I’m afraid that I probably should have gone counter-clockwise, so all that sparkly perfection may be in vain. I’m holding off on making a date with Mr. Seam Ripper, as well as sewing any more blocks until I have confirmed which direction the logs should be spinning. Either way, it’s a beauty to behold. Just wait until I have a photo of the completed technicolor king size quilt with pillow shams to show you!

Here’s my version of a Log Cabin block, stress-free style. The last red log wanted to go on the other side, so of course I obliged. (How could I refuse?) This one’s for my Dear Diary 2010 quilt, but it would be fun to do a whole quilt of these mixed up Log Cabins.

happy piecing! ^_^

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Last night I was making a blue block for my Dear Diary quilt. Here is the design I pictured in my head. Actually it was originally more like 12 small squares and one large square, but I got tired of cutting and searching for that many blue fabrics so I changed it to the 4 small squares and 3 large squares shown in this illustration:

I didn’t feel like doing the math or the measurements either, so I simply guesstimated and moved to the machine to sew the pieces together. It quickly became apparent that the block wasn’t going to be big enough and it wasn’t even going to be square! Rather than start all over again I found a rectangle of polka dotted blue in my scrap box which was coincidentally exactly the size I needed and cut the cloud fabric to fit.

Here’s what I ended up with (the actual block):

I like the carefree feel of the finished block, and I love the mystery of piecing scraps together, not knowing exactly how the block will turn out till it reaches the desired size. Bonus: No stress over doing it right. Anything goes here!

Try piecing fabric scraps together sometime when you need to relax. Or sew a handful of pieces together as a warm-up before your regular quilt-making session. At the very least you’ll be warmed-up and ready to go, but you might also end up with a charming quilt top as well.

The purple and black Square-in-a-Square at right is another one of those blocks I don’t see myself making more of. (The dime is for scale.) It is pieced for real, not painted, stamped or fussy cut. I can’t imagine why I ever made it in the first place, but I can see why there is only one.

I was digging in my scrap box for more of the sheep fabric, but couldn’t find any. What I did find was this little gem, already inset into the muslin and just waiting for me. I think it fits in rather nicely.

happy quilting! =(^_^)=

(The unfinished one on the left is my unfortunate basket. I pieced it wrong and didn’t have time to fix it before the exchange deadline. Luckily all the others turned out OK and I had enough good blocks to exchange. I’ll have to finish piecing it before I turn them into something though.)
So, any ideas?

While there is a time and a place for perfectly matched seams, there is also an equally important place for moving on and getting those quilt blocks completed. Just keep sewing and with practice you can achieve those perfect seams one day. In the meanwhile you don’t want to rip your fabric (and your patience) to shreds. Quilt-making should be enjoyable.

If that mismatched seam intersection bothers you too much, try covering it up with a well-placed button or bead. This little trick can be so much fun that once you master your piecing you might not want to give up the embellishing!
Ric-rac embellished seams are another nifty option.
What are your favorite cover-ups?

The diamonds in the corners of the Sakura block are quick and easy to appliqué. Each corner would need 5 separate pieces if they were paper-pieced and custom templates would have been necessary for regular piecing. The blossoms dancing across the block add movement to an otherwise basic 9-patch variation.

The gentle curves of the flowers and leaves in the Tulip Basket block are easy to appliqué and contrast nicely with the angular pieced basket.

Here are some tips for you if you’d like to try mixing appliqué and piecing together in your quilt blocks:

• Simple pieced blocks with fewer rather than many pieces work best for appliquéing on top of.

• Pressing the seams open for pieces that will have appliqués on top will reduce the seam bulk and help your appliqué stitches to be smoother.

• If you prefer to press your seams to one side, just appliqué slowly and carefully over the bumps.

• Simple appliqué shapes will show up best on pieced backgrounds (and they’re the easiest to sew too!)

• Bright, warm colors (think hot pink, orange, yellow, red) will help the appliqués pop into the foreground.

• Light, cool colors (think aqua, blue, green, purple) will help keep the background in the background.

• I used fusible web on my blocks, but there’s no reason you couldn’t try needle-turn appliqué over a pieced block. Just needle through the top layer of the background only, avoid appliquéing all the way through the seam allowances.

happy quilting! =(^_^)=