All A Twitter Block of the Month: Part 2
The All a Twitter Block of the Month program is brought to you by
The Quilting Company with Hoffman California Fabrics.
My sister and I are making the All A Twitter Block of the Month quilt at the same time. She is a beginning quilter; I’m an experienced quilter.
I introduced my sister Angie (Ang) and we talked about making the first month’s sections of the quilt in Part I. I really like the fresh clean colors in the All A Twitter fabric from Hoffman Fabrics and I’m excited about making this quilt. It shows that there may be more BOMs and quilt kits for beginners and experienced quilters to work on together than we think!
I’ll let Angie tell you about her experience with part 2.
Angie writes:
One of my favorite memories from childhood is sewing days at my grandmother’s house. My mom and aunts would bring projects and spend the day mending or quilting, or reworking hand-me-downs for my sister and me. I loved those days, in part because I would get new clothes! But the other part was spending the day steeped in the creativity that would play such a large part in all our lives.
Lori and I had several of those days recently when I spent three days at her home while on my road trip. The first day we sewed dresses with our cousin Maxine. Besides finishing six dresses for girls in Haiti, Lori helped Maxine and me learn more about our new machines.
Day two, Lori and I each worked on quilts that were in process. She quilted one of mine on her new longarm. I created the back for my blue and white quilt and she started quilting that one next. Aren’t I lucky?!
During the day I was able to ask questions about quilting, fabric, tools, and ideas. And Lori taught me an easy way to bind quilts. She adapted it from the method our mother taught her many years ago.
All the while we were discussing how to approach this month’s All A Twitter blog post since I’m 1,900 miles from my home in Texas and won’t be back in time to complete the block and write the blog. Fortunately, Lori had fabric that she had requested from Hoffman and we had instructions that were limited in detail. But with a few emails, Lori was able to get the complete instructions and we were set.
As I began cutting the fabric into fat quarters, I found myself learning more about color combinations, which is one of my challenges.
Then it was time to cut the pieces for the quilt block. Here, Lori gave me some pointers on using the rotary cutter, such as to be sure to hold the cutter at a 90-degree angle to the cutting mat. This assures the correct size. She also showed me how to keep my hand closer to the rotary cutter to assure that the ruler doesn’t move. And for this block, we got to fussy cut the birds. We found two birds facing each direction then carefully measured so the birds would be centered in the 6 ½-inch square. We were careful to try to find birds near the edge of the fabric so we did not waste fabric.
Time to sew. This block utilizes the half-square triangle and the fast flying geese. For us newbies, it’s great to revisit the components that we used last month so we can continue to hone our skills. I finished one star before it was time for me to pack my suitcases and get back on the road. I’m looking forward to completing the block when I get home.
It’s Lori again.
When we got ready to sew, Ang cut out the patches for her blocks but there wasn’t enough fabric for me to cut all of my patches. So I watched and gave her hints but we were talking and giggling and having a good time. That’s my only excuse. I wasn’t in teacher mode; I was in sister mode.
After I’d gone to the office and picked up my BOM package, I was sewing my blocks; Angie was gone and I realized that there were several things I didn’t tell her.
The first is the importance of pressing seams in the right direction. With my fast flying geese, I pressed the seams toward the “sky” fabric so I could see the place where the two seams crossed.
Then as I was sewing the flying geese unit to the fussy-cut bird patch that is the center of the block, I put the flying geese unit on top so I can see where those two seams meet and stitch right through that junction.
I pressed the seams of the half-square triangle (HST) units toward the pink fabric so that when I join the HST units to the flying geese, the seams will nest so my piecing is more precise.
Sorry, Ang. I’m glad you only got one block done. The other three will be easier. I promise.
And here is this month’s section, ready to hang on my design wall at home.
And until next time, happy quilting,
Lori
It’s not too late for you to join the fun! You can purchase the All A Twitter Block of the Month at The Quilting Company.
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