Happy Easter, Slow Sunday Stitching, and A Ruler Tutorial – Post Number 704 – 31 March 2024

Happy Birthday to Kathy @ Sewing, Etc. I wish her a wonderful day as birthday’s are special days to celebrate! (I started this post on the 27th, but the Internet died!).

In my last post I showcased an Antler Quilting Design Ruler to make Flying Geese. There is nothing wrong with the Ruler and I will explain why I like the Ruler as the problem is with the pattern and cutting size of the strips for the Flying Geese.

At that time I had made one Flying Geese and really thought that the Ruler was working great. The ruler directions states to use a full 1/4” but after making the FG there was not enough fabric to square it. So I switched to using a scant 1/4” seam allowance and made 2 complete blocks using the ruler, with a “scant” quarter inch seam allowance. After making the second block, I realized that I would have problems with the Star points when sewing the Center Medallion together!

I thought about different ways to correct this issue and went back to my “add more – trim some” attitude. The pattern called for cutting 2 1/2” strips and sub cut to 2” and 1/2” x 4 and 1/2” rectangles and 2 1/2” squares when making the Flying Geese for the Star Blocks. To test my theory of adding 1/4” to the rectangles and squares to now cut at 2 3/4” x 4 3/5”, I then used the Ruler to cut off the corners at 2 3/4”. BINGO! Success it works great and provides me enough fabric to trim down to the required 2 1/2” x 4 1/2” Rectangles with 2 1/2” squares. This provides me with the ability to now sew with a full 1/4” seam allowance for the Flying Geese also. Here are some visuals of the two different ways I tested.

This is an example of what the 3 pieces look like when I used the 2 1/2” strips to cut the Flying Geese pieces.

This is how the block turned out. The block is off 1/8 of an inch or more.

This shows what the pieces look like when I increased the 2 1/2” strip to 2 3/4”. I had enough to trim the FG down to 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”! Notice at the top of the white piece it is a ‘point’ instead of the way the cut is in the photo at the 2 1/2” strip.

This is how the block turned out with the 1/4” increase when cutting the strips. Please note that for my Husqvarna Designer 1 sewing machine I used the full 1/4” seam for the FG and then when I put the 3 rows together I do a ‘scant’. I do this on all 9 patches, blocks with a lot of seams, and Star blocks. If I would have used the full 1/4” it would not square to 8 1/2”. REMEMBER, all sewing machines are different so be sure to check your 1/4” and ‘Scant” seam allowances. With the changes I have made in cutting the strips, I will now again say, that I love this Ruler for corners and Flying Geese.

Now it is Sunday and yesterday I finished basting the Tulips on each corner of the Medallion. I do not baste my applique, but for this section I had to. Doing applique as large as the Tulips I put the 9 blocks together and will applique them today.

I have also finished Block 8 of In The Garden blocks! Block 8 lacks the flowers and circles, but they will be worked on later tonight or tomorrow night! It appears that somewhere along the way I named the pattern In The Garden, but the name is In My Garden by Dawn Heese in her Quiltmania book Flowering Folk Art.

I wish all a Blessed and Happy Easter, remembering the resurrection of Jesus.

It feels so good to be getting my strength back in my body from the 4 months of sitting and no quilting. Each day my arms are stronger, although I have to be careful 2 more weeks for the Tendon in my right forearm to heal 100%. But life as I knew it before the Thumb Arthritis is BACK! And am I very happy about that. My goal for April is to walk each day (allowing for 2 doctor appoints in April) and be back to walking my 1.5 miles each morning without a short break. I am praying that Clay and I remain healthy the rest of 2024!!!

Hugs,

Nanette

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