GLORIOUS CREATIONS: October 2018

My Mystery Medallion Challenge Block One is completed. I would like to say it was a breeze. It should have been but my fears...and stubbornness lead me to having to recut pieces from the limited amount of fabric I have..

I am terrified of bias edges, I have made flying geese one way my whole quilting life....that is using a square on the rectangle. In the process I get to harvest 1/2 square units.

Toby's instructions tell you to take these wonderful 8 3/4" squares and diagonally slice them ...not once but twice...to me that was sacreligious....I stopped reading and cut my rectangles the correct size with the squares the correct size, and proceeded to piece the flying geese. These are the pinwheels I harvested from not following the instructions.

Toby does say in the directions at the beginning of this mystery, "read the instructions all the way through before beginning". No disrespect to Toby, I just had my mind set that I was going to get by without sewing bias edges...and be able to harvest my 1/2 squares..Talk about bull headedness!

When I continued piecing the rest of the geese..I discovered it was a necessity to cut those 8"squares and struggle through the bias edges. Toby designed the piecing so the bias edges didn't end up on the outside edge of the unit. Sewing the bias edge on the side of the geese was not difficult. I made sure I placed the bias piece on top of the nice stable piece. Then I made sure the pressure on the presser foot was set on low so the seam was not stretched out of shape. I am no longer biased against sewing on the bias.

Thanks Toby for this very fun "free" adventure. Thank you for making me indure a part of piecing till I was no longer afraid of it.

BTW Toby....paper piecing is still torture for me.

Everyone...Toby has a paper piecing way she says is foolproof...Hmmm.........wonder if it is Gloria proof?

Looking forward to this Friday!!! Second clue!!

more blogs by me:

http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/

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.

http://organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

Blog about an endangered beneficial beetle

http://pitbulladog.blogspot.com/

Chronicling our adventures with a dumped Pit Bull Pup,

who has become a hidden treasure.

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

If you are unfamiliar with this internet challenge I hope you will see why I am here.

The following link is your passport to quilting...(at least I hope this is the right link).

https://www.nationalquilterscircle.com/article/medallion-challenge

The first thing you do when beginning a mystery quilt is to pick your fabrics using the list of requirements. For me, this time was more difficult than normal. I am unable to get to my stash so I had to use what fabric was already at hand. (I won't order online...I am one of those people who has to feel and see. I don't trust my monitor's colors.) On the left are the fabrics I have chosen. I only had enough yardages to do the lap size version. This is another thing in mysteries. you are able to choose the size of project you want to work on.

A date is set when you'll receive your instructions. It can be monthly or weekly. When you get your instructions read them through ...top to bottom ...before you cut your first piece of fabric. This is the results of the first installment on the mystery. I made two versions of the first part because I was unsure which fabrics I wanted in the center of the block. My two greens are very close in value.

I chose this block because of the light flowery feel. The one above will be a pillow sham to go with the quilt.

When I began construction of this first part I knew I wanted to harvest 1/2 squares from the flying geese. Toby's instructions do not include the method the squares.

This is how I made my bonus 1/2 squares

(the pictures and script are from another blog I wrote):

BONUS, HALF-SQUARE TRIANGLES:

With a little extra stitching, and time, you’ll have a pieced unit to use in another project,salvaging fabric which would normally be wasted.

Stitch 1/2” away from your previously stitched seam: then press the triangle back to the “ outer point”. Pressing back to the corner is very important to do before you trim between the two seam lines. Stitching ½” away results in a bonus ½ Square triangle. Be careful when you trim the half square triangle off(cutting between the two seam lines) that you don't cut your triangle off the front of your unit.

Press your HALF SQUARE TRIANGLE open to the dark fabric. Voila, a bonus unit to use in another project, Fabric rescued before it be comes trash.

These are the harvested 1/2 squares from part 1 of block one. I have made them into wheel blocks. The red ones will be 2 inches when trimmed and the green ones will be 5 1/2 inches when trimmed. Now I have some orphaned blocks instead of trash fabric.