As of this past weekend, I can say that I have finished with the International Block Swap that I have been involved with. It was sponsored by Make Modern Magazine and I have loved working with 4 quilters from Australia and 1 from New Zealand.
Our fearless leader, Gaye, was the first to present a block back in April of last year….read the post here…..
……and now she is the last one to present a block as the challenge ends.
As I mentioned in the post, her blocks contained 61 pieces in a 10-inch square, which meant that accurate piecing was key!!
The first thing that I did differently from last time was that I used my “Accu-quilt” machine to cut the 1-1/2 strips and in a matter of minutes, all 122 pieces were ready to take to the sewing machine…..
In the post, I said that I had to make a few adjustments to my seam allowance, but in truth, I AGONIZED over getting it exactly right so that the blocks would end up being the correct size.
Over this past year, I have worked hard to figure out where to hold the fabric to achieve a perfect 1/4-inch seam allowance on my machine.
SO…..it was VERY exciting to sit down and be able to piece these two new blocks with minimal size differences.
MAYBE….just MAYBE my plan to “up my game” in the quilting area is coming to fruition!!!
The first block contains some of Gaye’s favorite “Moda Grunge” fabric…..
….and the second is a sweet blend of blue and yellow…..
Tomorrow they will be winging their way to New Zealand. HOPEFULLY, it won’t take 10 weeks like it did last time!!!
This challenge has been so much fun….not only for the quilt blocks that I have received but for the new quilting friends that I now have on the other side of the world!!!
If you have a chance to join a challenge like this, I suggest that you do it. It has been a BLAST!!!!
4 thoughts on “A year’s worth of learning”
Those are very impressive! I can’t imagine that many pieces in a block! I just learned a hard lesson about my 1/4″ foot. I pieced away happily, thinking that blade and this magical 1/4″ foot were giving me perfect seams. Oof. Not even close. Found out that somehow, the maker of the foot assume that YOU KNOW to move your needle over two clicks to the right! Yes, the foot has that little space where the needle CAN move to the right, but how was I supposed to know it was necessary? Ugh.
I still remember when I was in a workshop and complaining about my 1/4-inch seam allowance. The teacher leaned over and pushed the button two times and my needle magically moved over……who knew!!! I use masking tape to mark the correct seam allowance now!!
This has been my year to perfect my scant 1/4″ and I’m loving it when my block is the right size! As far as packages go- I sent a Christmas package to a friend in Finland last November (so proud I sent it so early!) and got it back THIS WEEK because the address was wrong!! So now I have to pay another $30 to send it again in the new, correctly addressed box! Sigh….
I am so sorry Susan. I hate when I do things like that!!! I agree about the seam allowance. It is SO much easier to piece when it is the correct size!!!