Newsflash!!!!!
When Charleen and I were at the quilt show last week, we bought tickets for the tombola draw. I saw one I really liked so I bought 2 tickets on #2 and guess what. I won!!!! This is it. The easiest little thing to make you have ever seen. Its a panel, cut and sewn beautifully around the edge and then stitched to two pieces of wool. That's it. I have no idea where I'm going to put it as I want it visible for all to see. I'll take a day or two to think about it.
Before I square up my blocks, I get out my rotating cutting mat. I love this mat. It sure has come in handy over the years. I use it for squaring up the blocks because I don't have to move around my table to cut the block without moving it. The board moves for me. This way I don't have to move the block either which is crucial in squaring up the block
This is my block. I sewed it larger than necessary about 7 1/2" x 7".
I fold the block in half and lay it on the cutting mat. This particular block I laid on the 6" marking line as I want to cut it 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"
I position my ruler in the centre of the black strip..............it measures 1" wide. If you didn't have a strip like this, you would find the centre of the block in the other direction and position it such that it is centred on the board also.
Half of 6 1/2" ix 3 1/4". I marked my ruler close to that marking and then laid it down the centre. The centre marking in this case is the 6" line on the board.
When you are finished you will have a perfect (in this case) 6 1/2" square block. It is important when making a quilt with blocks that all the blocks are squared up before putting them together. Every block is squared using the same method. Find the centre and trim to the required size. If you have a lot of blocks, make sure you find the smallest block and trim all to that size.
I have a tip for you today. A friend was over yesterday and she said to me she was having problems with thread breakage in her machine. It was name brand thread and new so she was getting pretty frustrated.
She re-threaded the machine, not once, but several times, she re-wound the bobbin, not once, but several times. I asked her if she had changed the needle. I had the same problem one time and it was the needle breaking the thread. I also asked her when she last cleaned out the machine. Give it a try the next time if you ever encounter this problem. It could be what it is.
Its Thanksgiving week-end in Canada. A lovely 3 day week-end and some of us are going to enjoy fabulous fall weather. Do you know the meaning behind our celebrating? Here is a link that will clear up all those misconceptions we have held over the past many years. No it has nothing to do with pilgrims, nothing at all.
| http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/thanksgiving/canada/ |
I'll see you all on Tuesday.
