Success!

Here it is! Jessica's block is complete, and it is the proper size! We can attribute all the angst in yesterday's post to user error. The problem seemed to be my printers. Neither of them printed the true size and I neglected to check with a ruler before I made the practice block. I really appreciate all the great suggestions that you all made for how I could save this block. I increased the print scale to 103%, as Suzanna suggested, and it made all the difference. Another suggestion was to increase the width of the centre strips just a smidge, and I think that would have worked fine, too. And I just have to shout out to Monica here, who so kindly offered to run up a block in the proper proportions in EQ and send me a pdf. I declare, you meet the nicest folks on teh interwebz!

I'll be sending this off to Jessica on Monday. I can't wait to see how her Coffee and Brown Sugar quilt looks with all the blocks together. Mind you, she has a big job for herself with all the pieced setting blocks that go between these focus blocks. It's going to be a stunner!

Practicing

practice block complete, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

Here's the practice block from yesterday, all complete. Ignore the fabric choices - since I was practicing, I chose whatever was at hand. An actual block of this pattern would be more effective if it were less busy.

Good news: (1) the paper was really easy to remove, (2) the individual squares were perfectly square and all the same size, (3) the long strips making up the X in the centre meant that there was no worry about matching a million seams when joining them up.

Bad news: Only one piece of bad news, but it's a doozy. Although the block was clearly marked as a 9" block on the quilters cache page, I assumed it meant 9" finished, or 9 1/2" raw. But no, it is a 9" block unfinished. A perfect 9" block, but Jessica needs a 9 1/2" unfinished block. Oy. I have the option of sashing it, I guess. Or start over and try to find another block pattern that will finish at 9 1/2".

Lesson learned: Making a practice block is really worth it.

Terrified!

paper piecing, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.


Time to get off my fundament and make my block for Jessica.  She was so organized and sent out her fabric well before Christmas.  I had such good intentions to be speedy in return, but little did I know that so many other Incredible Shrinking Quilters have such mad skillz!  They toss off complicated foundation-pieced blocks as simple as I might do a rail fence block!  I don't want to let down the side, and polishing my extremely rusty foundation piecing abilities is one of my New Year's Quilting Resolutions, so time to get moving!

This is the start of my practice block.  It's Belted Star, from Quilter's Cache.  You make four of these, and then join them with a 1" strip that forms a cross.  The 9" block will be on point, so that strip will make an X.  Actually, I made the four squares already, but didn't realize until they were all done that I had printed two foundation sheets in a bigger size.  Silly me, I thought I was just getting better at them, but they were only sized larger and easier to manage!  The paper is still on.  I'm not sure how easy it will be to remove.  I suppose I'll find all that out tonight, when I finish the practice block.
No matter how beautiful this practice block turns out, I'm sure I'll be shaking in my slippers when I go to cut into Jessica's beautiful fabric.  I didn't realize how stressful it is to make a block for someone else!  Where's the Wizard of Oz?  I need some courage!

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Friends, in October, 2010, I will turn 50 years old.  I have a big milestone to reach, and as of today I have not taken a single step.  That milestone is the shedding of some significant personal poundage.  I do not want to reach the age of 50 shlepping this extra avoirdupois!

I was thinking it would be awfully nice to have some company along the way, and do some quilting into the bargain.  So what do you think, y'all?  Are there any takers for slots in an Incredible Shrinking Quilters Bee?  Join up if you, too, want to lose some weight and get fit in 2010 and make some quilt blocks to help us all mark achieving an important and healthy goal.  Many hands make light work - plus, you can't eat if you're quilting!

If you're interested, leave a comment below and I'll contact you by email.  I'll leave this open to readers of my blog right now, and if we need more participants, I'll post over at the Flickr bee group.