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!

Next Year

Hi Everyone,

I've been considering next year.  Do you know how some people have a themed year in their quilts?  Lately, there has been a surge in tackling UFOs.  Some other people concentrate on a special quilt or technique.  I really haven't gotten involved in designating a theme for a year yet, but in 2013 I just may.  I realized that while I don't have many UFOs, I do have many USOs--you know, unstarted objects.  In many cases I may have bought a pattern and even fabric, but never began the project.  I think in the next few weeks, I'm going to rummage through things and see just what I have that I can do.  Why should I be buying more and more things when I have plenty to make?

How about you?  Do you ever have a theme?  What are your 2013 quilt plans?

Have a great day!
JoAnne