Sandra-P

Peace and Joy, so kind of you to post the videos on how to do this. I remember my first BH quilt and how my units kept coming out wrong. I also didnt realize that one time I posted a pic and it was on the cutting mat with the numbers on it. Oops!

joe'smom

For those having trouble with Tri-Recs type rulers, I had forgotten how fun and easy the Deb Tucker V-block trimmer is to use. This is a trim-down version of this unit; you cut the pieces a bit large, and her ingenious ruler makes it a breeze to trim it down. Also the paper piecing version is available, and if you haven't learned to paper piece, this would be a super easy block to learn on. There are numerous YouTube tutorials to instruct.

It struck me that we have two of the block elements of En Provence so far (but those were even larger).

happylab

So far I have 1/6th of step one completed. I have all sets cut, just ready to sew. I lost the large pare of Tri rec ruler. So ordered another one from JoAnn’s. Not sure how soon I will get the ruler. I may just practice doing the pp version to make progress and practice my pp techniques. But 1st I need to set up a twin top on my LA this morning and quilt it out for a friend this afternoon. Then I can start playing with part 1 & 2. Happy sewing everyone.

Iceblossom

Warms my heart to see the help that is offered. So many good suggestions, we all think/do things a bit differently and generally a picture (or video) are worth 10,000 of my words!!

GailGL -- I was also thinking if maybe your "too-small" sides might just be a visual because of how the seam allowances work. Do your units work from bottom to top, red flat and neutral above the point? If they measure correctly into squares, I'd keep plowing ahead and figure it is just the visual. If they are narrower one direction or the other than we have more issues. If your red top points go into the seam allowance but are otherwise the right dimensions, well there are worse things than some snubbed triangles.

I'm cutting my reds while my new piece of neutral is in the prewash. Is great for this project, almost white background with tiny red and blue figures. It was a precut (1 yard) markdown of Marcus Brother fabrics for less than $3.00 for the yard!! I am low on neutrals, I'm hoping to end this project with some left but I do want to use up most of the bundle of fat eighths I bought. It is amazing with as much fabric as I have, but after the Grassy Creek project I was pretty much completely out of grays (and I had quite a bit of gray given to me) so I bought a bundle of half yard pieces when I got this neutral on my fabric road trip. I also know that I am low on greens, and pretty much have zero of the aqua sort of color Bonnie likes.

I still have to be somewhat concerned if we match the red ends, but I'm feeling pretty confident with the white sides so I am starting with one strip each of my various reds, most of which are in the true/darker reds which are very close in color. I have used up one odd shaped piece. In dim light (ie, my current sewing room set up) very hard to tell that some of these are different at all. Because they out-number the pieces heading towards more orange-red, I'll cut two strips of that if I need more than what I've cut so far.

No song or music yet for this project but that will come! I did pick my last book (Indigo Isle) because of this project.

Macybaby

Here is how I use the Tri-Rec rulers. I start by cutting a strip of the center fabric (red) the UF measure of the block. Then line up the top (small) flat edge of the center triangle ruler with that and cut.

For the sides (nuetrals) I cut the width 1/4" wider than the UF measure. Also line up the Top (Flat) edge of the side triangle ruler. I don't cut any of the little bits on the corners as I won't be using them to line anything up.

When I sew them, I sort of split the difference, with about 1/8" over on both top on bottom. Doing this gives a bit more on the sides and top for trimming.

When I sew the second side, I can line the top of the second side with the top of the first and go with that.

When trimming, it's important to get the point of the inner triangle centered and at the 1/4" mark. (the ruler was placed randomly, the 5" mark has no meaning here)
The two outer corners should line up like that next picture. If you end up with the unit being too short, you are sewing your seams a bit too wide. This is one block that gets picky about keeping the seams right. If you sew to narrow, you'll not have enough fabric at the top for the 1/4" seam allowance above the point (my biggest problem if I don't oversize the sides).

The last picture shows about how much is trimmed off the block.

petthefabric

The fabric just arrived and in the washing machine

Sync

I finished the blue hst and ready to start on clue 2. But I ran into a problem, when I pulled out my red fabric I realized that the fabric was never pre-washed!!!!! Don't trust reds not to bleed so into the wash it went. Now I'm on a break until the wash is done.

JeanieG

Good thinking Sync! Both my red and navy fabrics did bleed!!!

Teen

I have half the sets done and the rest are cut. I don’t have the ruler so I’m using the templates provided and did the same method as recommended. I typically make my blocks bigger and trim to size …just a habit my mentor taught me and has served me well. Had to take a break and pick up a quilt from the LA’er today….did the binding so, tomorrow, I’ll finish this step. While waiting for Friday clue…I made a Santa…Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season preparations!!

Sync…..I washed my reds Friday morning…lol…..glad I did cuz the water didn’t rinse clear for about 3 run-throughs…

JeanieG

Teen - that Santa is adorable! Was it hard to make? That would be a great gift to make for next year! Where did you get the pattern?