Layer Cake Quilt Along- Block 2

In the movie Clueless, Cher talks about how she doesn't rely on mirrors when picking an outfit; she takes Polaroids. I took that approach with this block from the Layer Cake Quilt Along. I wasn't sure how to make the colours work, so I took pictures to make an objective decision. I did learn the importance of scale. Reading quilting magazines and books, they always talk about scale, but I've never really grasped the concept. My first choice had too many small scale fabrics, so I switched one out to a larger scale and it totally worked. I also had to make a call on what is considered a dark when there is truly only one dark in the layer cake. I decided that I would take my 'darkest' light and make that a dark. I think it worked pretty well. I went with option 4 of the different combinations.

The block wasn't the easiest to work with. I am glad I had some experience with half square triangles, but even with that I did double check that I had sewn it right before I cut them apart. For the most part my points turned out ok, but the straight squares are off. Go figure!! I did unpick and sew them again, but I couldn't get them to work. I gave up. Oh well!

I am really enjoying this quilt along. I am learning how to read instructions and definitely learning how to put colours and prints together. I may be a quilter yet!

Two more disciples down

Ok, so one is only a sleeve, but two more down. The list is now Bartholomew, James I, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, James II and Philip.

Emily's deer- progress update 1

Pretty decent progress

Pie! From Scratch!!

A week or so ago I took a pie making class. I learned how to make pie crust and a couple different pie fillings (lemon, cherry and pumpkin). As part of the class, we got to make two pie crusts to freeze. Today, I made use of one of those pie crusts. My church is having a pot luck and I need to bring a dessert. I tried my hand at hazelnut pie; pretty much a pecan pie, but with hazelnuts.

Rolling out the crust was a bit interesting. I need to work on that, but the dough was forgiving. A little pulling, squishing and the crust ended up in the pan in one piece. . . sorta.

I got the filling recipe off the net and it was ridiculously easy. After mixing it up it did look a bit suspicious. I decided to go with it anyway and figured church people would be forgiving. One thing I did learn is place the pie crust on the baking sheet before you pour in the filling. Disposable pie plates are very flimsy and don't do well with moving from kitchen island to baking sheet on stove top very well.

I couldn't remember if I should foil the edges or not, but I decided to err on the side of under-baking. It smelled divine in my house while it baked! There was a bit of spillage over the side, but the foil did help. I pulled them off for the last 15 minutes of baking. The end product looks great. I need to walk out the door in the next couple minutes. I will update with an edit on how it tasted.

Edit: The pie was delicious! I would make it again. The hazelnuts held up really well against the sweetness of the sugar and corn syrup mixture.

The Process Pledge

Doing battle with this flannel project and blogging along the way, made me realize I might as well commit and take the Process Pledge.

I, Karen, pledge to talk more about the processes, even when I can't quite put them into words or be sure I'm being totally clear.

Flannel is not fun to work with!

They may seem all warm and fuzzy, but they are not warm and fuzzy when you work with it! With the shrinkage I didn't have enough fabric to get all the pieces I needed. Back to the fabric store!

Trying out flannel

This is going to be a bit of blogging the quilt process in real time. I am making two baby quilts this weekend. I have never sewn flannel before, so I have no idea what I am in for. I did some research online and everybody stressed pre-washing.





I am glad I listened. Flannel shrinks and frays!!! I expected some shrinkage and some fraying, but not like this. Somebody mentioned increasing the seam allowance to a half inch and I am definitely doing that.

The quilts are for baby girls, so the fabric I chose are pink, floral and green. They are really pretty fabrics. I am using the And Baby Takes 3 pattern from Teacher's Pet. The quilt store recommended it as an easy baby quilt pattern.

While I was at the cut counter another lady was getting flannel as well to make blankets for babies in the neonatal unit. She said that they take some fabric and make hearts for the mothers. The mothers wear the hearts so their scent wears on the hearts and they place them with the babies when the mothers have to leave. I thought that was really neat.

Applique redo

I couldn't look at the block without seeing the puckering. It was messing up the fit of the entire block, so I ripped out the circle. I went ahead and applied fusible web to make it a little sturdier. This time I did check my tension and found one that didn't pucker. It isn't perfect, but I feel MUCH better.

Layer Cake Quilt Along- Block 1

My fabric arrived this morning and I started right into Block 1 for the Layer Cake Quilt Along. I did make a conscious decision to try and make the contrast work; I folded up the fabric squares to make sure.



For the first two squares I trimmed off the pinked edges and that wasn't a good idea. Those pinked edges are included in the 10 inch measurement and so I was a smidge off (1/16th of an inch) with some of my measurements. By the third square I had figured out to keep the pinked edges. There was also the option to add an applique circle in the middle square. I decided to go for it. I have never done applique of any sort before. I used a zig zag stitch, but apparently my tension was off because the fabric puckered. Ooops.

I thought the block turned out pretty well, even though the middle block did skew things a bit. There is a flickr group and when I look at the other blocks, I wish my block was more crisp. Maybe by the end of the quilt, I will have the crisp look down. Can't wait for the next block pattern to come out.

It doesn't look like a lot, but . . .

it does all add up.

My first Quilt Along

I caught onto this Quilt Along a bit late so I don't have my fabric yet. I ordered it today from (as usual) The Fabric Shack. Still half price shipping. Yay! I am using Breakfast and Tiffany's from Fig Tree & Co.

It is a Layer Cake Quilt Along from Moose on the Porch Quilts. There are contests during the process and people post pictures of their blocks as they make them. The first block pattern has been posted and people have already posted pictures of their blocks. There are some awesome fabric selections and colour combinations. There is a button on the side that links to the Quilt Along.

I'm a little nervous on how it is going to turn out because I am a bit of control freak and I won't know what all the blocks are in advance. I will have to pick each block's colours without knowing the pattern of the next one. This will be a good exercise in learning how to not over think things. Not sure if that made any sense!

Will update when the first block is done.