Quiltingboard Forums - "Spike Your English" Block of the Month Quilt-Along

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Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltE (Post 6243341)

So I am not alone? ... please do not leave me in the wilderness by myself!

Perhaps instead of chunking ... it'd be more aptly named "hack and whack" (thanks to JanRN for that phrase!)

I won't be making templates. I'll do the regular paper piecing way by sewing on the paper. But I think I will cut out pieces of the fabrics ahead of time for each section and then can make it easier on myself that way. But I won't do that just yet.

Thank you Honchey....I will be doing regular Paper Piecing. And the "English" threw me because but it all makes sense now. And I will be joining along. I love to Paper Piece. And I love these blocks. So you'll be seeing me every month. Katie

I am with those who don't do templates. But I do measure and figure out what sizes I need because I hate unstitching due to the piece being too small and I hate to keep checking as I am adding every piece if it is going to fit. It is much faster for me to measure and cut or grab pieces a bit larger than I need and this way sewing goes pretty fast because I don't have to check or unsew. Last month, I PP 36 NY beauty blocks without any fussing or unstitching..love it! Searching the cyber world, it is amazing how many ways there are to PP..so everyone should be able to find a way that works for them. Isn't quilting wonderful? LOL

Candi, I also did 36 of the 50 Fabulous Stars by Carol Doan. I've looked at a ton of different ways to PP, and I found her way so easy to understand. I rarely have pieces to small any more. I just finished a PP Eagle, with 850 pieces in it. I do measure, but I also add a bit more fabric. I'd rather waste that tiny bit, than have to do it over, or find out 4 pieces down the line, I did one to short. Every one has their own way of doing things which is why I love this board. If one way doesn't work, someone else has an idea for another way.

I'm just glad we have time to iron out all the kinks before we start.....

Anne, I tried to print my MB from QuiltersCache and it was the WRONG size. I tried 6 times! finally I tried a different browser, firefox instead of chrome... and it worked. I dont know why but it did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honchey (Post 6243300)

A very strange occurance has happened...for some time now my pp patterns have come out short by 1/8" on one side only...I decided to print the SYE pattern directly from the website and now the pattern is only 1/16" short...I also measured the patterns of all the others I printed and the first one "Flowers All Around" is a full 1/4"short. I measured
from top to bottom looking at the pattern as if it was a pyramid..I'm going to print all the patterns directly from the website to see what the differences are...we can't have different sizes..if there are I think the best way to make up the differences is to leave a larger seam allowance around the perimeter of the triangle...
Any other ideas???

Ladies when you print make sure you select ACTUAL SIZE. Some browsers default to "fit to page" or other modifications.. So please double check!

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltE (Post 6243227)

Am I the only one who does not do so?
I mostly work off the full chunk of fabric ... or off-cuts that have been left from other projects.
Then trim the seamline after stitching each.
I'll do some pics, at a later time ... when I have some time to do so.

So are there any chunkers? Or am I solo on this?

And oh .... for the outer edge pieces ... I always oversize, and not trimming til the final assembly and pressing. That way, I can square it up nicely, and should the block work out a little small, can still trim it to the right size.

I've always worked from the full piece of fabric or larger pieces left over from other projects. I'm actually considering cutting the pieces ahead of time with this project, though. For a project I'm currently working on I mark all the outer pieces with a double hash mark (or 'equal sign') so that I know which pieces to leave larger so that I can square up properly. I'm not the greatest paper piecer, but trying to improve.

Honchey, I've always heard that copy machines can make your pieces slightly larger or smaller so we should use the same copier and copy all pieces at one time. I looked at my paper sections and they look like they fit together properly, but maybe you're right and we should print each section directly from the website.

Hurrah!!!!!!!! ...... Another Hack and Whacker shows up! :)

CindyA ... for those outer edges, I outline the seamline with a pink highlighter, all the way around, as my reminder to DO NOT cut til all is fully assembled. Plus makes it easier for placement of PP sections, when I am working on a multi-sectioned block assembly.

each block will print out the same and will fit correctly...it's just that each block is measuring differently...therefore the need to have extra for the outside edge so they will all fit or measure out the same size of 14"x 16"..if you're making placemats it doesn't really make a difference...