All things bright and beautiful

In the aftermath of the tragedies of the last few days from Las Vegas shooting and the remains of the hurricanes in the Caribbean and the South, I cannot understand how other lives might be. My heart aches for the pain and loss many are feeling. My students and their problems growing up only pine next to the conditions of others. The wide smiles of my grandchildren and their enthusiasm when they see me only make life so much better.

On a different note, Monday I suddenly realized it was the new month and I have a new color for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge, which I was fully aware of, but a new request for the Stash Bee. It was nice to be the receiver of blocks last month.  I will post all the beauties of the tulip blocks.

Here are the blocks I have made for Hive 6. I had fun selecting many brights and a contrast to go with it. It was quick to cut out and the I used this method for half square triangles. Block:2 inches  plus 7/8ths inch and 2 =====5 and 3/4 inches. ( not my photo).



Then cut vertically and horizontally creating 8 triangles.





Here are my 4 blocks completed.  I only had to take out a few intersections where those points meet ( o.k. a little exaggeration).  Love how they turned out.

RSC pinwheels tricks

I have loved making my "pinwheel sort of " block for my RSC. I have made more red this month. Mostly because I like the country colors of gold, red, blue , and green and the quilt from it will have more of them. It goes without saying that my stash has more variety in those colors.

I have the miniature pattern from Primitive Gatherings as well called Pinwheel Garden. It is a miniature.. No hints in there, though, just instructions to assemble the blocks and quilt.


So red blocks.... I even added a couple homespuns this week. And my red total is 13 making the whole sum and total number of blocks to 29.



As I made these this weekend, I was carefully conscious of my process to see what makes it come together at those pesky pinwheel centers.



First a real key was to spray size the fabrics prior to sewing. It made for crisper seams and intersections. ( Trick learned from Lisa Bongean, but I do not completely immerse in starch and then dry them.) I just used Best Press. I carefully ironed first  each color, and then my 2 colors together prior to marking the half square triangles and Thangles papers for the small triangles.

So 2nd real key is seam allowance ESPECIALLY at the beginning of the seam where the triangles of 2 separate blocks meet.

 It is easy to put the 2 triangles together as the seam allowances are going in opposite directions and "nest" together well.



Another thing I watch for is that the size of the seam allowance is key for both halves prior to sewing the 2 parts together. Here are 2 different views  I might use to check the match prior to sewing.  It works very well to have the seams finger pressed.  Matching them has one going in each direction and flat. Make sure to "butt" them together.


Here is an example of not matching well:



I quick rip it and then realignment made this for only one resew.

Then on the back I undo the seam allowance to both parts.  It looks like this when opened:




I do pin... and I do sew on top of them.  Rarely do I hit one. And to avoid it, slow the sewing machine while going over the pin. The needle will slide to the side, at least in my experience of many decades. I know others do not agree.