#GettingToKnowHue : Getting to Know Yellow-Green
I’m in a Block of the Month (BOM) put on by #LoneStarQuiltWorks and it’s a gorgeous Nancy Rink pattern called Getting To Know Hue. In addition to designing the pattern, she also designed the fabrics. All colors have the same hue and the same dots and weave prints even though they are all different colors. April’s BOM is Getting to Know Yellow Green.
This entire quilt is really pushing my piecing skills. It seems like everything is on the bias so I’m learning to starch all fabrics on the wrong side before cutting. My favorite is Faultless with the blue cap. No flakes. I learned that trick from Amy Gibson at StitcheryDickoryDock.com Love her! If you pop over to her site, she has a free Paper Piecing cheat sheet she is sharing if you’re interested.
When I know I’m going to be cutting bias cuts, I never push the iron over the fabric, rather I place it top to bottom and use plenty of steam.
When I turn it over (above) I run the iron over it by barely touching the fabric until all the iron marks are gone. That’s better.
As with any pattern, reading it first is key. This month, I nearly made a mistake and cut the fat eighth long-ways instead of side ways. Whew. It was a narrow miss!
I love seeing all the neat stacks ready to become something beautiful!
I swear by my painter’s tape. The edge is the sewing line and I mark 1/4″ in for making the HSTs (half-square triangles). However, after the first 4 of these, I gave up and went back and drew the actual sewing lines. With all this bias, I wasn’t taking any chances.
And a short 6 hours later? Ta-da!! Two pretty good looking blocks if I do say so myself. Please don’t look too closely at my wobbly seams. I’m hoping they won’t show after it’s all together and quilted. Getting those exact points on the bias…what a chore! But I’ll take wonky seams over tipping a triangle any day.
Here are the blocks from Jan (blue), Feb (teal), and March (magenta).
Here’s what it will look like when it’s finished. What are you working on? Please reply or post a link. I’d love to see!
That is going to be a pretty quilt. Working with bias is really a hair pulling experience. I cut my squares as required, cut them once diagonally and then sew the 1/4″. I used to do the line bit, but this is the traditional way and it saves time. I always add 1/8″ (i.e. if the pattern calls for a 2 7/8″ square I round it up to 3″) so I have plenty of fabric to square my HSTs. If I am going to make flying geese I add an inch or so and cut the squares and then cut them twice diagonally. This prevents me from having any bias on the outer part of the blocks. When I first started quilting I used starch, but now, and only if necessary, I only use lite sizing. Starch causes bugs. Thought you might want to research that. I think it attracts silverfish.
Your blocks are really going to make a beautiful quilt!
Thanks Nan. About halfway through this month’s pattern I decided to always cut a bit extra for HSTs from now on. I’d love to see your flying geese method. I’m home today if you’re up to it. I’m down at 124. 🙂 The method used in the pattern is the same as from Quilt in a Day – placing two smaller squares in opposite corners of a big square. But that left no room for trimming so I’m interested in another way. Hubs has his applicator’s license so we have zero bugs around here. The dogs are always in and out so he sprays the yards and all. I simply can’t tolerate fleas, ants, etc. Of course, if I gift a quilt, they are on their own.
I was looking for the pattern and found corrections on Nancy’s website to the pattern. Hope they are telling you. https://www.nancyrinkdesigns.com/pattern-corrections/167-getting-to-know-hue.html
I did not get an email response from you so I missed coming by. What is another good day? I do like Eleanor’s for fast FG, she is the only one that a quilter can count on. But I think there is fabric waste. What size are the HSTs that you are working on?
My email is fredericsneice@gmail.com
Wobbly seams, seriously?! It all looks pretty perfect to me and the finished thing is INCREDIBLE!
Thanks Sheila. You know that we are always our own worst critics. 🙂