OK ladies -
I had so much fun appliqueing that I moved on to A10 and did some work on my AOTH [yea... I'll get some pics posted soon as I get my act together and make the blocks I should be posting tomorrow???] I looked at the tute for A2, one of the blocks for this coming week - 8th of sewing, 9th week of this DJ!!! As much as I really do like paper piecing, I believe the "that quilt" piecing is way more complicated than it needs to be. First of all, if you examine the picture of the original block, you will notice four half-square-triangles in the middle and also note that the final round contains no small squares but rather a triangle in the middle and a sashing strip on each side of it. Next, although the original does seem to have smaller half-square-triangle blocks one "round" in from the outer round, you can accomplish the same look by sewing a small triangle to a straight strip and then trimming down to the size needed to attach a larger triangle to the inner four patch of four half-square-triangles.

I know....I know... if you don't follow or picture this in your head you might be pulling out your hair [don't do this, I think mine still grows back but many of us ladies past...or 'in'... our prime can't afford to pull it out ;) ]

The dog needs walking... if you are dying to start sewing and haven't made this block yet then start with another and wait til I make it, take pics, and post in tute form.

Have a great day!!
Gus

[you did say 'long was OK!']

Love, love all the blocks posted so far. I was so excited about starting this project and had ordered my fabric but backed out as life threw me some unexpected punches. BUT, I'm following along and copying the tutes and advise on each block to add to my "someday" folder for DJ. I'm cheering all of you on (YAY!!!!!) and will check in now and than. I'm hoping this fall to start and catch up if that is even possible. Happy sewing to everyone!!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]318753[/ATTACH]Hope this pic doesn't post huge like my last one. Not sure what I'm doing to cause that.

Have to say I'm disappointed that my inner square blocks are wonky. But not worried enough to redo the block (like I've done with some of the blocks). I mean, afterall, once we have 169 blocks plus triangles, is anyone going to notice? :D

QuiltnNan, I did go back and read your post because I remember you pp'd this block also. But now see that you only pp'd the triagle parts. Great idea and your inner squares are not wonky like mine. I'll have to remember that.

First - I tried to resize my pics so we will see how that works!! This is my tutorial for A2 since I didn't like the way thatquilt.com set it up. First you should make 4 half-square triangles [HST]. The finished HSTs in the center of the block are 1 1/16" So I added 7/8" and just went ahead and cut two 2" squares of light and dark fabrics, marked the diagonal and sewed 1/4" on either side. Then I pressed seams open and cut them down to measure just over 1 1/2". Following the photo of the original square I made a four patch.

Step two: I cut a 2 3/8" square of my print and cut it diagonally twice making four triangles
out of my background I cut 4 strips 3" x 1 1/8"

I pinched the center of my background strip at 1 1/2" and lined that up with the point of the triangle and sewed a 1/4" on the opposite side. Once I pressed the resulting triangle, I trimmed the light background to 3/4" from the seam [since the strip should finish a 'generous' 1/2"] I lined up that same 'pinched middle' with the seams joining my HSTs and attached the stripped triangles to the four patch center using a 1/4"seam.


Once all four sides were on I checked to make sure the piece measured 3 1/2" which you can see in the photo.

Step three: I cut a 2 3/4" square of my print and cut it diagonally twice to make the four outermost triangles.
out of background I cut 1 1/4" strips --I SUGGEST CUTTING THEM 1 1/2" so that you are sure to have the full 5" unfinished block as I was a few threads shy :( this will keep you from being frustrated later!!

You must make 45-degree cuts at one end of each piece of strip so that they can butt up against the triangle. The shorter side [bottom - facing the center of square] should be 1 1/2" each for the first side you sew the strip against. In 'log cabin fashion' the next two sides you will be attaching will only have one piece that measures 1 1/2" on the short side, the other should measure at least 2 1/2". The final strip should have both ends measure 2 1/2" ....please note that the 'long side' will be roughly an inch longer because of the diagonal cut.

You need to be aware of matching the points of all triangles... I had to do a little reverse sewing, but all in all I think this is much easier than the instruction given at the website. Hopefully the photos will make it easier to understand!! Unfortunately I was able to make notations above or below separate pictures at the old site but havent figured it out here yet.

Have fun!!

Beautiful and great directions too!

gus, it came out PERFECT! thanks for the play by play

You can still do that, Gus.
-type a line of instruction and then hit ENTER
-use the photo frame and upload the pic for that instruction, then hit ENTER
-type the next instruction and hit ENTER
-use the photo frame and upload the next pic. hit ENTER
-continue this way until all is loaded

Hmmm... All I see here is "post quick reply" and when I click on 'go advanced' to be able to add pictures I think you have to click on 'submit' on the bottom. Is there really an 'enter' somewhere?? 'enter' on the keyboard just allows you to go to the next line. What am I missing, Nancy??

no, the ENTER is simply the Enter key on your keyboard. using the enter key and going to the next line 'organizes your post' so the typing and the picture don't appear on the same line. you don't hit submit until all the info is loaded into the post in your typing box.

Gus:

I don't use the "go advanced" button.
For this post I used "reply with quote", then started to type.

blah blah blah (click on tree icon above) [ATTACH=CONFIG]318876[/ATTACH] and keep on typing.

The tree icon gives me a dialog box . I choose from computer,then browse, find what
I want in my files, then click upload file.

When the box closes,the picture appears embedded inside the post.

After I'm done, I hit Post Quick Reply and the pictures remain where I put them.

Maybe this is different than the old version of the site? I never posted before the change-over.

One warning - in a previous post, I tried to delete some pictures I had already put in
(by using my backspace key). They disappeared on the screen - but when I posted, they
still appeared as an attatchment at the bottom of the post.

BTW That's my blue version of a6 above. I'll put in another picture just for fun :eek:

how about a5?? [ATTACH=CONFIG]318884[/ATTACH]

If you want the picture by itself, you can click the tree icon after hitting enter (at the begining of a line)
and then hit enter again after the picture is in.

(the tree icon I'm talking about is on the top row - if you hover your mouse over it,
it will say "Insert Image")


This is basically what Nancy said - I think the key is to not use go advanced.

(hopefully this works when I post or I'll be :o)