I am so very happy to be on the trail with all of you! I hope to catch up to y'all real quick but more than likely I will be the one pulling up the rear end LOL
Hugs
April

Hi y'all,

I've been out of the loop for a while. I could say my pony threw a shoe and it took a while to find a farrier. But it's had more to do with moving, then getting walking pneumonia (eeeew, no fun), and spending a lot of time not unpacking. For the past little while I've been working on a case study on how and why I designed TFW PC book. It's part of my entry in the AIGA annual design competition. The case study has been fun to write, but very time consuming. For now, I'd love to take a break to see some of the photos and threads, but have no clue where to find them.

Toni

Hi Toni
Were your ears burning, I was just cursing as I started piecing Does and Darts ha ha ha. Hope you enjoy the eye candy, I look forward to hearing more about the AIGA competition.

Toni...did you actually pick out the patterns for the blocks? I wasn't actually cursing but I grumble every time I do a block because it isn't a standard size so i can't used my templates and so many of them have to be paper pieced. They're pretty when done so it keeps me going and I am learning new skills. Welcome back!

Welcome back, TDT. I agree with gardengal; wish the PC blocks were standard size. If it were not for the QB folks doing the Farmers Wife and PC, I would have never bought the book nor do the blocks. They encourage one another so well, I may lag behind, but I do work on staying current as much as possible. The PC size is better than FWQ, I think.

And how are the cats doing? We lost the neighbor's yellow cat that had adopted us, it was hit and killed by a car. Still feeding 8 cats twice a day. QNS

I just unsubscribed from two forum digests because I realized I wasn't reading them, and every time I did, it was more annoying than fun. Now I can spend my avoid-what-I-really-should-be-doing time enjoying this group more. So here's a question: can I post a photo on this thread? If so, how do I do it?

I just finished writing a case study on the PC book for a design competition. When I interviewed Laurie as the "client" for the case study she mentioned that she had been worried about the pony winner photos because most of them were kind of a wreck in the original pamphlet (page xiii in the book). We contracted with Barbara Smith to see what she could do to enhance the photos. We didn't want a full restoration because we thought that brand-new-looking photos would be out of place and kind of artificial.

I was so busy laying out the book, doing the illustrations for the CD, and generally bossing Laurie and Barbara around that I never took a close look at some of the work she did. I was pretty amazed when I did and thought you'd like to see the example I prepared for the competition.

BTW, I got to boss people around because I was the project manager. Laurie and Barbara were very sweet and cooperative, maybe because they thought I knew what I was doing. Ha ha. Lucky for me they never caught on. Or maybe they did catch on and were too nice to say anything. ;)

QuiltE, that so true!

It would be a huge win for me. I know it's a good design, but the competition is *very* stiff. We'll find out in the Fall. In the meantime, I just might unpack a box.

Come to think of it, my brother-in-law will be here for a few days for a fraternity reunion and the (University of Oregon) Ducks football game. He's already bought me a ticket, so I'd better get the guest room ready, at least!

I hope I did that quote thing correctly.

Hi gardnergal,

N-o-o-o-o, Laurie is the brains behind the book and the quilt. She had the idea of pairing quilt blocks with the letters from the pony winners before she even finished the proofreading the final pages for the FWS book. She chose the blocks according to their names: Crystal Star goes with the letter from a little girl name Crystal, A Beauty goes with the letter about the pony named "Beauty." At the Depot goes with the letter where the little boy talks about the pony being "at the depot."

So Laurie is the author of the book, she selected the blocks and made the quilt. As project manager and lead designer, I designed and laid out the cover and the book itself, and did all the illustrations for the book and CD. I worked directly with the company that printed the book and burned the CDs. That's because they had to tell me all the technical stuff they needed me to do so the printing would come out right. I had to locate and make arrangements the people to do the extra tasks listed on the copyright page. From the beginning, our friend Barbara Smith (retired Executive Editor for AQS Books) was our Photoshop person who would enhance the pony winner photos, copyedit the text, and technical edit all of my illustrations.

When I say I bossed them around, I only mean that I set the deadlines for when I needed things from them for each phase of the book production. A lot of times I didn't give them much time to meet the deadline because I didn't completely know in advance when I would need things. I would set a tight deadline and then hope they wouldn't be mad at me for not realizing sooner that I needed things from them. I learned a lot about work flow and scheduling for the next time I get to work on a book like this.

Everything took longer than I thought it would. For example, while I was working on the foundation patterns, every morning I'd start out thinking, "There's no reason why I can't finish at least ten patterns today." Ha! The most I ever got done in a day was four. For each pattern, drawing and labeling those little assembly diagrams took a while. Fitting the sections on the pages as close as I could get them to the order they would be sewn together took a long time. And labeling each piece in each section took *forever*.

Then Barbara had to proofread all the patterns, and mark corrections for me to make, then recheck my work. Then Laurie did the same thing. Laurie gave final approval on every page in the book and on the CD.

It's my design, but it's Laurie's book! :).

Thanks QuiltingNinaSue. First, let me say I agree that Doe and Darts must be a stinker with all those Y seams. The thing about the block sizes is complicated. For sure, eight-inch blocks are a standard size. But our quilting fore-mothers didn't have those acrylic rulers, so they made the pieces any old size they wanted. The blocks based on 9by9 grids, or 5by5 and 7by7, and 6by6, come to think about it, won't have pieces that come out to even 1/8th inch increments. (Does that make sense?) Actually, I think some of the charm of sampler quilts is that unevenness.

Laurie has only ever cut quilts from templates, so the whole issue of rotary cutting never entered her mind. Frankly, when I was editing and illustrating the FWS book it never occurred to me that any other patterns would be necessary. That's due to my training as a quilt-book editor, where you always present the patterns with whatever technique the author uses. And Krause wouldn't have paid to have them drawn anyway.

From the early feedback on the FWS quilt (some of it not stated very kindly), Laurie decided the PC book would have everything on people's wish lists. I was so tired by the time I got to the foundation patterns that I sent a kind of whiny email to Laurie, "Do I *have* to do the foundation patterns." She of answered something like, "Yes, dear. It will be good for you." ;) Once I got started, they were fun.

Cats: My 2 year old dear, affectionate little runt that I got at the ASPCA had a eyelid turned under that required surgery last year. She is a leaper, obsessed with getting to the highest spot in the apartment. Turns out she has luxating patellas (loose kneecaps) and she dislocated one last week. She will eventually need surgery on both knees, which will cost me an absurd amount of money I'll have to save up for. It's a preexisting condition so pet health insurance won't cover it. (Where have we heard *that* before?) If a kitty is old and sick and suffering, I have no problem putting her to sleep. But this little kitty is young and happy and healthy, so what else can I do?

I second QuiltE's "welcome". So nice for you to join us. I, personally, only do the PP'd blocks so I'm super glad that Laurie insisted you do them.......and you will enjoy seeing the "mileposts". It's amazing to me that so many of us make blocks and they are all different.....You did a good job and this is mega fun!

Maybe before you get the surgery, sign up for United Pet Care or Pet Assure (vet discount programs), so at least you'll only pay a percentage of the total bill ... Personally I use Pet Assure, they don't have exclusions like pet insurance policies usually do...

Hi Y'all and welcome back tdt....Here's a little note that Laurie posted to me...I don't think she'll mind that I copied it to here:

Thanks for the introduction and welcome. I've never mentioned it to you before,
but I just love your group's cowboy themes and phrases. They are so cute and
clever. Great idea!

So, maybe she has done a little browsing!!!!

Welcome TDT! I've enjoyed readin' about how ya'll put this book tagether. Please invite Laurie ta come along.
QuiltE & OK - I'm a thinkin' that Trail Boss is right. (Wasn't a Ramrod the one who headed up a cattle drive, & a Trail Boss headed up a wagon train?) Not sure which applies. Hmmmmmm
QNS - what do ya think?

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Hi ladies
I am working on my blocks but have came across a couple that needed to be mirror image to come out correctly does anyone have a list of those blocks that need to be printed mirror image? I am a really new quilter so I am still learning the ropes too. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Crystal

Welcome. It's never too late to join in. I'll second what QuiltE said. If you read the discussion thread before you begin the blocks, you will probably find them. Have fun.

I only have 9 done and they are A Dandy, Alabama, Apple Tree, At The Depot, Arizona, Betty's Delight, Boy's Playmate, Clover Blossom and Captain's Wheel. I know that Captain's Wheel is backwards and I am almost done with Clover Leaf which is also not right. So I have all the rest to catch up on. I have fabric cut for 8 or 9 more which I am going to sew this weekend and thought I better figure this out because my OCD is driving me crazy knowing those 2 blocks are backwards :S Yes I know I am the only one that will know but I can't get it out of my head lol. Thanks for all the tips. I will go and look at the previous discussions and see if any of those need to be reversed for this weekends sewing expedition. Anyone else have info please share. I have set up a spreadsheet to keep track of which ones need to be mirror imaged etc so I will post when I figure them all out.

Thanks again for all the help!

Happy Quilting:)
Crystal

Hi Crystal,

Welcome to the group. It's good to have another join us. I have been AWOL for awhile, but I noticed your question about mirror image.

Actually all the patterns need to be printed on mirror image. The symmetrical ones won't matter, but the ones that aren't need to be printed mirror image. To be on the safe side I set my printer to print them all mirror image after I discovered this when I did Captain's Wheel.

So long answer to a short question, but if you print them all mirror image then you'll be okay. Hope this helps.

Janie

Here's the thread about these blocks as ya can see most of us did 'em backwards!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-...e-t184186.html