Thursday, December 20, 2012

EASY STREET MYSTERY STEP ONE

EASY STREET MYSTERY
by BONNIE HUNTER
My journey down her street.

It was a real bumpy ride for the first quarter mile.  It's my own fault.  I couldn't find the right direction for me.  I had decided to get to the end of the journey my own way.  I wasn't fueling up with bits and pieces but with full leaded yardage.  I didn't have the color additives she was using,  I needed to find a substitute.  I have an extensive stash, I thought it would be "Easy" to substitute.  Every thing I chose, I didn't have enough quantity for each step.
These are the fabrics I chose:

STEP ONE
With a trepadacious beginning I proceeded to cut Step One.  We are to construct (192) 4 Patches.  Using A fabric (she calls her "constant").  Bonnie's is grey.  Mine is the beige which doesn't have white in it.  She is pairing it with her black and white bits and pieces.  I am using the beige flower on white for my background through the entire quilt.

Since I am using Yardage I cut 19 Strips of each fabric.  Then proceeded to stitch the strips together in pairs. 
The strips give me 21 "twosies" for each strip. 
The resulting 4 Patches:

Bonnie has the steps to complete your 4 patches but I am going to put a tutorial just incase someone is viewing this that isn't doing the mystery.  doing a four patch this way makes less bulk in your finished quilt top.

CONSTRUCTING A FOUR PATCH:  I used different fabrics for these samples.

1.  Place your strips, fronts of fabric together. (Have strips pressed and free of wrinkles.)
2. Stitch your paired strips 1/4 inch from the edge.  Open out and press the seam to the dark.  (If you don't press to the dark your resulting 4 patch will not open out with less bulk.)
3.  Cut  your strip set into twosies.
4.  Join your twosies, nesting the seams.  Place them under the presser foot with the dark fabric leading.  This is very important so it will finish with less bulk in the center.
5.  Open out your stitched twosies, do not press down.  The junctions of the seams, give them a little twist and pop the couple of stitches.  When you do this you will be able to fold out the seams, resulting in a miniature 4 patch.  Your four patch will lie flat and not be  heavy to quilt through.
    
While getting ready to post this blog I counted my four patches and realized I only had 189.  I had to make 3 more.  Please be sure to count your units at the end of each step.  You don't want to come up short.

If you haven't gone to "Easy Street" and would like to, this is the link:

Stay Tuned for my Step # 2.  I will post a link here when I get it posted.


If you enjoyed perusing this blog,
 I have other blogs with different subjects.

Where I have stories of my cats and other pets 
a blog about my courtship with my husband,
and a blog about my most embarrassing moment.
A "Soap box" blog where I do air my opinions.

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm
Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry
4 New blogs Feb 16-19 about Seeds sprouting, insects, and garden pictures
New Blog about an endangered beneficial beetle

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own. 
I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .  Please do not copy without permission



2 comments:

Kevin the Quilter said...

Looks great! Keep on, keepin' on Easy Street! Fellow Missourian outside of St. Louis here. I also keep chickens and dream of having a farm like you all have had! Best wishes!

Tami C said...

Glad you found your way over to Easy street. Your fabrics look real nice together. Happy Sewing!