Going A Little Crazy

Oh, yes, today was a Jane day! The last two weeks I have been deliberately choosing to do some of the more simple blocks, but today I tackled the two hard ones I had at the end of Row D - I was up for a challenge!I've been avoiding D-11 for a while, not wanting to figure out how in the world to piece all those angles, and then having to applique those little diamonds... But after working on all those Y-seams this week I was ready to tackle this little beauty. I traced the basic block on a piece of freezer paper, the cut it out into the individual pieces. I then ironed all the pieces onto the correct fabrics and cut them out using an accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance. I started from the center and carefully matched all the corners, ending up with a perfect block (hurrah!). I used freezer paper for my applique templates as well. A couple of them aren't quite as straight as I'd like, but they'll do!
Next was D-12. I thought at first that I would applique the squares on, but then decided that I would try to piece them in. I traced each quarter section on freezer paper and ironed them onto the white fabric. I then cut diagonally to the corner of the stitching line for the blue square and cut an accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance. I stitched from the outside of the block to the inside corner, stopping at the corner with my needle down. I then folded the white under until I could pivot and stitch the next side of the square. This resulted in a neat corner on my blue squares, so I was ready to stitch the blue triangles by using a paper piecing technique. I then trimmed the squares up to the perfect size I needed and added the little sashing strips. I was really pleased with the results on this one!


To round out the day I decided to go ahead and do one of the applique blocks. This is E-1, just 4 football shapes on a blue background. I used freezer paper for the appliques, and pressed diagonal lines on the background so I could place them neatly. It came out just right!

Yeah, three more blocks done. I need to get organized and figure out how many more to go. Or maybe I should just have fun and keep making blocks until I'm a little closer - I might not want to know! I'm excited to get this huge project finished, but I know it'll be a long process. But that's part of the fun, right?

Maybe it's because I'm just a little crazy!

Pamela