Easy Street Journey Complete (Except for Borders)

Hi Everyone!

Goodness, I have been a very bad blogger lately.  My parents were here and so we spent time having fun and otherwise "larking about" (or at least bird-watching, ha ha) while they visited.  I very immediately "hit the road" on Easy Street after they left, though.

When I read Bonnie's directions I got a bit uneasy when she said that there may be problems with the seam allowances not going in the right direction to nestle.  That really makes me unhappy, but the great news was that it wasn't that bad.  I had to clip and repress a few here and there, but nothing like I feared.

I arranged both block types on my design wall and analyzed how I wanted to go about constructing them.  Both looked to me like a framed 9-patch, so that was how I made them.  I began by carefully choosing the 9 "patches" for each.  I didn't want any obvious star points or squares to be the same.

Here are my Block A's with the center 9-patches complete.  I didn't want any of the navy triangles, the red squares, or the medium blue squares to be doubled--I wanted as much variety as possible.

Next, I prepared the "framing" pieces:

Next I used the framing pieces and the four-patches in the corners to frame the 9-patch to complete the blocks.

 I repeated the process for the B blocks, but I don't have any photos of them or the setting triangles under construction.  I do have this picture of my design wall, though.

Can I just add a comment here?  What is it about turning blocks 45 degrees (on point) that makes everything so darn confusing??!!!  Ugh!  I did the blocks first and then worked on the setting triangles.  The 4 small ones were easy enough, but the larger ones were more complicated.  No chain-piecing for me--I made all 12 individually so I wouldn't mix anything up.

Are you waiting for the big reveal?  I know I was.  It was about the only thing keeping me focused.  That and the Monday Link-up deadline!

Ta Da!!!  Here it is, sans borders, though, as I don't have anything yet.  I'm not even sure of my border plan.  With this coming out as a square, I am tempted to enlarge it for a king-sized quilt, but still have no idea how to proceed.

 

As you can see, we still don't have any snow here in Virginia.  Can you tell how I "hung" this?

 

We have this "structure" in the back garden.  Laying across the middle are a bunch of lengths of bamboo that my husband trimmed in the summer.  I got the idea that maybe I could attach the quilt to a piece of it and then lay it across the top of the framework for a picture.

 

I used some of my husband's woodworking clamps.  They worked great!  And I carried it outside to the back yard.

After I photographed it, I stood back to admire it.  And then I saw it!!!  Can you find it??  A mistake!

 

Here at the top edge--one measly 4-patch is turned the wrong way.  At least it is at the edge and so easy to fix.  I did toy with the idea of leaving it as a quirk, but then decided not to. 

 

With just a bit of ripping, pressing, and stitching, it was fixed in no time.  And I photographed the quilt again just so it would be correct.

 



Much better!

 
Bonnies Quilt!

I love how mine came out, but I would like to take a minute to discuss fabric choices for a bit--in particular, value.  Early on, Bonnie mentioned that someone asked her about changing the colors and if value would make a difference.  She thought that in a scrap quilt, value wasn't as important.  I tend to agree for the most part.  When I assigned my new colors, I did so by comparing the yardage amounts.  The largest amount of fabric that Bonnie approximated (aside from backgrounds) was the lime green.  So I used red.  The next amount was for the turquoise--I wanted more navy blue than medium blue, so I assigned navy for turquoise and then medium blue for Bonnie's purple.  What I didn't realize or maybe even notice, was that her purples were much darker than the turquoise.  In retrospect, I wish I had switched navy and medium blue.  As you can see in the photos above, my star blocks (the centers of the B block) are MUCH heavier, visually, than Bonnie's.  Also, the A block (which I refer to as the arrow block as it looks to me like crossed arrows or something,) has less distinct arrows in mine.  Over all, I like them both, but I think that Bonnie's has a bit "lacier" feel to it and mine is more "blocky."  I  think mine looks like a wonderful mosaic tile floor or something and again, I love it, but I may have switched my colors if I had realized the difference. 

For now, though, it is done--in one large piece, until I decide how to border it.  I'm so excited for tomorrow's linkup  to see how everyone is progressing!

Have a great day!
JoAnne

Easy Street Part 5

Hi Everyone,

I was looking forward to the next clue that Bonnie would be releasing Friday morning for her mystery Easy Street and it was there when I woke up early that morning!  She said that there would be no more flying geese!  I wouldn't mind any more, as the technique is pretty speedy for me, but variety is nice, too.

So, we were to cut 64 3.5" squares and 128 2" squares.  For my color way it was still working with navy and medium blue!  Luckily I really like the combination but it will be fun to start adding the red into the mix!  So I cut the 2" squares from my medium blues--I think I've been exclusively using 2" strips from this color, so it was easy to pull out leftovers and to cut more.  I'm hoping there won't be much more from this color family as it is starting to get a bit skimpy.  Then I needed to cut 3.5" squares from navy, and again I wanted LOTS of variety, so I pulled navy blues that I haven't yet used and I only cut two squares from each fabric.

Bonnie said she has never used the unit we were to make in a mystery before.  I may have made some of these in the past, but I don't remember specifics.  We were to draw a line diagonally across the small square and do the "stitch and flip" technique of adding triangles onto squares.

There are lots of different ways to do that technique including ways to avoid drawing the line by using the Angler 2 or other ways, but I decided that I wanted the accuracy of drawing the line, so that is what I did.

 

I'm guessing that many of you know that it makes life easier to put the pieces on some sandpaper so they don't slip.  I made this "board" out of a heavy peice of cardboard with two sheets of fine-grade sandpaper taped on it.  I've had it for years and love it for projects like this.

 

 

You can move the ruler  and draw the lines without the pieces shifting all around.

Once the lines were all drawn, we put one square on top of the larger square, matching a corner and stitching right next to the line--not right on top. 

 

Then the square is pressed over into the corner, so that the unit looks like the above photo.  If your small piece lines up perfectly with the navy square, the corner of the navy square and the "waste" of the medium blue can both be trimmed away.  If it isn't quite perfect, just trim the medium blue bit and leave the navy square intact so that you have an accurate 3.5" square when you are finished.

Next, we did the same thing in an ADJACENT corner.  I'm remembering that for a recent Schnibble-- the Xs and Os one, we used this technique in opposite corners.  If you do all corners, you will have a snowball, or square in a square block.  But we are making these "house" units.

 

Sew on the edge of the line and then press to the corner and trim away the seam allowance.

 

 

 

They really make a nice house-shape, or fat flying geese, etc.

Since Friday was my day to get laundry done and packed and the car loaded to leave early Saturday, I gave myself until noon to get as many done as I could.  I ended up finishing them all before 11 AM.

 

All done!

I want to wish you all a very, Merry Christmas!
JoAnne

Easy Street Part 4

Hi All,

Friday morning Bonnie released the next step in Easy Street.  More flying geese and some cutting.  The geese were easy enough, it was the cutting that took the most time for me.

Friday morning it also became abundantly clear to me that my cell phone was on its last leg and I should get a new one before the old one died and I lost stuff.  I got one Friday night and it has been a frustrating weekend for technology, believe me!  We even had to stop back in the cell phone store today to get some questions answered.  It is mostly my own fault--if I had just got the newer version of my old phone, it would have been pretty easy, but nooo, I had to switch phone brands, systems, etc.  Ugh.  Anyway, it is my own fault and I should be functioning more or less back to normal soon.  (I hope.)  What is it about getting a new "smart phone" that makes me feel so dumb?  When you factor in the fact that my home email wasn't working all weekend, too, it just hasn't been a technology-friendly few days.

Luckily I could escape to the quilting room where everything was normal and intuitive!!  I began by cutting the pieces for the flying geese.  I had leftovers from before, both cut and in strips, so that didn't take too long.  I was a bit nervous though with my color selections.  More blue and blue units.

I'm trusting my choices though and am reminding myself that it will turn out to be sensational!  I like these units.  They look like chevrons or little arrowheads!

The cutting involved red fabric.  I'm also working on and off on a quilt for our new king-sized bed and for it I also needed a big variety of red.  Bonnie said to use as much as possible, so I decided to go through my red bin and cut as much fabric as possible. 

It worked out really neat to cut for both projects at the same time.  For the king quilt, I needed 7" and 4" squares.  For Easy Street I needed 145 3.5" squares.  This is what I did.

I got out the pieces of fabric (mostly fat quarters to half yards and smaller "chunks.")  I pressed them and layer 4 pieces at a time.  Here you can maybe make out the four different fabrics.

 

I straightened the edge and then cut a 7" strip.  The width of the fabrics is about 18" plus or minus an inch here or there.

 

So that gave me a strip 7" x 18" (or thereabouts)

 

So I turned the strip and cut two 7" squares.  Seven twice is 14", so that left a chunk left over that is 7" x around 4"

 

 

I trimmed that chunk to 3.5"  Now it is 7" x 3.5"

 

 

Then I cut it in half, giving me two 3.5" squares for Easy Street!  No waste!  I LOVE THIS!

 

 

Next I cut a 4" strip off my layered pieces and subcut into the 4" squares that I also need for the king quilt.

I was able to cut for two quilts in roughly the same time as it takes to cut for one!   I got out 70-75 different fabrics, pressed them, cut the pieces, and folded up the rest of the fabrics and put them away, and I only had to do it once for both projects.  I only cut two squares from each fabric for Easy Street, so I will really have a variety!

Boy this next step is the one that hope is easiest!  We are leaving Saturday morning for Christmas and won't be back til the following Friday, so I have to get the next step done on the same day so I can link up next week! 

Have a great day everyone!
JoAnne

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!

Easy Street Part 2

Hi Everyone!

If you are checking back for my Easy Street update, welcome back!  If you are here for the first time, I hope you enjoy my blog.  For all my regular reader friends, I'm so glad we are friends!

The next step in our mystery is to make flying geese.  I love flying geese!!  First up, fabric.  Bonnie was using purple this time.  Her purple equals my...

 

Medium Blue

 

 

We were to make flying geese with the purple/medium blue as the "goose" and our background as the "sky" units.  Bonnie's geese technique involves using the Easy Angle and Companion Angle to cut both pieces from 2" strips.  I had never tried this technique for making geese and I found it very effective.  I love that you can cut it all from the same size strips.   Bonnie has a great tutorial and video in her Easy Street Part 2 blog post.  If you are interested, click on the Easy Street photo to the right.

 

If you haven't yet started this step, here is an important tip:  Don't layer the two different sky units together!  Keep them in separate piles!!!  Good grief, I feel like I spent way more time peeling them apart than sewing.  It was really driving me nuts. 

 

When I sew geese units, I always prefer to start from the "peak" point and work down to the skinny bottom angle.  The first sky units are easy, you just match them and sew.

 

 



After pressing, when I sew on the left sky triange, I will match it up...

 

 

...flip it over...

...and then sew.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that if I start sewing at the skinny point, it sometimes likes to get caught up in the machine.  That isn't good.

I thought the units went together great.  I didn't have any problem, except for the "unpeeling" of the sky triangles.  In case you don't know what I mean, Bonnie instructed us to layer two strips right sides together and use the ruler to cut both at the same time so you have one triange and then the mirror image for the other side--in this technique you have a '"left sky unit" and a "right sky unit."  If I did it again, I would use half the strips face up and cut and then use the other half of my strips face down to cut the reverse piece.  Then I would have piles of "rights" and "lefts."  The piecing would go so much faster. 

Remember last week when I shared some of my "tedium relieving" quirks?  With these geese I employed another one:  the reward system.  The reward system  involves some sort of small treat, Wheat Thin crackers maybe, or M&Ms.  This time it was the crackers.  Once I achieve a certain goal, like sewing the first triangle on my target amount (50 or more,) I can have a cracker.  Once those 50 are pressed, I get another cracker, etc.  Another fun "treat" is a sip of wine.  After awhile you don't notice the tedium any more!  In fact, you don't notice if you are sewing correctly or not!  Neither do you care!  (Until the next day.)  That's why I don't use that reward too often.

Anyway, once both sky pieces were stitched, and the dog-ears clipped off, I had a nice pile of flying geese:

I'm loving the colors!  Oh, and I can't forget to show the rectangles.  One more set of instructions said to cut 64 2" x 3.5" rectangles for a later step.  I easily got those cut while doing the "sky" triangles.

I have one more thing to share.  This weekend I finally got my husband to work on putting out the outside Christmas decorations.  It isn't that he wasn't willing until now, it was that he has been getting home so late from work every evening.  We joked that he hadn't seen the house in the daylight since last weekend, and it was true!  Anyway, you know how some people have those light-up deer for their yard?  We have moose.  Three of them.  One of them we got on clearance the last Christmas before we went to Hawaii.  The moose and most of the decorations stayed on the mainland in storage, so we hadn't used this moose yet.

This moose came out of that box.  Can you believe it?  My husband got it out and put it all together.  I'm impressed, but I'll be more impressed in January if he can fit it back into the box.  I'm guessing that he will, but it will be fun to watch.  Do you know how most people are good at a lot of things, but there is usually something people are really good at?  For my husband, it is folding things to fit into small containers.  He excels at packing (I think it comes from having to pack Army gear all of the time) and especially at putting things back in their original packaging.  As a military family, we save all the original boxes for most of our stuff: TVs, mixer, collectible figurines, microwave, even the shop vac has it's original box!  (All those boxes fill a good part of the attic.  We joke that we are going to have one big bonfire when we finally settle somewhere!) 

I hope you all have a great day!
JoAnne

Easy Street Part 1

Hi Everyone!

I should have called this post "Easy Street Part 1 With Emphasis on the Street," as we spent this past week traveling.  We got home late Saturday night, so today (Sunday) besides unpacking, doing laundry, buying groceries, organizing the pantry (because when I tried to put the groceries away, I couldn't take the disorder any longer,) and sleeping, I needed to tackle Part 1 of Easy Street so I could blog about it and be able to share on Monday (tomorrow.)

I am not doing the same color scheme as Bonnie.  I don't have very many of those colors in my stash, so I'm falling back on my usual color scheme.  I did the same for Roll Roll Cotton Bole, and it came out great, so I think this one will, too.  Oh, by the way, Easy Street is the new mystery which Bonnie Hunter does every year around this time.  I did RRCB two years ago, though I had to start late, and I didn't do Orca Bay last year.  When I lived in Hawaii, I always had lots of company this time of year, so it was difficult to do. 

So the first step was to use the constant fabric (Bonnie-Grey, me-gold) and your backgrounds (Bonnie-white and black, me-cream on cream) to make four patches from 2" strips.  192 four-patches.  Luckily, this was a pretty easy step, and I was able to get them done quickly.

                                      Here are the fabrics that I am using for this step.

 

First step:  Make strip sets and subcut into 2" sections

 

 

Toss the sections (onesies) into a basket

Bonnie said that when making the 4-patch blocks lead with the dark on top so that all the blocks will be the same.

 

Press with the "pinwheel" fanned center

 

 

How do you do your random, many-unit sewing?  I have my own quirks, which I thought I would share with you.  First I have all the units in a basket or other container (if there are a lot of units in a block, like a 25 patch block, I will cut off the bottom section of a paper bag and use it--numbered to keep me straight)  In this case, the units are the same and can all go in one basket.

 

 



 

I keep the basket right next to the machine.

Next I reach into the basket with both hands and grab a handful and put each pile on my lap, so that there are two piles.  I grab one unit from each pile, position them correctly, and chain it through the machine.

 

My goal is to have the two piles work out exactly.  Sometimes it does!  If it doesn't, my second desire is to at least have an even amount, so that I can use up all the units without getting an additional one out of the basket.  (See, quirky!  But wait, there's more!)

 

Early on, I like to set a few units off to the side.  None of them are identical.  This way if I get to the end and am short some units, I can make more with only one additional strip set and not have both units the same.  That is the goal, by the way.  I want both the background squares in each 4-patch to be different.

 

 

The other thing that I do while doing large amounts of units is that I like to break it up.  I won't sew all 192 and then press them all, I like to work in batches of about 50.  I say "about" because I don't count.  That is another "game" I play to keep the boring, repetitive sewing more "interesting."  I don't count, but in this case my goal was 50 units.  I sew until I think I have 50 and then I go press.  It is like the opposite of the show "The Price is Right" where the "winner" is the person who guesses closest to the actual price without going over.  My target is to get as close to 50 without being under.  The first time I did a batch, I stopped at 61.  The second time it was 55.  That was the best batch since it was closer to 50, but still over.  See, I told you I have quirks!  But hey, it amuses me and helps to power through the repetition!

In the end, I have 192 4-patches.  I'm ready for the next step!

JoAnne

PS:  I ran into the Photo Issue where Blogger says your storage is over your limit.  Luckily I found out that if you use Google+, that fixes it.  The "fix" is that you have to upload your photos into an album in Google+ and then you can add them to your blog entry from there.  What a clunky pain!  Now I have to do another step to write a blog!  Anyone have any other free solutions?