Monday, April 9, 2012

Starting to Piece Month 4

As promised, I got a decent start on the Month 4 piecing for Sedona Star yesterday.  It is pretty painstaking work!  Yesterday morning I checked the Show & Tell section at The Quilt Show to see how people are doing with Month 4.  Only one person was finished!  So I had a feeling this month would be trickier.  Usually there would be four or five people done after the first week.  But maybe enthusiasm wanes after the first couple of months too.

My modifications to the template went smoothly, and they didn't seem to add to the difficulty at all:


You can see that I drew in the 1/4 inch shadow on all the templates.  I used 1/8 seam allowances on all the internal seams, which turned out to be no problem at all.  Even though the darker orange pieces would finish small, I still cut the fabric 1 1/2 inch wide so I would have somewhere to put the pins.  You can see that I have also been staystitching the side seams, which gives me one less thing to worry about with the assembly.

The assembly of the sub-units is definitely the biggest challenge:


By the end of the day I had sewn together seven, and I had to redo a seam twice.  Because joining the units is the trickiest part, I am forcing myself to add each unit to the whole as I go.  That way I will not be stuck with the worst part at the end.

You probably realize that I have skipped over Month 3.  I am looking forward to going back to it, because I think it will be a doddle compared to Month 4!  It is fun to see how the designer Sarah Vedeler is increasing the challenge each month.  We will all be Mariner's Compass masters after this!

Overall, I am very happy with how it is going.  It is becoming clear that once again The Quilt Show BOM is going to be impressive.  When you see how all the details keep building month after month, it becomes a very satisfying thing.  Onwards and upwards!

10 comments:

  1. This looks like a tricky project getting all those corners right. Love your colours.

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  2. Thanks, Diane! Yes, it IS tricky. I am finding it helpful to take many breaks!

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  3. Wow, the block looks great. The addition of the small orange pieces makes it look three dimensional. Way cool.

    As regards the difficulty, I found these mariner's compass blocks to be easy, but then again, I have done a ton of paper piecing.

    I kind of lost interest in the project, though, after the Quilt Show published a slide show in Weekend Fun and included everyone else's block but mine. I took that to mean mine was too ugly.

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  4. Thanks, Mary Ellen!

    I am finding the Month 4 is a big step up in difficulty from the earlier months. But I am still new to it all!

    I was concerned about that slideshow too, but for a different reason. I will be sure to watermark all photos I post to TQS! I should start doing that here too, with Pinterest becoming so big.

    The only person who has to like your quilt is you! Everyone's taste is different.

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  5. Why are you watermarking your photos? What concerns do you have? I like Pinterest, too, but have wondered if we are just being dumb and letting everyone else rip off our work by posting our photos.

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  6. My thought with photos on the internet in general is that it is naive to think people aren't copying them. They are, but if you put your mark on them it becomes free advertising instead of copyright infringement.

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  7. That makes sense. How do you watermark your photos? What do you use as a watermark? Your name or other information?

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  8. Good morning, Mary Ellen. I haven't been marking my photos yet - you will notice when I do! Most photo software will allow you to write text on the photo. I will use LakeviewStitching.com.

    Have a great day!

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  9. Monica,

    I have seen watermarking as a feature in Picasa, which is the software I use for photos. My husband uses Photoshop Element, which has a similar feature. I will delve into the specifics of using it now that you have pointed it out. But, I wonder. If you can use software to put in a watermark, couldn't someone else take it out using similar software?

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  10. No, Mary Ellen, it is not easy to take it out again without spending a great deal of time on it. You will have to check the instructions for your software to see exactly how it works.

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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