Seams, seams and more seams. That was the thought going through my head while I stitched these blocks together. Have you noticed, though, that the more seams, the prettier the block? That is the case with this months Family Block from the Crossroads Quilt Along.
So, so pretty!
Even when I use leaders and enders, my machine eats my corners. Although this time, I just realized it's probably because I have stitched 3 full quilts with this needle... Whoops. I think I owe Queen Lily an apology...and a good cleaning.
I still have issues with the corners though, so for the flying geese units I started stitching in the middle.
I still haven't gotten on board with the whole "press seams open" thing, though this block has gotten me to think about it. Like I said, there were a lot of seams. When those seams come together...I definitely need to apologize to Queen Lily... and get her a new needle.
On the flying geese units I pressed up, because open seams or not, I like being able to match up my seams. It's my thing.
On the corner units I pressed down.
Side note: I did add 1/8" to the cutting measurements for the half square triangles. This gave me just enough to trim those babies into the perfect half square triangle units.
Once all of your units are pieced and pressed, you get to put these blocks together. Pin those seams and stitch away. Once I get to the pin I pull it out before the needle hits, but not before I have gone over the seam to keep it in place.
Beautiful, beautiful blocks. It's coming together, but there is still time for you to join. The pattern is free, The Fat Quarter Shop just asks that you make a $5 donation to March of Dimes. They haven't met their goal yet, so think about joining and helping a great cause.
Happy Stitching!
Jen
Pretty fabric choices.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to start pressing my seams open too. It took so much more time. And a few burned fingers. But now I almost exclusively do it. Unless I want to add a little 3-D look to it, they are pressed open. Still working on matching my seams up every time though.
These blocks look lovely! I had never pressed seams open until last year when I totally ignored a pattern instruction (and pressed to the side) only to get a really distorted block. Then I thought I would follow the pattern writer's instructions and the block was perfect. So now althought I prefer to press to the side and be able to nest those seams to get great points I do also press open when I know the accuracy of the block will benefit!
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