Endplay

Part 9

Whoa, Nellie! This is a part to end all parts. A clue of great consequence and substance. It is ten pages long. It is very complicated. There are lots of steps. 

But, this clue contains The Reveal. It is the Final Clue. Bonnie Hunter's brilliance and talent is also revealed. As if we didn't already know how good she is.

The first thing I had to do was cut out a lot of neutral squares. Then I had to cut out some neutral rectangles. Then some blue squares.  

The second thing I had to do was make four blocks (large four-patches, really) using the four-patches from Part 1 and the neutral squares from Part 9 and the HSTs from Part 4 which are now part of the mega-sets from Part 8.

The second step

The third thing I had to do was take the Flying Geese from Part 6 and the Flying Geese from Part 8 and sew them together. Bonnie Hunter cleverly designed this so that the seams would nest when you sew the Flying Geese together. I almost missed it, because I didn't read all of the directions when I made Part 6. I just assumed I knew how to press the seams. Fortunately, it was an easy fix. I just had to press the final seam on each piece in the opposite direction.

The third step

The fourth step involves sewing the four-patches, the Flying Geese, and the pinwheels together into a large nine-patch block. Wow! It looks great. It is amazing how it turned out with all of the aquas, blues, and raspberries matching up so easily. I was so pleased with how nicely all the points turned out and how flat the final block is. There are a few bulky seams, but Bonnie figured out how to keep the bulk to an absolute minimum. I love this star block.

The fourth step

There are several more steps in this final clue. I am not ready to go beyond the fourth step yet. I have to make all of the pieces for Parts 1 through 8 and  have to make quite a few more of these star blocks.

This is the end of the clues, but not even close to the end of my work. There will be more blog posts, but I suspect there will be longer gaps between them. I have had a lot of fun playing with fabric so far.

Playmates

Part 8
This clue has good news and bad news.

The bad news is: More Flying Geese. They will be raspberry, blue, and aqua (RBA, for short).

The good news is: No cutting! We are going to use pieces - but not all of them - from Part 4 (aqua QSTs) and Part 7 (raspberry and blue HSTs) to make RBA Flying Geese.

After sewing the RBA Flying Geese, I combined sets from earlier Parts to make two kinds of mega-sets. 

• Type A has the green Flying Geese from Part 6, and the RBA Flying Geese I just made in Part 8, and the Pinwheels from Part 7, and the HSTs from Part 4. 
• Type B consists of the green Flying Geese from Part 6, and unsewn RBA pieces from Part 4 and Part 7 that match the pieces I used to make RBA Flying Geese, and HSTs from Part 7 (i.e., the unsewn Pinwheel HSTs) and HSTs from Part 4.

It sounds very complicated. It was so complicated I forgot to take photos. But, it really wasn't as hard as it could have been, because the raspberry, blue, and aqua pieces within each mega-set matched! 

All of these pieces played so nicely together! And it's not too late to take photos now. Here are two of my Type A sets:

Double Play

Part 5
All I had to do was some half-square triangles. They are almost the same as the HSTs from Part 3. Easy peasy!

Part 6
Flying Geese. 😩 They are so much work. I always end up having to redo a lot of them. It's hard to keep the three parts aligned in a straight line.

The green fabric is finally making its debut now. It is going to be a "constant" fabric, so there is only one green fabric. I was beginning to wonder when we would use it. The green fabric will be cut into HSTs and combined with the blue QSTs from Part 4.

The blue QSTs are already in sets.That makes it easy to make the Flying Geese in sets.  Each finished set of Flying Geese has to be placed back into the group of pieces those blue QSTs came from. 

Once again, I made good use of the Essential Triangle Tool to cut my wing triangles from green strips. 
 

I had fewer redos[1] than I have had in the past. Maybe I am finally getting the hang of this.

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[1] The Blogger editor doesn’t like redos. I looked it up and the internet thinks redos is the proper plural of redo, although redo's is also acceptable. Note, however, that when redo is a verb, redoes may be appropriate in the case of third-person usage. Note, also, that redo should not have a hyphen.

Even though I didn't have many redos, these pieces took forever. To make things worse, Bonnie slipped Part 6 in as a second part in a single week, so I also had half the expected amount of time to complete this part. I now understand that I am not going to catch up to the live mystery. Oh, well.

On Ringo Lake, Rapid Fire Part 8 - A Distant Shore

The Rapid Fire series continues. Another day, another clue. I have seriously fallen behind now, but I'm going to try to do a little bit of this clue. Link to it here: On Ringo Lake

Today's clue puts the units from Part 1, Part 6, and Part 7 together to form a block. This is a significant clue! As soon as I saw it I realized that I was going to need at least 6 different salmon fabrics for the triangles in Part 7. Otherwise, my blocks will be too similar. The salmon really stands out because the triangles are comparatively large.

At this point my only Part 6 units are made from two different salmon fabrics, and I am out of other salmon fabrics. I am going to have to go shopping. I won't be able to go for a few days, but the roads should be better by then.

Several days later . . . 

I got some more salmon fabrics.

I didn't have time to work on this quilt for a few days after that, but I finally found a little time to cut out some Part 6 triangles from the new fabrics. I recalled that the size was a little different from what I was used to, so I looked over the instructions to refresh my memory.

Unfortunately, I cut the pieces an inch too small and I didn't realize it until I had cut many strips, squares, and triangles. I have wasted all that fabric and I probably will need to make another trip to the fabric store, but I do have enough right now to cut several more triangles.

My Scraps of Shame

What happened? I lost focus and I picked up the wrong ruler and started using it. I think I would have been okay if I had grabbed my wide ruler. I don't want to give away the actual measurements because Bonnie Hunter has asked us not to, so this will be intentionally vague and I won't show photos of the rulers or how I measured.

Also, my brain didn't immediately notice that my strips/squares/triangles were too small because I had not worked on Part 6 for at least 10 days and all the pieces were on another table and I didn't look at them. Ruler stickers probably would have helped avoid this mistake because they might have reminded me where to measure.

It was very time-consuming to make the two blocks pictured here. Issues:

• Some of my flying geese units were not square and I did not realize it until I had sewn them into a row. It would be helpful to check them earlier in the process.
• I laid out the blocks before sewing them to make sure there would be sufficient variety in each block. This made me a little nervous about chain-piecing the units and rows because I didn't want to get my layouts all jumbled up. Does anyone out there have a good method for keeping it all straight while chain-piecing?

I do like the finished blocks quite a bit, and I have learned quite a bit so far, so all's well that ends well.

Lessons Learned:

• Measure, check the directions, measure, check the ruler, then cut out two or three pieces and make test units before you cut all of the pieces.
• If it has been more than a few days since you last worked on your project, repeat the previous step, even if you have already made several of the same unit.
• Time to treat yourself to some ruler stickers.
• Try not to use a ruler with orange tick marks when measuring salmon fabric.

On Ringo Lake, Rapid Fire Part 7 - An Unexpected Sprint to the Finish

Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts tend to follow a predictable pattern. One clue comes out every week, on Friday. This year Bonnie has surprised me by revealing Clue 7 only one day after Clue 6 was revealed. What happened to my "easy week"?

Well, maybe it's not so bad. All I have to do is join Week 2 and Week 5 pieces. (And make most of the Week 5 pieces, and a few more Week 2 pieces.) Love those flying geese.

"Ok, so this looks pretty easy," she said to herself optimistically. There is NO CUTTING, and just ONE easy seam. So, why was it so hard? Why did I have so many do-overs?

Earlier in the day I had set up my machine differently so I could work on a free-motion quilting project. I set it up with the needle plate that came with the machine. This plate allows zig-zag sewing. I didn't really think I'd need it, but as long as I was in there cleaning lint out of the bobbin area, it was a simple thing to switch to the zig-zag plate. I didn't realize I'd be returning to "On Ringo Lake" so soon. 

The zig-zag plate

I was too lazy to go back to the special needle-plate-for-straight-sewing that I use for piecing. I have always had problems with the zig-zag plate when working with small quilt pieces. The fabric tends to get sucked down into the larger needle hole. Guess I thought that problem had magically disappeared. Silly me. After I chain-pieced about 20 sets of flying geese I was forced to admit that I needed to go back to my more reliable needle plate.  

The special plate for quilting

By the way, this is a problem I have never seen mentioned anywhere. When I first encountered it, I called the sewing machine store and someone there suggested that I try the special needle plate. I did and it made a big difference.

I also had problems with the "bump" where the point of the brown triangle touches the seam.

The "bump" - Does it have a technical name?

 And there seemed to be a little slipping at the beginning and end of each seam, as with Part 6. I pinned and tried to be really careful and watched out for the bump but I had a significant number of do-overs. It turned out to be very slow going. Not a sprint. Not even close.

From these . . .

. . .  to these

Lessons Learned:

• Don't take the lazy route. Just change the needle plate already.
• Sometimes you can get great advice at the sewing machine store.
• Flying Geese are hard to make and once made, they're hard to work with. But they look cool.

 

On Ringo Lake, Part Five - Keeping My Feet Wet

I managed to do hardly any quilting this weekend. Just enough to keep my feet wet. It was another week for flying geese in the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. Lots and lots of them. (Here's a link to On Ringo Lake, Week Five.) 

I just started cutting without really thinking. Just mindlessly following the directions as to cutting size. Forgetting that the Simple Folded Corners Ruler had alternate directions. Forgetting that "folded corners = flying geese". Not remembering until I had made a bunch of unacceptable flying geese.

I had used the SFC Oversized Method for week three, which wasn't exactly flying geese, so it took a while for the little light bulb to go on. You have to think about using the Oversized Method BEFORE you start cutting.

So here are some pieces that turned out okay:

"Honk, Honk!" they said

I am sure I will be able to make quite a few more before Friday. 

These large squares will be cut diagonally to make large triangles for the oversized Method.

Is it just my imagination, or does this year's mystery quilt have a lot more pieces than previous Bonnie Hunter mysteries? 

The rest of the story, since Vireya asked:

This is where it was stashed. Bad idea!

It just doesn't want to lie flat any more.

I tried ironing the mat on the lowest setting (before the photo above was taken). It helped somewhat. I need to keep working on it. The worst that can happen is I can ruin the mat, right? 😉 

Lessons Learned:

• Before cutting all the fabric, make a few samples. Or, review all prior instructions carefully. 

On Ringo Lake, Part Three - In Over My Head

I did not quite finish the many pieces mandated for Week Two. I spent way too much time ripping out and re-doing. I had to re-sew 40 to 50% of my pieces because 1) I am a perfectionist, and 2) the pieces were slipping too much when I sewed them.  I tried pinning. It didn't help much. I tried using more pins. That only helped marginally.  I tried pinning more "strategically." I tried adjusting the presser foot. I tried sewing faster and sewing slower.  I don't know why this was so hard for me. The pieces were fairly small, and I think that magnified any discrepancies. Whatever the problem, it was very frustrating.

I told myself I would try another method when I finished using all the pieces I had already cut. I know I didn't have to do that. I could have just stopped using the already-cut pieces. I could have started to cut new pieces using a different method before I had used up all the old pieces. But I did not want to throw out perfectly usable pieces, so I just kept on keeping on.

When I finished up the pieces I had cut in advance, I switched to the Oversized Method. This method is described in the instructions that come with the Simple Folded Corners Ruler.  

This is what the Oversized Method yields, before trimming. I have drawn a blue box to show the trim lines. Notice how forgiving this method is.

Up to this point I had resisted the this method because I thought there would be a lot of wasted fabric. Once I started using the Oversized Method, and I began to understand it, it became clear that this method didn't waste any more fabric than the No Trim/Exact Size Method, which is the other method described in the instructions for the SFC Ruler. (If you really care about not wasting fabric, Bonnie Hunter also describes a no-waste method, using the Essential Triangle Tool, in the instructions for Week Two.)

I think I have found something that really works for me! Not only does the Oversizde Method seem to minimize ripping out seams and re-doing, I am finding that I can use it successfully WITHOUT ANY PINNING. And, as a bonus, it is not necessary to cut the corner pieces with extreme precision because you will be trimming them later. (You should still be fairly careful, but you don't have to be extraordinarily careful.) So I am getting my pieces done much faster.

That's a really good thing because Week Three's pieces also have folded corners, and there are even more pieces this week than last week. Here is your link to Week Three: On Ringo Lake, Part Three

Some of my finished pieces. How will they fit together?

I am also working very carefully with these pieces because I want to make sure I pay attention to the directionality. I am making twelve at a time so I can keep track of things.

Despite the method breakthrough I am still way behind on my Week Three pieces because I spent a lot of time on Friday visiting fabric shops. I needed more melon and neutral fabrics. I did well. I got more of one of the neutral fabrics I had bought as an experiment, and I got several new fabrics which either recently arrived or which I had previously overlooked. Whatever, I am happy! Pretty new fabrics!

I love this one so much I don't know if I can bring myself to cut it

Lessons Learned:

• There may be more than one method to cut and sew a particular piece such as the Flying Geese
• If one method isn't working well, or is a lot of work, keep trying other methods. I tried a total of four methods for Flying Geese.
•  When you have a lot of interruptions, it is helpful to break complicated work down into bite-size pieces.

On Ringo Lake, Part Two - Knee Deep

Flying geese. 😓

I've always had trouble with them. And this week I have to make A LOT of them. I will get through this.  I LOVE Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilts, and I learn so much while working on them. To see what I'm talking about you can follow this link to this year's mystery: On Ringo Lake

This week Bonnie has described three different ways to make the flying geese pieces. I am going to try the  method using the Simple Folded Corners Ruler from Antler Quilt Design. (There's an interesting story here. This ruler was apparently designed by a young man who started a quilting business when he was 14!)

With other methods I have had problems keeping the flying geese "square." (OK, they are really rectangular, not square, but it's easier to talk about them by calling them square. What I mean is that you have four 90-degrees angles on the finished piece.) Bonnie noted that the lines on the SFC ruler are a double-check that her squares are cut the right size and they are square on top of the rectangle. I didn't know what she meant until I started working with the SFC ruler. After A while I came to a piece that I had cut about 1/8" too short. I realized it immediately with the SFC ruler and I avoided a huge problem later on down the line. I also began to see how the ruler helps you to keep your cutting "square" and keep the corner angle just right.

(I deleted two photos of the SFC ruler with pieces of fabric because I didn't want to give away piece sizes.)
 

With other methods, I had many instances of misalignment in my flying geese corner pieces and it is not a good thing. In the past I have ended up with pieces where the corner triangle just doesn't square up with the rectangle. I am still having a problem, but at least I know my pieces are cut correctly.

My problem:

Here is my problem, and I would welcome any suggestions. When I sew the corner triangles onto the rectangles the triangle piece tends to slip and I end up with a less than ideal seam. I would welcome any suggestions on how to address this.

This is what the bottom looks like after the top triangle piece has slipped

Added a couple of hours later:  I should have mentioned that I tried pinning. It didn't seem to help. I have a special 1/4" quilting foot for my Janome and it has a metal piece that sticks out, so you can't sew up close to the pin. You have take the pin out at least 1/2" in front of the needle. This means that on small pieces like this there is nothing to hold onto when the pieces want to slide apart.

Ta da! Some of my finished flying geese.