The Present quilt block

Ah, the best laid plans....It's been a while since I last posted here, but I am still an avid fan of Jenny Doan and her quilting tutorials. My goal is to make her quilt blocks each week and show you. The fun will be seeing her blocks in my fabric interpretation, as I love to see how others make theirs!

I LOVE Jenny's version of the Present quilt block. It will make a beautiful pillow cover (which I am making), a quilt, or a table runner.

This block has two important piecing lessons which I will show you.

       1. Jenny loves doing "snowballing" of corners. This is definitely a skill to do well, as Jenny uses this technique in many of her quilt block designs. You have to have perfect 1/4 inch seams, or things will be wonky. Learning this shortcut will make your piecing go fast and fabulous!

2. Another skill is matching up thin strips of fabric - in this case the "ribbon" of the present. This is a very difficult technique that just HAS to be mastered because if your seams are off your piece will look shabby and amateurish. I'm trying to sell the things I make and I would never TRY to sell them if they weren't almost perfect(preferably perfect)!

So, I took four squares and sewed them together with two strips of the darker fabric for the ribbon. I sewed the two blocks horizontally - left to right. I combined the top and bottom. The challenge was to match the two ribbon strips, so take the bottom block and lay the top block over it, matching the ribbons. Pin them together and then the rest of the seam on each side. Do it until it matches perfectly, hopefully just the one time!

The top bow strip is three rectangles. The middle one is snowballed with two pieces of ribbon material. Here is where the problems began! When I sewed the bow strip to the present block, I saw the bow was not centered exactly in the middle of the ribbon. Then I saw the top edges of the bow strip were very uneven. So, out goes the trusty "picker" and off comes the strip. I first trimmed up the top edges of the strip, then re-centered it on the block and it looked better - until I eyeballed the top right bow. I cut off the 1/4  inch seam allowance! Arghhh!

Out comes the picker - again. I had to re-do the whole strip. Is this the stuff that drives you crazy when piecing? Me too. But I did it.

I added the borders and was happy with it!

I get so very frustrated doing piecing, and I wonder how many of us give up completely because it is an exacting art. I know the secret to success is practice, practice, practice - and pay attention to the details!

I love piecing because I view it as an art: The beautiful fabrics are my canvas and I need to hone the techniques like a painter to make them the best they can be. 

I hope you'll join me here at Jenny and Annie and I'd love to hear about your experiences and tips to successful piecing! That will be the most fun!

Happy piecing, my friends!

~Ann Bailey

Easy Pins and Paws Quilt Block

I was thrilled to see Jenny's "Easy Pins and Paws Quilt Block" tutorial! This is the cutest block and I plan on making lots of them.

I am learning more and more that "piecing", or cutting small pieces and sewing them together to form a block really can be challenging. It's the actual accuracy of the cutting that makes it a challenge, as well as being careful when sewing.

In this block I am working with my pink fabric, and with a white Kona cotton charm pack as the background.

A charm pack is a package of usually about forty 5 square inch pieces of fabric, either solid or in a line of coordinating colors. This is what is called "pre-cuts" fabric that comes in different sizes already cut for you, such as the 5" and 10", and 2.5", and more.

This is a fairly simple block with four pieces for the kitty and three for the background. I have made four kitties and in the upper photo I put a sample of the different pinks I used.

This is another block (see previous post) where you will need to "snowball" some corners - to make the kitty's back and to make the ears. I got a lot of experience doing this as I made my four blocks.
Jenny Doan's snowballing technique, while I'm pretty sure she didn't invent it, replaces making half-square triangles. The more you do the easier they become.

 Here's my completed kitty block. As you can see, it needs to be "squared up", or straightened. I expect the block to be about 9.5 square inches.

+Annie's Tips: Check and double check your cuts and 1/4 inch seams. This will be a continuing theme!

                                                                      Purrrrrty in Pink 
- my four pink kitty blocks that I will make into an 18" pillow cover that will delight some little girl!

This block would make an adorable baby quilt, mug rugs, place mats or wall hangings.  Everybody who loves cats will love this block. There are a lot of ways you can make this even more creative, such as embroider eyes and noses and whiskers on the kitties! Have fun!

Please sign up for my posts as I quilt along with Jenny Doan's tutorials.

Thanks for reading...
~Ann

Easy Strips Butterflies Block

My first block created from Jenny Doan's tutorial is called "Easy Strips Butterflies Block".

I realized that this fairly simple block teaches many basic piecing techniques; I don't proclaim to be an expert at any of them, but I want to learn and/or get better at them. "Piecing" is simply the act (or art) of sewing the quilt block pieces together.

My first step in making my block was in picking out the fabric. I then cut it into 2 and 1/2 inch strips and sewed three of them together. I'm only making one block so I have to adjust the instructions accordingly.

The first lesson to learn is in sewing strips together.

*Jenny says sew two strips together, then turn it around and sew the third one going the other way to prevent "bowing" of the "strip set".

I cut my strip of three in 6.5 inch lengths. You are supposed to wind up with a square. Well, no such luck. They didn't look square, so I measured them - and they weren't. Argh!! I looked at my seams: they looked awfully wide. I got out my handy ruler and yep - they were about an 1/8 th of an inch wider than the required quarter inch. Bah!

My blocks were 6in square and now I had to "snowball" them. Jenny does lots of snowballing in her piecing:

*You take a square piece of fabric the proper size (like 2.5 in),  fold or iron in half and sew it on the crease line on the corners of the block you want to "snowball".

I worried that I messed up the size, so the snowballs won't fit right, but my tired (and tired of working on this block) self just forged ahead, thinking, "Way to go Ann....screw up your very first Jenny and Annie blog block."

But, it turned out fine - so far. The middle seams needed "trimming up" or straightening to accept the middle strip.

I cut a 1.5 inch strip of white fabric for the center of the block, and some 2.5 in. strips for the borders.

The borders will have 2.5 in. square blocks for the "cornerstones" made out of the butterfly material.

I got disconbobulated about doing the cornerstones , but just keep lookin' and lookin' at that video! I figured it out! Thanks, Jenny!


As I sew the middle piece I realize some things, and these will be "Annie's Tips":

+When you are sewing with plain fabric and want to pin things before you sew, pin in the SEAM line area because pins make holes in the fabric. These holes are not really visible in printed fabric, but they sure are in solid color fabric.

+Get the finest pins you can afford for pinning.

Another thing that Jenny speaks of frequently is:

*When you sew two pieces together "set your seam".

Setting your seam simply means press the seam with your iron. Why do we do this? Janet Wickell is a quilt expert for About.com. Here she tells us why we should always set our seams:

How Does Setting a Seam Help Improve Patchwork?

"When we sew fabrics together, the narrow channel along the seam is occupied by a thread. No matter how accurate we are, the fabric on each side of the thread will puff up just a tiny bit and that teeny extra height, called loft, could become 'lost' in the seam when it's pressed to one side.
Pressing to set the seam helps remove those little puffed up areas. Setting a seam will make patchwork lie flatter than it would if you simply press to one side or sometimes open, which we do to make quilt backing or to reduce bulk."

I sewed one side of the middle 1.5 inch strip between the butterfly halves. Oh NO!! The challenge is to make sure everything lines up across the whole piece. It sure doesn't look like it will! Argh! I hate piecing. Sigh...

Amazingly, things line up well - if you don't look real close!

On to the final side strips with cornerstones. Strips are 2.5 in. and cornerstones are 2.5 in. squared. I struggled with how to get the cornerstones on, but they came out fine.
                                   

My final block is 11 in. by 12in. I'm pleased with how it came out. My challenge now is to fit it into a 19in. piece because I'm making this block into a pillow cover.

Finally I want to add - I haven't done a lot of piecing and realize the importance of maintaining those 1/4 in. seams accurately. I love how this block turned out even though it isn't exact in size. If you are going to make a quilt of many of these blocks, you have to make all your blocks identical in size. I didn't start over with this block because I knew I'm only making one and will fit it in to a pillow cover very nicely. I will come back and share a photo here when I get it done!

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UPDATE: 1/30/17 Finally, I was able to finish this block and make it into a pillow cover:

I framed the block in white to make it the size I needed for the pillow cover, and also to make the butterfly "float". My pillow is a bit too fluffy - it needs to be firmer to expand the cover to show the block the best. (Number 39 on my shopping list!) Check out this and my others on my Etsy shop: PinwheelsandYoYos .     www.etsy.com/shop/pinwheelsandyoyos

I LOVE this block and it would make a great quilt! Thanks, Jenny!

Having fun with Jenny Doan's tutorials!

I am a huge fan of Jenny Doan, owner of Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri.

Jenny is a "sewist", a quilter, a successful business owner and from all appearances looks like a sweet, fun lady!

She puts out a tutorial video every Friday morning showing us a brand new quilt pattern. Maybe it's not brand new, but a new take on an old quilt block. She shows us shortcuts to make complicated blocks easy. I wait in anticipation every Friday! Fortunately it's there before I get up.

Enter Julia Childs. Julia Childs? What in the world does she have to do with quilt blocks?

Not a thing.

But the movie "Julie and Julia" is one of my very favorites. It stars Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. Amy is a young woman who loves to write and loves to cook. She desperately wants to do something to elevate her humdrum life as an office worker. She is enthralled by Julia Childs. She comes upon the idea of starting a blog and commits to taking each recipe in Julia Childs' famous book "The Art of French Cooking", and cooks it, writes about it every day for a year -  and - well, you need to watch it!

As I'm watching Jenny Doan on her brand-new tutorial video this week, I had a GREAT idea! This Christmas, I made about 30-40 pillow covers for sale and for gifts and really enjoyed doing so. I also thought, "I watch all these videos every week and I know I won't make quilts out of them, but I'd like to make something with the blocks if only just to try them. And after all, I do have that immense stash of fabric....". I also love to write, and love to sew and create.

So here we go: My latest blog - Jenny and Annie - where I will make Jenny Doan's quilt block every week and make it into a pillow cover. And then it will go on my Etsy shop for sale: PinwheelsandYoYos at                                              www.etsy.com/shop/pinwheelsandyoyos

The plan for now is to make two pillow covers a week (more if I have the time). Jenny has almost 300 tutorials on YouTube. So I will make an old one,  and the newest one each week!

Sign up below, make a comment and enjoy my new adventure!!

Ann Bailey