Still cutting!

At this writing I have 9 blocks cut for my FWIS quilt----the first 3 rows of an on-point set quilt top full of 111- 6 inch sampler blocks. Ahhh but the journey is only beginning!!! I know you will probably get bored with me talking about this process and I am planning on just showing you the blocks once I get the first grouping actually made. Today will be the exception, LOL. I'll mention it in passing after that.

I have shared my plans for this quilt--the fabrics I want to use, the fact that I am not making a slavish copy of the one in the book, etc. My rule that I will NOT make a 6 inch block of something that I would not even consider making at 12 inch.   I have spent a good deal of time making documents to help keep me on the journey and straight in my mind.  Yeah you get that.  Blah, Blah, blah.  It's my blog so I get to talk about what is on MY mind,  LOL.

I may have gotten a bit further on the cutting last night except for this block.  How would you go about piecing it?  It is called The Whirling Pinwheel, Brackman# 3418  attributed to the KC Star 9/22/43.  Looks like appliqued bits to me and the sections the scalloped shapes are applied to are half square triangles.

 EQ, in all its infinite wisdom, thinks perhaps this should be pieced with those goofy shapes cut as just background pieces and curved piecing.  Well, it is a computer so what do they know about practical piecing?  I needed templates and I needed them extended to the middle so I could applique a yo-yo or circle shape atop the wedges, scallops or whatever you want to call them.

So the design is edited to reflect those needs.  I measured the size of the circle from the first printouts and use my drafting circle thing to draw it on templar to make a yo-yo type circle like I have done in the past.    My initial plan was to print off  the two wedge shaped templates on heavy duty template plastic--normally I rubber cement the shapes down to it and then just cut around them.   Then I would draw the shape on freezer paper so I could edge finish the top edge.  The other sides will be stitched into what will become half square triangle units for standard piecing.  I keep forgetting to get some freezer paper at the grocery store---totally out!  Also the only template plastic I have is in a roll and it is beyond flimsy.  I had to press it with a steam iron and a piece of paper to even get it to lay flat the other day for Fun & Done! project template.  What a terribly stupid way to pack that stuff!  Hard telling how long it had been on the shelf or I even had bought it in the first place.  I looked at WM the other day and they didn't have what I wanted either. I was not going 14 miles down the road to look further when I'll be over towards Hobby Lobby next week.

Anyway, what to do at that hour of night?  Templar the shapes.  I found I could still do the basting stitches across the top and gather it in ( I use quilting thread as it is less likely to break).  Then I used spray sizing to set the edge.  It worked fine.  The iron doesn't melt templar or warp it, after all.  Next  I basted it down to the half square triangle.  I did wonder if I had gotten the shaped backwards though.  Does it look like mine is spinning the opposite direction to you????  I was about 3 wedges in when that occurred to me that the template should have been reversed, perhaps.  By that point I figured consistency was better than flopping it over and re-cutting/wasting fabric.

I decided to go with thirties prints for this one.  I love 30's anyway and almost decided to do the whole project with it.   It should work in a vintage looking quilt even it it was a later era that I had in mind.   Our quilting foremothers didn't worry about sort of thing and used what they had regardless.  In looking at the thumbnail here I do believe I need to swap out the two blue pieces as that one is blending into the adjacent green a bit too much---provided it is the same D shape, that is.  I'll figure it out before I actually sew it.   Funny that I did not notice it till now!

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Computer stuff again----
If you actually read my blog at the website rather than a feed list, could you tell me if you having a problem reading it with the change of template?   At a suggestion of a friend, I did tweak it a bit and used the advanced settings to darken the font from a dark charcoal gray to black.  I also increased the font size just a hair---not to obnoxiously big but a bit bigger.  Hey, my eyes are getting older too and I already know I will be looking at cataract surgery down the line.  I can still read it but can you??   My friend would have liked me to bold the whole deal but I prefer to just do that for emphasis, LOL.  Maybe that is something that can be changed under accessibility in ones own monitor--change the font, change the font size, change the font characteristics.

The other thing: is the background too white that it glares at your end?  I may be able to tweak that as well.  Real pale yellow maybe?

Thanks for the input and of course, thanks for stopping by and reading.  I have a flower pot block to cut and I want some purples for it.  Off I go.