Who is more famous – me or Jack?

Observations of the day:

– Some days aren’t meant for sewing and today is one of those days (yesterday was too). I set up the PE770 and it was a disaster. I put it away and started to redo a block that I messed up yesterday. Went to cut on the diagonal for HST’s and discovered, after sewing both of those lines, I had right side/wrong side together. I will master that block…just not today.

– We bought a house for #1 daughter and the grandkids to live in when they move here in June. We are remodeling it and it was our pleasure to have Dustin Mazone (of Hudzone Block fame mentioned in the 2/17/18 observation) out from CA to help. While he was here, I took the opportunity to try and catch up on my block challenges. I only have a couple of more to do to finish the blue one. The following are all 12″ finished blocks.

– This one is called “Lucky Pieces” and it is so so so very easy to do.

BUT the pattern is very visual. For example, part of the instructions read: “Step 2. Lay out your HSTs into the design of the quilt block as shown below.” THEN you sew your HST’s together based on the layout. I know some folks don’t like patterns like that, so I thought I’d give you a head’s up. “Cold Hard Bitch” by Jet was playing when I finished up. I think this was my first block ever not to know Jack and it also came out a perfect 12.5″!

– Speaking of Jack, Hubby came up to visit the other day as I was ripping and I said something about “Jack” while holding up my ripper. Hubby said, “Oh that’s Jack – I always thought you were talking about Jack Daniels!” So, for those who may not know, this is “Jack”:

– Next is the “Sickle Block“.

This was also an easy block and I thought I’d try some fussy cutting with directional fabric. The HST’s called for 6 7/8″ squares so I cut them to 7″ and squared up after. That’s a lot of real estate to try and sew a perfect straight line on, so I went big. As I was sewing along, I was thinking that I was getting pretty good at this piecing stuff. I also often think of what I am going to write while I sew, and wouldn’t you know it, I grabbed the wrong pieces and sewed them incorrectly. This block did know Jack. It ended up to “I heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye.

– Here is the “Dandy” quilt block:

It sewed up nicely and I was talking to #1 daughter on the phone when I finished up.

– Now comes an example of why it is important to read through the directions before cutting. It’s the “Lover’s Star“:

My tendency to “round up” from an odd size cut did not serve me well here. I think I cut the 3 5/16″ squares at 3 ½” and as they were not sewn into a HST, they didn’t get cut down. Since they didn’t get cut down, they were too big when I put everything together and I lost my points. One of the corner squares tried to fool me into sewing it on wrong but was unsuccessful. And another thing! For this block, you put together white and navy squares to make HST’s. The pattern author has you mark on the diagonal of the WHITE fabric. Every other pattern I have seen has you mark on the dark fabric. Mind blown… I was having a good time to “Misled” by Kool and the Gang when this wrapped up.

– I was talking to Hubby when I finished up the “Split Nine Patch” It was a super easy block.

– This is called “Arkansas Cross Roads“. I flipped my 4-patch squares for more contrast between my fabrics so it looks a bit different than the pattern. Garth (Brooks) was singing about the “American Honky-Tonk Bar Association” when I completed this block.

– Here is a block called “Garden of Eden“.

Easy, cute block but I wished I hadn’t used the grey fabric for one of the stripes. There is grey in the floral fabric, but I don’t like it. The really cool thing that was going on during this block was that I was listening to a podcast that was talking about me! Y’all know how I am almost famous and all and now my almost-fame is spreading throughout the land! It was a “Walking Dead” podcast referencing a comment I made on The Walking Dead Ultimate Fans Facebook page about Negan (played by the incredibly yummy Jeffery Dean Morgan) and how I thought he was framed for the deaths of the garbage pail kids (you gotta watch the show!). If you want to hear them say “Jan” several times, you can listen here.

– This is the “Greek Cross” block:

I thought it was going to be a hard block because the author warns, “Measure carefully, cut carefully and sew carefully, and you won’t have any problems”. It was really simple so don’t let something like this scare you off from trying a pattern. I was swaying to “Smooth” by Santana (featuring Rob Thomas) when I was done with this one.

– I was petting Puppylove the other day and he felt kinda stiff. As he lays under my ironing board, I think I may be starching him!

– Here comes the “Hope of Hartford“:

I think black would have made a better background fabric, but I was afraid the block wouldn’t read “blue” enough. However, I am proud of the fact that it required a seam like what’s required for the “Double Aster” block and I did it! And it worked! I may go back and give the old “Double Aster” another try! I was grooving to Prince singing “When Doves Cry” as I finished.

– Have a look at the “Patience Corners” block:

The pattern clearly calls for 3 ½” squares so I promptly cut a zillion 2 ½” squares. I also had a rectangle with fabric put right side/wrong side together (one of my favorite mistakes to make obviously as I do it all the time). I ripped and sewed it only to find that I had sewn in the wrong direction – both times! Jack knew this block, but it was because of my stupid mistakes, not that it was a difficult pattern. Much to Puppylove’s dismay, I was singing “Feel Good Inc.” by the Gorrilaz as this was wrapping up.

– More tales from my bedroom: I have mentioned before that Hubby has been working on #1 daughter’s house. As we were in bed the other night he mentioned that his feet hurt. I asked him where the foot massager was. He replied, “I’m sleeping with her and she’s broken.” And no! I didn’t rub his feet. We have a perfectly good foot massager somewhere that isn’t broken!

– Here is Hubby and Dustin at the Chickamauga Battle Field on one of the few days they didn’t work. Thanks again Dustin! We will miss you!

– As always, I’ll end with a plea for you to help me grow my fame. Share, share, share!