Flower Garden Path: W18B2

Today I will discuss how I made the Flower Garden Path block for the Farmer's Granddaughter Quilt Along.  I had big problems the first time I tried to make the block because I did not discover that template #44 is the wrong size until I was almost finished constructing the block.  Yes, I was shocked, too, but it turns out that this problem can be corrected.

The Flower Garden Path block needs a background fabric, a medium fabric, and a dark fabric.  A modified list of the pieces needed is:

Background fabric:  four pieces cut from template #20 and 20 pieces cut from template #13.

Medium fabric:  eight pieces cut from template #13, four pieces cut from template #19, and two pieces cut from #25.

Dark fabric:  two pieces cut from the new template #44, which will be described later in this post.

Meli follows directions for the blocks much better than I do.  If you remember, I have problems cutting out accurate pieces.  So, I tend to use extra fabric and exchange wasting fabric for accuracy.  If you decide to use the method I describe in this post, the list of pieces you will need is:

Background fabric:  two 2" x 2" squares, sixteen pieces cut from template #19, and four pieces cut from template #25

Medium fabric:  two 2" x 2" squares, eight pieces cut from template #19, and two pieces cut from template #25

Dark fabric:  two pieces cut from the new template #44

I tackled the problem of template #44 first.  This block is dedicated to Pythagorus and his wonderful theorem about how the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.  The pieces cut from template #44 should yield a trapezoid with:  top base equals two times the square root of two; bottom base equals three times the square root of two; and height equals the square root of one half.  (These dimensions do not include seam allowances.)

Irrational numbers are not exactly what quilters need.  (Irresistible pun intended.)  Fortunately, my high school math teacher did a good enough job that I knew I could draw the template we needed:

I was quite proud of myself when I cut my new template out.

It would take some time, but I was sure you all could draw all the triangles necessary to make the new #44 template.  However (and this is actually a good however), then I compared my new template with the template from the book.

I put the template from the book on top of the new template I had so proudly drawn and discovered that template #44 from the book fit perfectly within the seam allowances of my template #44.  All of a sudden the directions for drawing the new template became much, much simpler.

In order to make the new template #44, simply put the template #44 from the book on a piece of paper and carefully trace its outline with a pencil.  Then draw a 1/4" seam allowance around the outline.  Cut out your new template #44 by cutting the paper just inside the pencil line you drew for the seam allowance.  In other words, template #44 from the book is just missing the 1/4" seam allowances.

All my careful draftsmanship (draftswomanship?) was unnecessary.  I actually did not need to tell you about my adventure in drawing the template, but I was so proud of myself (before I figured out the easy way).  And I had taken photos.  But, just a little tracing and drawing of seam allowances will give you the template instead.

Here are some of my background and medium pieces for the Flower Garden Path block.

The two bigger striped-fabric square (on the right) have been pressed on the diagonal.  Just below them and to the right four squares I cut from the medium fabric from template #19 are also ironed on the diagonal.

I put the larger (2" x 2")  background squares on top of the larger (2" x 2") medium squares and sewed 1/4" on each side of the pressed diagonal as shown below.

The background rectangle from template #25 with the medium square from template #19 in the upper right of the above photo shows how I sewed along the pressed line to make a folded triangle on one side of the rectangle.  After I pressed the triangle over, I repeated the process on the other side of the background rectangle.

If you are an accurate enough quilter to use the templates, you should sew four background triangles from template #13 to four medium triangles from template #13; then press the squares open.  Also, sew a medium triangle from template #13 to each short leg of a background triangle from template #20; then press to form the rectangle and repeat again.

Now your layout should look like this if you followed my HST and folding triangles method.

If you used the templates, each one of the sixteen background squares in the photo above will be a background triangle cut from template #13.  My plan, however, was to sew the rows together and cut the squares into triangles just before I sewed then to the dark (blue above) pieces.

Here is what my layout looked like after I had sewn the rows together.  Remember if you used the templates, you will have background triangles on the end of each row, not background squares.  

When I sewed the pieces of my top and bottom sections together, I pressed the seams on the five-piece rows (or, seven-piece rows, if you were good and used the templates) toward the dark sides.  When I pressed the seams of the now three-piece rows (or, five-piece rows, for the template users), I pressed toward the light sides.  This enabled me to nest the seams when I sewed the rows together.

When I sewed the pieces of my left-hand and right-hand sides together, I pressed the first seam to the dark side.  Then I pressed the second seam to the light side because it was much easier to press in that direction.

Next, I sewed my sections together like this:

I pressed the "horizontal" seams in the bigger sections open.  This helped my sections lie flatter.  But, please remember, you do not have to follow my pressing direction suggestions if you like pressing in different directions better.

When the sections were completed, I used my 6-1/2" x 6-1/2" square to add a seam allowance to the triangles and finally made my layout look like the one the template users would already have.

If you cut the triangles from squares as I did, you want to have the 1/4" lines on the top corner of the upper background square, on the right-hand corner of the medium square, and on the lower corner of the lower triangle.  You will have to cut the edges with all background pieces to end up with a layout like this.

If you used the templates all along, your layout should have looked like the one in the photo above right after you sewed the sections together.

You then sew the longer base of each dark trapezoid piece to the short legs of the triangle composed of three rows of pieces.  Then sew the hypotenuse of each two-row triangle to the shorter base of the dark trapezoid pieces.  The result should look like what's in the photo below.

Then sew the two rectangles together being careful to match the squares and trapezoids together.  This last seam I pressed open because it was easier with all the intersecting seams.  Finally, I ended up with my Flower Garden Path block.

I had trouble getting one of my triangles to lie flat, but more pressing helped.  You will probably not have that problem because you have to be a more accurate piecer than I am.

The Flower Garden Path block has a lot of pieces, but it goes together quickly.  If you use the correct template #44, you shouldn't have any problems.  If you do, please leave a comment in the Forum post I will create for this block.

Do you all miss Meli by now?  Well, brace yourselves.  I will be back with W19B1 (the Flower Pot block) soon.  I promise to try making it with the templates first.  If I have too much trouble, I may use Musical Starling's paper piecing method.  Do not let the inset seams frighten you.  I have had a class on hexagons, so, in theory, I should be able to explain them.

Flower Basket: W18B1

Today's blog is about the Flower Basket Block from the Farmer Granddaughter's Quilt Along.  This quilt along is one of the groups on the Forum part of the Missouri Star Quilt Company's website.  I am a guest presenter on this block; I never truly appreciated all of the effort Meli puts in until I worked on my "first" block.  So, please be understanding and be sure to leave comment questions in the Forum if I am unclear.

The Flower Basket Block needs a background color, a medium color, and a dark color.  When you read the description for my block, the background color is cream with (almost invisible) gold dots, the medium color is an aqua flower print (thanks, Meli!), and the dark color is red.

If you use the templates, this is what you will be cutting:

Background color: three #1, one #39, and two #3 (but please read the entire blog entry before you cut #39).

Medium color: two #3 and one #105 (but please wait for the special instructions before you cut #105).

Dark color: one #39 (but please read the entire blog entry before you cut #39).

However, (and there will always be a "however" with me), I have coordination problems, no matter how hard I try.  That meant I did not cut two #3s of the medium and of the background color.  Instead, I decided to use HSTs and cut one 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" square of the background color and one 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" square of the medium color.

I always cut my HSTs 1/8" longer in both length and width than I theoretically need because I have learned that my HSTs will turn out imprecise.  My method of coping with my lack of skill is to cut the HSTs a little big; then trim them to the correct size.  This does waste a little fabric, but I end up much happier with the results.

Here are the pieces of my Flower Basket Block laid out.

The squares for the HSTs are on top of the block.  I left gaps in the layout where your #3 background and medium pieces would go if you used the templates.  You can't see it in this photo, but I pressed a diagonal line on the background color square for the HST.  I watch most of Jenny Doan's tutorials and have found that Jenny's method of pressing a diagonal line rather than drawing a line with a pencil works much better for me.

This is when I noticed that template #39 yields a triangle that is LARGER than it should be.  Aarrrgh!  I tried to find a more accurate template in the book, but, if it is there, I missed it.

When you sew the background #39 and the dark #39 together, you want to end up with a 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" HST.  The easiest way for me was, of course, another fabric-wasting one.  I just sewed the two #39 pieces together, pressed the seam toward the darker fabric, and then trimmed the resultant square to 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" square.  If you do not like trimming, you can cut a 5-1/8" x 5-1/8" square along the diagonal.  (Please check the measurements before you cut the fabric in case I am wrong.)  That will give you an extra triangle of the background color and of the dark color.  If you have a better method for correcting the problem with the size of the template, please leave a comment in the Forum.

Here are my two HST squares sewn together with a 1/4" seam on each side of the diagonal crease.

If you look at the lower left-hand corner of the photo, you will see some blue fabric peeking out.  It shouldn't be, but I am not good at perfection.

Here are my two HSTs cut along the diagonal line and pressed open.

Immediately after I took the above photograph, I trimmed both HSTs, so that the length and width of each one was 2-1/2".  Here is a photo of my layout.  If you used the templates and sewed your #3 triangles together, your layout would look like this, too.

Just before I took the above photograph, I remembered that I had completely forgotten about the #105 piece for the basket handle.  (Edit--24 May 2013: When I wrote this blog, I completely forgot that many quilters are not as locked into using their sewing machine as I am.  If you prefer to sew by hand and use the needle-turn method, please remember to leave a seam allowance when you cut out your basket handle. Template #105 assumes you are not going to turn under the edges.  End of Edit.)

The curved piece on the bottom of the photo is a piece of the Warm & Company's Lite Steam-and-Seam 2 with the outline of the #105 template drawn on it.  I left roughly 1/4" around the pencil lines.  I looked at the photo of the Flower Basket Block in the first part of the book.  I don't know if the author fused her handle onto the large background triangle before she attached the handle.  But I did.  Of course, you do not need to use my fusing method.  I'm just going to try to explain it in case one of you is unfamiliar with the method.

I pressed the Steam-and-Seam 2 onto a scrap of my medium fabric.  Then I cut along the pencil lines to get my handle piece all nicely backed with adhesive.  (Actually I reshaped the handle a bit when I cut it out because I didn't like how it should have looked.  That's another problem I have; I am always changing the pattern a little.  But, no matter how you cut out the handle, the rest of my method should work.)

Then I realized that the template did not yield a handle that seemed as big as the one in the photograph in the book.  I decided I could live with the handle I had, but I looked at the photo of the Flower Basket Block in the book to see exactly where the author had placed her handle.  

From the tiny sliver of fabric showing, I could tell that the author had placed her handle on the edge of the seam line.  I preferred to have my handle look more attached to the basket, so I drew pencil lines 1/8" from the hypotenuse edge of the background #39 triangle (i.e., the pencil lines were within the triangle's seam allowance).  I folded both the triangle and the handle in half.  This let me center the handle on the triangle.  I put the edges of my handle on my pencil lines.  When I pressed the handle onto the triangle in order to fuse the two pieces of fabric together, my center lines disappeared.

If you do not like how I attached my handle, please use a method that pleases you.  There are no quilting police; and, if there were, they would more likely visit me than you.

Here is what my layout looked like after I sewed the two #39 triangles together.

Next I sewed each of my HSTs to different squares next to the dark triangle.  (I pressed the seam allowance toward the medium fabric.)  I then sewed one of the HST-square sets to the side of my dark #39 triangle.  Because the seam allowances were beginning to pile up, I pressed the seam toward the HST-square set.

The last square was sewn to the other HST-square set.  I pressed the new seam toward the HST, so that it would nest well with the seam connecting the dark triangle #39 to the first HST-square set.  I then sewed this piece to the piece with the dark triangle.

Wow!  I squared up the edges.  The block was finished and really much easier to piece than the length of my directions might indicate.  (I was just trying to help any novice quilters in our group.)

Only I hadn't completed the block.  I like my seam edges finished.  (This is just another one of my personal quirks.)  I could leave the handle fused as it was, or I could finish the edges.  I chose to use a buttonhole stitch on both sides of the handle.

(I'm sorry the photo is a little out of focus,  My camera is either not good at shooting closeups, or the camera suffered from a great deal of operator error.)

If you don't like how I finished the edges but you do want to finish the edges, please use your preferred method.  A lot of people use a satin stitch; if you do, I recommend you use a narrower satin stitch than a wider satin stitch in order to conserve on thread.  But, once again, that's just my preference.  You might prefer a wider stitch, and that's what you should do.

So now I was really finished with the Flower Basket Block.

The Flower Basket Block was actually one of the more relaxing blocks in the book.  The next block is the Flower Garden Path Block.  I had trouble with it, so the directions for W18B2 will be really late.

Delicious Risotto with Lemon and Asparagus

This evening I made the risotto from the May 2013 issue of Cooking Light.  The only time I've eaten risotto before was at a local restaurant, but it was a pleasure to savor.

This risotto is cooked in the microwave, so it was super easy.  I did make a mistake and cook the risotto without a cover in the microwave, but IT Prof and I thought the risotto was absolutely delicious anyway.  In fact , IT Prof told me that, unlike most of the foods I cook from new recipes, the risotto was perfectly spiced.  Is that a backhanded compliment or what?  However, IT Prof liked the risotto so much that it was good that I dished out my portion first because he couldn't stop eating the rest of it.

The risotto was time-consuming in that I had to stir it every four minutes, but the result is worth it.  Plus I could work on other parts of the meal while the risotto was in the microwave.  I calculated the Weight Watchers PointsPlus value from the information provided by the magazine; there are nine points.  Nine points are a big percentage of my daily allowance, but I will cheerfully eat raw carrots all day to enjoy this risotto for dinner.

Sometimes You Just Have to Do Yardwork

Today's post does not mention much about quilting, except that the activities below actually tired me out so much that I fell asleep while using the sewing machine.

Our house is on a terraced lot.  The photo above shows the five-foot-high retaining wall with the patio flower pots lined up on top.  (The flower pots are supposed to keep people from walking off the edge of the patio.)  If you examine the photo carefully, you will see seven more conventional flower pots and three wooden half-barrels.

Last year the half-barrels started deteriorating.  One was so bad that it actually had almost all its staves lying on the concrete with dirt spilled all around.  IT Prof thought the rotting half-barrels looked unattractive.  Their ugliness bothered me even more.

Tuesday and yesterday were predicted to be beautiful.  Since the half-barrels had not magically disappeared during the winter, I decided that I had to just take care of the problem.  (I hate gardening, so I wasn't feeling thrilled.)

I bought seven new pots because the biggest pots I could lift by myself were smaller than the half-barrels.  The flower pots I liked best cost $130.  I resisted buying those and bought five much less expensive pots and two not-expensive-at-all plastic pots.  I would have preferred actual terracotta pots to the plastic ones, but once again I was limited to what I could lift by myself.  (I knew I alone would have to carry everything to the patio once I returned home.)  I also purchased potting soil and flowers.

When I returned home, I transported all the pots, etc. down to the patio.  I also fetched the gardening tools from the garage.  To my really-less-than-intense joy, the spade was one of the tools.

In the photo above, you can see one of the remaining half-barrels.  It actually is deteriorating a little on the top, but I didn't have enough big pots left to remove that half-barrel.  Do you see how the half-barrel contains soil nearly to the top edge?  A half-barrel with soil is definitely not something I can lift.

The plastic pot at the far end of the patio actually blocks a space that I had decided was too open.  So, I spaded dirt from the nearest rotten half-barrel into the plastic pot.  I had to add some of the new soil to the plastic pot to fill it because the deteriorated half-barrel no longer contained enough soil.

When the half-barrel was empty, I put all the decrepit parts into a garbage bag and carried it up the hill to the street.  I think I found out my maximum lifting ability.

After my trip to the street, I placed two new pots were the first half-barrel were and started filling them from the next rotting half-barrel.  And so I repeated emptying the second and third half-barrels and filling new pots.  The first small difference is that it ended up that five, not six, pots filled up the space left by the former  half-barrels.  The second small difference in procedure was that the second barrel was intact enough that I could roll it up the hill.  Rolling is much better than hauling.

The unaccustomed use of my spading muscles left my back and shoulders sore.  But, it was probably good for me.  Planting the flowers in the new pots and watering them was a vacation compared to setting them up. Originally I had wanted to replace all six half-barrels, but I only had enough pots for the two ends (where there weren't pots to start with) and to cover the space left by three half-barrels.

As I sat on a chair and looked at the new pots and the surviving barrels, I decided I could live with the condition of the last three this year.  Plus I really did not want to spend more money on pots this spring.

IT Prof came down to the patio about the time I was filling the third new pot.  He looked at the completed portion of the project I was proud of tackling.  Then he said, "This wasn't my vision of what to do with the half-barrels."

Since I was huffing and puffing from the spading, I needed to catch my breath to reply, "But I didn't see anything happening to create your vision."

I think he realized I was covered with dirt and exerting myself because he agreed. "Fair enough."  He was impressed enough that I had removed the worst of the rotting barrels that he picked up sticks in the back yard.  This was important to do before I cut the grass for the first time this year.

I had no energy left on Tuesday, so I cut the grass yesterday morning.  The mower choked twice in the thick grass and stopped.  The second time Roger had to come outside and start the mower for me.  Wrestling the lawn mower on the steep hill for the first time this year didn't leave me with enough strength to pull the string on the lawn mower with the proper force.  Then I finished mowing.  We've had enough rain so far that the grass is green enough to look good (as long as you don't examine it too carefully).

Anyhow, my efforts were rewarded.  We could sit on the patio, and, for now before the lake dries up again, are able to enjoy the view.

The HTML used for the four photos above defeated me.  I tried to place the four photos above horizontally in order to make a panoramic-like photo, but I could not.  Anyone is welcome to tell me what I did wrong in the comments.

Anyhow, as I sat there, exhausted and sore, I knew it was worth it.  I can't believe how fortunate I am.

However, I still hate gardening.  But not lawn mowing.

2013 YTD Quilting Projects--#5

I'm not going to bore you with all my lame excuses for not posting for awhile.  However, in March I spent three days at my quilting guild's annual retreat and had a wonderful time.  I even managed to cut all the strips I need for the double Irish chain quilt I'm making as a new bedspread.  Of course, I became distracted and have not cut all the strips and sewn them back together again.

However, I did finish a toddler quilt for the daughter of one of IT Prof's cousins.

This quilt came in a kit.  The picture on the front of the package had a darling alphabet panel for the main piece of the front.  The material I found when I opened the package was cute, but don't you think it is a little boring on its own?  Also, the kit did not come with enough fabric for what the pattern called for.  I searched a long time in order to find some more fabric from the line but finally managed.  I finished the border, but when the quilt returned from the quilter, I realized that I had to come up with an idea to jazz up the front.

I eventually came up with the idea of butterflies.  IT Prof did not like how my solution turned out, but several women in my guild told me they thought the butterflies were cute.  What do you think?

One of the problems with the butterflies was that I had the quilt machine quilted (in a cute pattern of turtles) before I decided upon the butterflies.  I ended up fusing the butterflies on the front of the quilt; then I embroidered the edges (by hand--which is pretty amazing for me) with the buttonhole stitch.  I had to take care in order to keep my stitches from coming through to the back of the quilt.  It took some time, but I managed to accomplish it.

I've already sent the little girl the quilt but don't know yet if she likes it.  That will be the true test whether it is a successful quilt or not.  I really hope she likes the quilt.