FBP - 2011 Week 15 - Fish

I finished another catch up block for Friday's Block Party.

It's sort of hard to do the math for a block that is supposed to be 10.5 square when done....

I made the nine patch out of 3.5 inch square sections.  I actually paper pieced the two square with quarter triangles.

I added a 2.5 inch strip to the end and 1.75 strips to the top and bottom.  I will trim so it's 10.5 square when I put the quilt together.

When I quilt this block I will add eye and gills - will be fun!

I just have a few more blocks to do to get caught up with the blocks for Friday's Block Party - soon will be able to plan sashings and borders!

FBP to do:
17 - Easter Lily
14 - Pieced Tulips
13 - Bee Block
12 - Scrappy Butterfly

SKIPPING BLOCKS:
11 - Flying Squares - skipping (# of colors)
05 - Fading Star - skipping (size and # of colors)

FBP Done:
18 - Tangram Rabbit
17
16 - Alaska Homestead
15 - Fish
14
13
12
SKIP
10 - Leaping Frog
09 - Scottie
08 - Camel
07- Heart
06- Chicken
SKIP
04 - Standing Cat
03 - Fool's Square
02 - Elephant
01 - Marion's Choice

FBP - Week 9 - Scottie

One more Friday Block Party block done!

This one was for week 9 - the Scottie Dog.

There were several variations done of this block...  Click here to see posts from that site.  The most recent will appear first so probably will be my post....  Scroll down to see more!

I just realized that I was waiting for an email from Sophie with the directions for the May Block Lotto challenge, but because I didn't get my April blocks in time I have to go to her site to get the directions.  Duh!  No wonder she wasn't emailing me!

Paper Piecing: Frog and Rabbit

I'm still not loving paper piecing, but I am finding myself drawn to it... especially since I said I'd find around a dozen animal blocks for Friday's Block Party.

Frog block

http://www.winnowing.com/frog.html

Tangram Rabbit block (untrimmed)

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/bunny-tangrams-673779/

FBP - Week 8 - Paper Pieced Camel

Missing the ears and eye.

This week we are doing a paper pieced pattern for a Camel!

There is a link to the pattern from this webpage:
http://www.bellaonline.com/subjects/3968.asp

The cover sheet for the pattern - with an example block:
http://www.paperpanache.com/free/guestpats/ajsogcaml.htm

The pattern uses two colors and is divided into several sections.

I hadn't planned on suggesting this block, but after doing the patchy heart I had a bunch of scraps and I thought doing a paper pieced block would help me make use of those bits of fabric.

I haven't really done paper piecing before - looking at these videos helped me out:

Leah Day - For the beginner
TimbleArt - Adds a few more tips
Crafty Gemini - Adds much more detail

Notes:

1. Print the pattern the size you would like - I suggest at least two copies!  I printed mine so it was 10 inches - so I had to bring it into an editing program so I could divide it and print on two sheets of paper (so I would get the exact size that I wanted.) Note:  For my 10.5 unfinished block I should have set it to print to be 9.75 or maybe even 9.5 - when I sew my block to the next block the seam will intersect with the tail, rear leg, and be really near the face.....
2. Notice there are several groups in the pattern (head, neck, body, and legs) - cut the pattern apart at these lines - remember you will need to extend the lines by .25 inch so when you join them together they will fit! Along the outside of the entire block I added additional fabric to be sure to have enough fabric.
   
3. There are just two colors to use in this pattern. So that part is easy. I marked the pieces where the camel would be to help me keep track of things though.  I used Kona Cotton solids so I did not have to worry about front and back side of fabric.
4. I goofed when I was making the tail and had to do it twice.  Because I had used the tighter stitches I couldn't pick it out and reuse the fabric, so the second time I basted things, checked to be sure it was correct, then when back and sewed with the tight stitches.  Still there were a couple of places that that I didn't have the fabric placed correctly.  I just added extra fabric where needed (so I have additional seams).
   

Paper piecing isn't as much fun as I thought it would be, but perhaps after doing a couple it will get easier and I'll be able to do more detailed projects.

To take some of the mystery of paper piecing patterns
How to Draw a Paper Pieced Pattern in PhotoShop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m28FWEd8pNw&feature=related Video 1 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmnfpMvoPQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL Video 2 of 2

FBP - Week 6 - Chicken

This week is is my turn again to post the Friday's Block Party block.

The original chicken pattern is from Sew Inspired blog - her darling block is 7 x 8. Click to see her fabrics!

10.5 square

However, the rest of my blocks are 10.5 square....

Originally I was thinking of of following the pattern but then adding strips to make it 10.5, but then I drew the blocks out and decided instead to change the size of things....

Original on the right with extra background to make it 10.5 inches square.

Body = 7 x 8 and 2.5 x 2.5
Comb = (2) 3.5 x 4
Beak = 1.5 x 1.5
Background =  2.5 x 2.5 for the rear of the body, 1.5 x 1.5 for the front of the body, 2 x 7 (to put the beak in), 1.5 x 7 (for behind the tail), top part I cut 4 x 13 (first I fit the tail on, then sewed the comb down, second I cut 1.5 strip and put it behind the tail so it would line up when the top was sewn on). Had an inch or so left over but it got mixed up with my other leftovers before I measured it (sorry).

* Has the comb of the rooster, but the tail of a hen?  Actually if I had looked at this video before I finished the block I would have made the comb a little smaller! Here are some other webpages with information on chickens.

So far we have made these animals: elephant, standing cat, and chicken!

FBP - Week 4 - Standing Cat

Purple Cat

This week it was my turn to post the block for the Friday's Block Party site.  I picked another animal - a standing cat.

I really tried to get the block to be 10.5 unfinished, and actually it's a little bigger!  Guess now I'm sewing way less than .25 inch seams.  I need to perfect the width of seams just so my blocks come out the way I expect them to!

I removed the stitches from my FBP Week 1 block and redid so it is 10.5 inches too.

Weeks 1-4 - working to get the sizing so all blocks are the same size.

This will be a cute addition to the quilt that will be made from these blocks:

Traditional and Animal Block Quilt!

FBP: Week 2: Elephant

Each Friday for two years, Hetty at the Friday's Block Party blog arranges for a posting of a block for folks to make that week.

This year I get to help and will be mixing it up and helping by posting some of the suggestions.

I think I'm going to start by suggesting folks do animal or picture blocks.

This week we are making this elephant block designed by Milk and Honey Quilts.

In my background - grey I cut strips:  1.5 inches, 2.5 inches and 3.5 inches.  Then I cut the pieces as directed.

In my animal orange I already had an uneven strip cut around 2.75 wide.  I used that to get all the smaller pieces.  I cut a 3.5 strip and a 5.5 strip to get the larger pieces cut.

Then I arranged them according to the letter assigned in the directions.

At this point I was just following directions hoping it was all going to come together...

Placed the pieces in order to be sewn...

It was difficult to really see things as there are squares on top that will be sewn and then cut at at angle.

Sewed the triangle and straight edges - the first sewing on each piece only.

Starting to see the elephant!

Arranged to sew order sewn.

It's really just a simple matter of sewing the same sized things together.

The head side is all together now.

As noted by the designer there is really just one seam to match now - so I pressed the head seam up and the body seam down to make that easier...

Here is the final block - front view.

Link to Original Pattern by Milk and Honey Quilts.

And the back side too.


















I started thinking I'd do a pink elephant - but then looking at my colors I decided I wanted the animal to really stand out so I did it in the orange fabric.  I think purple would be a good fourth color to add in the mix for these blocks....

My Friday's Block Party Blocks - Weeks 1 and 2