That Quarter Inch Seam

So last week feeling the need to do some piecing I decided to make a Log Cabin quilt.  This seemed like an easy project that would not take much thought.

Now I was under the impression I could stitch an accurate quarter inch seam.  Boy was I surprised when I started pressing my blocks.  They all looked like they were swaying in and out.

I used the log cabin die for my Go cutter so I couldn’t blame the crooked sections on my cutting.

I kept stitching and stitching going slower and slower.  I tried using a guide but that only made  things worse.  After about 100 eight and one half inch blocks I got a little better, not perfect but good enough.

I am making this zig zag quilt to fit a queen sized bed.  With 100 blocks sewn it turns out to be 80 inches square.  Since I don’t have anymore of the colored fabric  I was considering adding a border of some sort.
Any suggestions on how to do this without it looking like I just stuck on a border  to make the quilt larger?

Ohio Collection and other blocks

 It’s Friday and time for an update on my Ohio Collection progress.

I stitched three blocks this week.  The lamb, the basket and this great rooster.  Once again thanks Karen for sending me the drawings for these blocks.  They add so much to my quilt.  It’s getting close to the time I need to start trying to figure out how all of these blocks are going to go together to make a quilt.
Hop over to visit Lori, Cathy, LuAnn and Karen for a Friday update on their blocks.

I am also up to date with my Chester Criswell  blocks.. There are only two more blocks left in this three year journey.

This is my latest Benjamin Biggs block.

Until next time,

Nancy

Ohio Collection Update

I have finished a few more blocks for the Ohio Collection quilt.

First my new eagle block.  I like this one so much more than the previous one.  It just seems to fit in  the quilt better.

The Oak Leaf and Reel block.

Old Tom is not in the Anita Shackelford pattern but it is in one of the original quilts.  Karen drew the pattern and was nice enough to send me a copy.  I still need to embroider his nose and eyes.

The shoe block is just too cute and so unusual.  I think this type of block just adds so much to the quilt.

I think there are five sewing along now.   Karen, Lori, Cathy, LuAnn and Me.

Until next time,

Nancy

Ohio Collection

Ohio Collection has been in my library for a while but I never thought I would actually make the quilt because of the Eagle pattern.  It looked really difficult and I didn’t especially like it or think it looked quite right in this quilt.  After reading  on Karen’s blog Log Cabin Quilter that she and Lori from Humble Quilts were making this quilt I wrote Karen and she said they were going to change the eagle - duh! - Wonder why I never thought of doing this.

I have stitched most of the pieced blocks and am pretty happy with them except for the yellow fabric.  It’s more yellow than it appears in the picture.  I’m thinking more of a cheddar color fabric would have looked better.  It could changed  but I just can’t see myself making another one of those spiked circle blocks.  I was really rather surprised I  could make it the first time and don’t want to push my luck.

Four of the appliqué blocks stitched and now I need to decide what  to do about that eagle block.

I started  going through all of my books on antique quilts and discovered several with eagles.

Funny thing while looking through "The American Quilt" book I found two quilts with eagles that  look like they were made from patterns from my EQ7.

This one is named Eagle, c1850-1875 from northeastern Ohio 

This one is also called Eagles and is dated around 1926 made by Sarah Risser in Pennsylvania.

This block is prepped  from a combination of patterns from EQ7 and I was surprised to see how much it  looks like the eagles in the previous quilt.

I will have to find another use for it because it is just not what I want for this quilt.

I did find a picture of an Eagle in this book I really like and now I  need to figure out a way to get it to the correct size .
Until next time!
Nancy