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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Easy Street Part 3

Hi All,

I was eagerly awaiting the next clue  for Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery, Easy Street, and on Friday morning, there it was!  We were to make 64 of these:
 
I was really hoping to use red fabric this time, but no such luck.  I'm using navy blue for Bonnie's turquoise.  When I realized that these units would be all blue, I considered changing the navy to red, but when I read over my notes, I decided to stick with the navy.

I went into my scraps and found these:


They were 3 1/4" wide and I needed 3 1/2" strips.  Darn!  Never fear, though, I have PLENTY of navy.

So I pulled these and proceeded.  The unit was made again with the Easy Angle.  And we needed sets of right and left background triangles!!!  I remembered my own advice from last week and cut all of my lefts and then all of the rights.  I had some left over from last week, and since they were the same size, I could use them right up, too!


When I got the triangle piece assembled with both the left and right background triangle and a 2" medium blue square, I checked them to see if they were "square".  Can you see the example above is not quite right?  A simple, careful, repressing made it perfect!

 
That's better, now both sides align with the ruler.  Just taking a few seconds to check them can make a big difference.


Next it was fairly simple to layer the large, navy triangle on top of the pieced unit and stitch them together.

Bonnie said to remember that the large triangle is correct, so if there is a problem with the pieced triangle, use the blue for reference.
See how this pieced triangle is a little small?  There is a sliver of navy extending beyond.  Taking Bonnie's advice, I used the blue triangle to guide my quarter inch seam.  The seam of the pieced unit was a little shy, but in the end the block turned out perfect.  I'm pretty good at fudging!

I guess this is the time to share with you another one of my many quirks when piecing "random."  When I do a lot of chain piecing, for some reason I feel like the pieces can't stay in "order."  When I press the units, I restack them and shuffle so they are good and out of order from the first stitching.  We can't have any units getting too friendly with their neighbors!  This is quirky because they aren't in any certain "order" to begin with. 

And this was how they turned out.  I love them--they remind me of chambray shirts tucked into denim jeans.

And I wasn't totally deprived of red.  We also had to cut 4 triangles of red.  Yes, just 4.  I'm speculating that they are for a corner unit later down the road.

 
Did anyone else go "all out" and cut them from 4 different fabrics?  Variety is the spice of life!

I decided to play around with some of the finished units.  Since there are double the number of flying geese as today's units, I figured we could make blocks like this, if we combine the geese into a square.  All it needs is a center.

Of course, no way is this possible since there is NO WAY Bonnie would let us use a simple square for the center, right?  I really like it, though!

 Here is my basket of Easy Street pieces so far.

Is anyone else a fan of the musical Annie?  I loved the movie version with Carol Burnett.  There is actually a song called Easy Street, and it has been going through my head all the time I'm working on this quilt.  Here is a video of the song.  It features Carol, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry.


Have a great day! 
JoAnne

PS:  I'm hoping for some serious red on Friday!

16 comments:

  1. I like the block you've come up with. I never thought to play with them, or see what they might become! lol I was just so dang glad that I've been keeping up with each step this time!

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  2. Love your colors and theme! I think the red is going to be fantastic. I agree on the links I tend to check out; I like some change from everyone else. The only bad part of finishing a step over the weekend is that you have to wait a whole five days for the next step!

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  3. I love your blocks. I'm so excited, how the quilt looks at the end.

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  4. I love your fabric choices,looks great!

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  5. Nice job, getting closer now!
    On the other hand I hate to see it end. :)
    Sharyn in Kalama

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  6. Man you are organized ,,,,,, aqnd playing with the pieces...such fun

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  7. Loving it! I like your guess. :) The Orca Bay I did followed Bonnie's color scheme, they just all look so different depending on your shades.

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  8. Your blues look great and once that red is added it will really pop! I like the layout you came up with--very nice.

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  9. I love the blue/navy combination. I have not even tried to second guess Bonnie ! I am just for once, doing as I am told lol!

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  10. Love your patriotic colours. I am sure more red will be coming along soon.

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  11. Hi, JoAnne. Found your blog; thanks for leaving the address in your comment. Love your blue colorway for this quilt. I plan to cut my four large triangles from different fabrics like you did, but haven't gotten them cut out yet...was waiting, well, for nothing in particular. I'll be following, soon as I find the button. Lane

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  12. Bonnie must be laughing at us as we second guess her Mystery!

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  13. How delightful... love the block you came up with... do you think the four patch could fit in there? I have been playing with the lay out with only the Brave WORLD blocks... have not tried to make blocks form the patches. I am still behind because I have not made the 4patch I skipped that color cause not sure about my fabric choice... so delay.

    Delay should be my middle name.

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  14. Your blue units look fabulous! I'd love to make a quilt in all blues, but blue is the colour I have least of. I need to do some serious stash enhancement in the New Year!

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  15. How delightful... love the block you came up with... do you think the four patch could fit in there? I have been playing with the lay out with only the Brave WORLD blocks... have not tried to make blocks form the patches. I am still behind because I have not made the 4patch I skipped that color cause not sure about my fabric choice... so delay.

    Delay should be my middle name.

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  16. Hi JoAnne, I just found your blog through the schnibbles parade. I LOVE you're doing the easy street quilt in red white blue and beige. I haven't begun easy street, but have printed the instructions out and was thinking I would like to do it in the same colours you have chosen. It looks great. Red white and blue are not the national colours of Australia, that's green and gold, but they are the colours if our flag. I read your about me page. I too am a farmers daughter who wasn't keen on marrying a farmer, for the same reasons of relying on weather and prices, but married a farmers son! We are both teachers and have ended up moving to my hometown in South Australia, where my Dad and brother farm our family farm about 7 miles out of town.

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