Honchey

Week 10---20 blocks---Nice round number. Yay!!I have done the first one for this week and will start Cowboy's Star tomorrow. Word of advice. ..if your using the pping patterns and you want the seams on the squares to interlock you have to reverse the positions on 4 of them...they are all numbered the same 1 & 2 none are reversed and don't answer any questions that your grandchildren ask because then your seams will come out wonky .Here is another letter....Letter of the Week #6--Arnold Anderson; Kandiyohi County, Minnesota This was a tough one. "Arnold Anderson" is a common name, but I think that Ihave found the right boy. The picture on page 15 was a great help to me.Arnold F. Marcellus Anderson was born on September 24, 1901. It appears thatthis was the second "Arnold" in the family. Arnold F. was born in December 1899,but no further records of him can be found. From my observation, it was notunusual to use the same name for a second child if the first one had died.Perhaps that happened in this case. It could also explain Arnold's double middlename.Arnold's parents were both born in Sweden and immigrated to America beforetheir marriage. Martin, born in 1860 arrived when he was 20; and Anna, born in1868 came when she was 16.The couple married in 1890, and had four living children: Esther (b. 1892),Agnes (b. 1894), Arnold (b. 1901) and Anna (b. 1907).I believe that the whole family is pictured on page 15, with an unknown man(perhaps the farm hand?) behind Arnold and "Pedro."In the 1930 census, when Arnold was about 28, we find that he is married! Hiswife's name is Selma T. and she is 27 years old. They are the parents of threechildren: James & Jerrie (twins?) age four, and a girl, Ruth, age three.Arnold died at the age of 83 years old (August 21, 1984) in the same Minnesotacounty that he had lived in all of his life.

JeanieG

Yes, I have some trouble getting my Cowboy's Star to lay flat. It is kind of wonky. Darn! Also I did mine all the same color. She mentions on page xx that she made a mistake on this block, but this was her second attempt at this block and she decided not to change it. (See she took two trys to do it to!!!)

QuiltE

Nice to see the update info from Laurie. Has anyone heard from her or TDT since we started this journey? I remember TDT was moving, but I'm sure is settled by now!

PPing ... ITA with Honchey. I've found many of the PP patterns have not taken into accound which way the seams flip, so I try to remember to think it thru before I start piecing to avoid multiple layers of fabric piling up.

I'm like you JeanieG ... just couldn't handle the misfire on the star and matched all the points up!! Also, switched up the placement in the squares in Country Lanes as I wanted a little more order!

Honchey ... did you see tha JeanieG got our "bug"? How are the two of you doing??

I didn't do much FWS sewing on the weekend as my brain just wasn't in gear! Am blaming it on that bug as I just wasn't thinking straight!! Did some other things though, including the 2nd Clue for the Mystery Wall Hanging. My head has cleared somewhat again, so have most of the block strips put together now. With any luck, can have that done tomorrow and then think thru how I'll tackle the rest!

dublb

Oh no, JeanieG, I did not realize that you had the crud. I'm so sorry. Git better soon!
Are ya any better Honchey?
I can't believe we're on blocks 19 & 20! Wow time fly's!

JeanieG

Got a sinus infection, been on antibiotics since Thursday. Still so stuffed up! Yuck! Had no energy, but starting to feel better today.

QuiltingNinaSue

Have my blocks cut out; will see when they get sewn together. Off for a fun day in Des Moines and thee Red Lobster for lunch celebrating the earlier birthdays of dh and good friends whom we are traveling with. So lots of laughter and fun day. Everyone have a good one today.

gardnergal970

Awe....it's Wednesday and time for some eye candy with morning coffee!!! I haven't started my blocks yet. I'm trying to get the Civil War quilt into QAYG squares and off of the design wall. This was my first attempt with 6 inch blocks so the coping strips are very helpful.

janRN

Thanks for the advice on switching around some of the pp sections; I thought it was just me. I have another question about pp: do you all (yinz) remove the paper when joining at Y-seams? I had so much bulk that I removed the paper in the seam allowances. I know this is personal preference but I'd like to know which you think is easier. I had trouble getting Cowboy Star to stay flat.
QE I also "corrected" the fabric placement--too anal to have mine "out of order" LOL.

Cookie LM

Nice to see everyones blocks are coming along. Mine are done need to take a picture. Glad to know that I am not alone with the PP I tried 3 times and they just didn't come out almost in tiers. So I just cut them out and pieced them together. Points in the star are off just a little. But like some others it is what it is and I am not going to change it. Will post later when I get home.

QuiltE

PPing the Cowboy's Star ... here's the description I left for Termi over on the photo page. Guess I should have left it here, but I went there first!

I made the star points first, joining the 4 pieces for each together. Then to each star point, added the outer most background piece to each side. That's where I joined the wrong side of one background piece to the star and oddly enough it did not fit! Soooooo rrrrrrippppp it!!!!!! These are the pieces that make the four corners of the square.

Then added one of the 5-sided pieces to each of the star points. So now you have 4 pieces. Then joined 2 of each together. Then joined those last 2 to make one. Clear as mud in the Country Lane??

As I worked, I kept all the pieces laid out in the right order, to make sure they were in the right places.

I'm really liking those mini-layout pictures to be sure I get the right pieces in the right place, particularly when you have a complicated block that it's not so obvious.

Taking off paper ... I leave the paper on thru to the end. Well, not quite! .... If I join two sections together, I remove the paper from the seam, and "just" the seam (the fold back part), as when you add another seam over that, it becomes almost impossible to get it out later. Then if I join another seam, take off the seam papers and so on. Otherwise, everything stays on until the block is totally finished.

I press after every piece is added, then trim the seamlines, then press back in place. So once done, there isn't a lot of hard pressing, but press again, I do. Remove the papers ...and yup you figured it out, press again! Add some starch or sizing and all is sitting nice and tight and flat!

The starch or sizing ... there's a nother plus to it ... you have very few threads that fray off afterwards. For my FWS, the sashing/cornerstones were not starched, and I'm noticing that they are now fraying and the blocks are not. And guess what? I hate having to go thru and pick off loose threads once I have a quilt top done.


JeanieG ... oh poor you! I finally feel like I'm coming out of the woods, but I still don't feel safely out. Let that California sunshine, shake it out for you!

To relieve congestion, here's what I do ... put a couple spoons of Vicks Vapo-Rub in a coffee mug. Add boiling water, and stir to dissolve. Then put your nose over it and breathe it in. Also, breathe it in thru your mouth, to help the throat. BTW I leave the spoon in, so I don't accidentally take a sip!! Once you're finished sniffing, put it into the frig with spoon in. Next time, bring it out of frig, lift out spoon with the hardened Vicks so you can pour out the water. Boil kettle again, and repeat!

QNSue ... Looks like a fun day is ahead for you! ENJOY!!!

JanRN ... Hope the above answers your questions. The paper staying on, really helps keep it all in place and not let the fabrics stretch.


More about paper ... as I typed to JanRN, I thought of something more. Some of you may remember, that I "sew" the papers to the fabric. This step is really helpful for the Cowboy's Star, as all your background pieces are single pieces per section. So I use a long machine stitch to hold the paper to the fabric, and leave it on just the same as if it was one section with several seams. It stabilizes it all, and avoids the piece stretching as you work with it. More Clear as Mud in the Country Lane?