http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/Tr...%201st%20round


Wow, Whitepine, I see mine in the slide show already. You are really quick. Thanks!!

Rodney how every kind of you. I sit here unable to sleep, knowing I am a few minutes shy of the first thinking might as well post it now and well maybe sleep til 5 am! whoot whoot! lol ok here it goes expect me to get it wrong in words but think my photos show it all.

I am starting with 2.5 inch squares. This is a personal choice and well it divided rather well into my quilt size where I am at at 28.5" you will want to see.. does your quilt do better with 2.5 or 3.5 .. two things to think of.. one which pattern out of these do you pick.. and does it work with the size of your top. Mine went in perfectly 14 times. If I had gone with the option of 3.5 inches it would have left me with an strip needed on the end of both sides of my row to make it fit the top. This is not bad mind you I simply chose not to do that. 3.5 blocks stacked on 3.5 blocks (see pics) will end up with a nice perfect 6.5 inch round. Great if your quilt is larger and if you want less work to do :) a 2.5 inch gives you a 4.5 inch border finished (unsewn to the top) and you then can A) keep it like this or B) add a 2.5 inch border and enlarge your top, build in a break between the second and third round visually. YOu see told you this was complicated. NOT .. :) check out my series of photos and you can see how I played with one simple block and turned out several options for you. If you need help figuring which is going to work I suggest making all those blocks and then playing yourself before you stitch the squares together so you can see what will fit in best for you. The corner I chose worked with my round. I think a focal square would have been just fine of maybe your main fabric? I am clearing out my scraps this did a good number on my reds! my next round will be in purples (kinda a rainbow). I am going to add that strip to mine 2.5" now but didn't have time to finish it tonight. I am once again not the fastest of quilters. no way no how. any questions please ask me or ask each other if your stuck.. I am sure someone will figure this out super quick. Easy but sooo many options! here goes!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459793[/ATTACH] this is what you start with (once you figure out things you can count how many you need). I cut 3 1/8th inch squares, diagonally cut them then sewed them together. for the speed sewers here you can do that much easier and with less trimming to get your perfect 2.5" blocks. Not me, like to cut more trim down end up right each time :)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459794[/ATTACH] here you can do diamonds! this is where I started in my mind.. you can do them one color or two color diamonds making the top different than the bottom. I think this block made with either a light outside half square OR a dark one with a lighter inside (for high contrast and pop)..if you keep this outside portion ONE color you will get a uniformity even if the centers are all chaos (scrappy!).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459795[/ATTACH] here is an option to make the outside border RUN all around the quilt kinda a whimsical way of laying those same blocks out..

a way to end that whimsical border OR another block you can make with same squares :) that you might want all around the quilt instead! [ATTACH=CONFIG]459796[/ATTACH]
more to come hold on!

now a pic of a single diamond or a double diamond.. these work with quilts that divide best in odd number sets .. if your quilt does not give you an even number when you divide it by either 2 or 3 you will need to chose something like this so your ends are all the same I think.. (don't quote me lay them out to be sure!)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459797[/ATTACH]

ok a picture of the square in a square you can also make :
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459798[/ATTACH]

and last what I decided to do on my round.. as you can see this is one heck of a versatile round.. easy to make, a bit time consuming depending on if your doing a 2.5 or a 3.5 block but worth it.. the variety goes on and on.. surely I did not find them all in my play time :)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]459799[/ATTACH] most of the time called a chevron but to me it reminded me of rick rack. this made me smile so I went with it. as you can see I did a simple four patch in the corner but matched the center to the reds to give it a little spike around the corner. I also threw in that purple (random? not really) because the next round of mine will be purples so it might make a bit more sense now.

questions? ASK! hope this round does not disappoint you! jan has a lovely round that isn't very difficult this month and I am sure you will love it also!

BEAUTIFUL Brat! thanks a bunch :D :D :D

Borders
 

Both of the borders this month are 6 1/2" unfinished. This is called the friendship star. For each star you will need:
1- 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" square for the center (brown)
4- 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" squares for each corner (swirly fabric)
4- 2 7/8 x 2 7/8" HST ( green & swirls)[ATTACH=CONFIG]459823[/ATTACH]

This next one is called herringbone. Use 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle and 3 1/2" squares. Complete instructions for this border are found on the Quilters Cache website.
This was my odd size row that I needed to find the extra 2" somewhere, so in the centers of each side and the corners, I used the waste triangles from the rectangle pieces, sewed a 2 x 5" strip to each side and a 1 1/4 x 8" strip to the top and bottom to make the block. 6 1/2 x 6 1/2" blocks for each corner.

When I was sewing the 3 1/2" squares on the rectangles I chain sewed those through the machine and before I cut the triangles off I fed them back through the machine and sewed again 1/2" over, then cut between the 2 rows of stitching so the extra triangles were already sewn. When sewn together mine measured 5". You can see my pile of them, so will have them somewhere to use on the quilt later on.[ATTACH=CONFIG]459828[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]459830[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]459831[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]459832[/ATTACH]

Thank you! A lot to look at and think about.

Wow what great choices! I've decided I am finally going to start my quilting journal and include all your great designs. My choices are determined more by what I have already done but would like to remember these options for future use.

Brat: I hope your chemo goes well. You'll be in my thoughts today.