though. There were two different methods for assembling this block. One was to use templates and do curved piecing. The other was to assemble an uneven nine patch and applique the long curved pieces. Can you guess which method I chose? I really like how it came out. If I were to do a whole quilt I think I'd go with the templates though.

SBS - Sylvia's Shooting Star

I thought this block was going to be simple. It looks pretty straightforward, right? The star's rays are paper-pieced and went together easily enough. The corner where the rays all come together is a little bulky with all those pieces coming together there. But the star? It finishes at just 3 inches! I think I need more practice working with very small pieces. I felt like I was all thumbs! 

SBS - Trip Around the World

This block was paper-pieced in rows and then the rows sewn together. It went together in a snap!

SBS - Love in a Mist

Well, this block was a little frustrating to put together. I won't even go into all the little problems that arose, or the steps that I had to do over. One thing I know for sure - as my frustration level increases, my perfectionism decreases. "Done is better than perfect." Right? I haven't pieced very many eight-point star blocks. I really do love them though. I would love to do a whole quilt with eight-point star variations. They will not be six-inch blocks though, I can tell you that. This block was a little wonky when I finished piecing it. It's amazing what a little steam can do.

SBS BOW - Fool's Puzzle

The block I chose to do this week, Fool's Puzzle, is a Drunkard's Path variation. I generally don't mind sewing curves, when they're large, gentle curves. But, these units finish at 1-1/2 inches and I didn't relish doing 16 of them. So, I decided that I'd try a technique I once saw in a book. I appliqued circles to squares, and cut them into quarters. 

This isn't the final arrangement. I forgot to take that picture, but it looks great, right? Well, look what happened when those units were sewn together.

Not so great. This technique might work for larger circles and squares, but at this size it's very noticeable that the arcs are kind of flat and the circle shape is lost. So I thought. And thought. And thought some more and just before falling asleep a couple of nights ago it came to me. Remarkably I still remembered my "bright idea" the next morning AND it seemed to make sense. I made a template and appliqued the shapes to the squares and cut them into quarters. 

They look a little wonky, don't they? But, here's what they look like sewn together:

I'd say this is a definite improvement. 

(Sorry about the different lighting in the pictures. The completed blocks were scanned whereas the intermediary steps were done with the camera.)

SBS BOW - Handy Andy

This is another block that is paper-pieced. I'm still getting the hang of paper piecing. I have no problem PPing the individual units, but when it comes time to assemble those units it can be a bit of a challenge for me. One thing I really like about working on Sylvia's Bridal Sampler are all the different techniques I get to try out. By the time I finish all the blocks I won't be a master quilter like Sylvia, but I'll have certainly learned a lot.

SBS BOW - Cats and Mice

This is a block that I will most likely do over. I'll live with it up on the design wall and see how I feel in a couple of weeks, but there are just too many things wrong with it. I don't care when my points aren't perfect, but that QST in the lower right is just too far off. And, see the pink triangles? They form a star which is completely lost because the fabric is too close in value to the tan print. I like to call blocks like these my "learning blocks."

SBS - King David's Crown

Because these block are only 6 inches square, sometimes my fabric choices aren't the best. I love that green paisley fabric but it's probably too large a print to go in this block. And, the motif in the dark blue fabric didn't come out in any of the triangles. I thought about redoing the block, but decided that being a sampler and being scrappy, it was okay to leave it as is. Plus, I'm feeling a little lazy.

SBS BOW - Courthouse Steps

I was quilting all last week and most of this week so I thought I'd pick a simple paper-pieced block. I got all my supplies out and realized that it has been so long since I've paper-pieced that I forgot how to start! After a quick refresher I had this done in no time:

SBS BOW - 54-40 or Fight

I've been quilting all week so I had to shift my machine over to piecing to get this block done, L-3 54-40 or Fight:

SBS BOW - Gentleman's Fancy

The hardest part is deciding which block to do next. For this week I chose K-6 Gentleman's Fancy:

SBS BOW - Grace's Friendship

Here's my SBS block for this week, G-6 Grace's Friendship:

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - Ribbon Star

A long time ago (2006? 2007?) I started making blocks for Jennifer Chiaverini's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt. The quilt was made by characters in Jennifer's novel, The Master Quilter. There are 140 six-inch blocks in the quilt and I was following along with an online group of ladies that were making one block a week. Then, in mid-2008 we moved to Arlington, VA (which is when I originally started my blog) and a year later we moved back to Albuquerque. Eight months later we moved back to Arlington, VA and a few months later we moved into the home we're currently living in. All that moving around and I kind of set aside my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler project. I have 85 of the blocks done and this year I plan to pick it up again and make one block a week. If I keep at it I'll have all the blocks done in just over a year. To start the year off I picked this one, E-7 Ribbon Star.