Modernizing the FWQ: Episode 9

Finishing the Blocks~

Once all 30 blocks were made, I needed to add borders to each block.  Remember that this was my layout which was inspired by Katie's Sampler from the book Vintage Revival Quilts.  She blogs at Swim, Bike, Quilt.

In the book and on her blog, she mentions cutting the border strips a little extra wide and then trimming down the blocks to the size you want. This method works so well on sampler quilts if your scant quarter inch seam isn't perfect.  It really helps for those times when someone turns on her machine and forgets to move the needle one position to the right.  ;)

So I cut all my strips a quarter inch wider and a half inch longer than necessary.  I cut my cornerstones out (4.5 inches square) at the same time.  It used about 14 inches of each fabric to cut these out.  (Some used a little bit less because they only bordered three blocks or I was able to get pieces from the strips left over after making the blocks.)

I was able to do chain piecing and worked on one color at a time.

After the border was on each side, I trimmed it down to 14.5 inches with my 15 inch square ruler.  (I love this ruler!)

There is more waste doing it this way, but I think the accuracy is worth it.

As I was squaring up the blocks I put the trimmings into this quart sized jar.  It was nice keeping the trimmings off of my cutting table.

When I was to the purple layer Cheetah walked in.  I asked him, "Isn't this the prettiest garbage you have ever seen?"

He looked at me like I was a little nuts and said, "What?  Are you putting that on your blog?"

A little while later (now at the blue layer) my husband walked in and said, "Oh, do you want me to throw this away for you?"

I quickly said, "No," as he was already reaching for the jar.

Without missing a beat he said, "Oh, is it going to be a decoration?"  Isn't he the sweetest?  Please tell me I'm not crazy or a hoarder for keeping this.  I am thinking about making the top into a pin cushion, but wonder if I should put it in a smaller pint sized jar instead or if they would look too squished.  :D

Once the blocks were finished with borders I put them up on my design wall and played with the placement... for an hour... or two.  I don't know if you noticed, but there are seven blocks of every color, plus one pink and purple combo, and one blue and green combo.  I am so glad I chose to make the blocks that way.  I like this rainbow layout better than the scattered one in my original drawing.

I totally love how the blocks turned out with the borders and recommend this method for sampler quilts and bee blocks.  It really helps preserve points if your blocks are not all exactly the same size.

My next post will show how it looks with the sashing and cornerstones.  Spacing out the blocks makes a big difference.

Click on the Modernizing the Farmer's Wife link if you have missed any of the episodes in this series.  It will take you to the introductory post with links to every episode.

XX,
Jasmine