Building Block Quilt Along Update

Whew! It has been one busy day here. Got out first thing this morning and got the stalls cleaned in the barn. Hubby went in to work a little after 3:00 a.m. and the last thing I wanted him coming home to do was the mucking. He'll still have to put down more sawdust in the stalls for the horses and fill their water buckets but that won't take him long or require much energy.

Matching 9 patch to sashing.

When I got in from doing the mucking (and a little loving on the horses) I had to get started making my blocks for this months BBQA. Leah Day has chosen a wonderful 9 patch block for this month. I got my fabrics ready and started the rotary cutting. I have found that what Bonnie Hunter taught us in the Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt to be very true. When you use your rotary cutter and ruler make sure you line up the ruler with the marks laying just to the right of  the edge of the fabric, not right on the fabrics edge. You short your measurement if you put your ruler right down the edge of the fabric and it can cause your block measurement to be off. Over the course of making this 9 patch block the couple of threads that not doing that could have caused my blocks to be off as much as 1/16 of an inch. Doesn't seem like a lot but over the course of making a quilt it can be a lot!

I

Ruler markings just to right of edge of fabric.

When sewing the strips together I did not pin. I have found that pinning distorts the fabric and I end up with curvy strips instead of straight ones. I simply match up two ends of the strips, lift my presser foot slightly, and put the matched up edges under the foot. Then as I'm sewing I GENTLY lay the top strip on the bottom one and ease them together with the edges matching. I had always had problems with the edges being wonky until I quit manhandling the strips and started handling them like they were bias strips. 

The next thing I do is when I'm sewing the sashing around the 9 patch is to put the sashing on the bottom and gently match up the 9 patch as I'm sewing. This prevents me from distorting the block by pulling on it or having pins cause the fabric to stretch and pull out of shape. It also lets me make sure my seams are staying pressed open as I sew over them, they don't get caught on the machine bed or plate and scrunch up. You can see in the pic above.

I have also come to agree with Leah Day and Bonnie Hunter that you finger press, finger press, finger press! I what works best for me is to gently finger press on my sewing tables hard surface first. Once I'm ready to go to the ironing board I iron an area on it to heat it up good first, put my block on it and gently finger press again. The heat from the warm ironing board really helps get those seams opened up. Once I've done that then and only then do I put my iron down gently on the seam. Remember, we are pressing here...no moving the iron around to distort your block!

The following pic is of my finished blocks for the BBQA for  the month of February. Hope you've had a great productive day!