Hi everyone,
You may recall from a previous post that I had sewn the second block of The Loyal Union Sampler from the book by Jennifer Chiaverini. I wasn’t entirely happy with how my Y-seams turned out. A couple of readers suggested that hand sewing Y-seams might give a better finish than machine sewing. I had initially used the templates provided in the book to sew the units and decided this time, not only to sew the Y-seams by hand, but also to make my own foundation paper templates for the block units. Anyway, I hope you agree that my latest version of Abigail’s Swing has improved. It isn’t perfect, just improved. I’m definitely learning new skills along the way and that has to be good!
The third block is also finished. This one is called A House Divided. It was so much easier to sew than Abigail’s Swing.
I’ve also got the fourth block finished which I’ll share with you later. If you’d like a sneak preview, take a look at my sidebar to the right. You should see the Loyal Union Sampler, building as I finish the blocks. This is so much fun! I could get addicted to making these tinies.
I’m quite enjoying foundation paper piecing lately 🙂 In fact, I’m loving it so much that my next gift is made using that method. I can’t show you the full project yet because the intended recipient sometimes reads my ramblings. Here are a couple of photos of my progress. I’ll share the final photos in a future post. I hope you like it.
This one shows the quilting.
There’s a few more small projects on my to-do list at the moment. I’d better get a move on. I hope you are all getting plenty of time to sew this weekend. I’ve had a lot of fun 🙂
Avis x
Oh Sew Tempting 
katechiconi
/ April 5, 2015Close enough to perfect that I’d be contented with it, anyway! How did you make your weeny little sidebar thingy? Brilliant way of logging your progress.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 5, 2015I made an empty quilt in my quilting software EQ7 and put scans of my blocks inside the cells. I think you can do it in a table or spreadsheet as well.
katechiconi
/ April 5, 2015Very clever! I’ve never been tempted to buy EQ because so few of my quilts have been based on complicated or repeated blocks. I would like to do a sampler one day, and perhaps F2F will provide the means…
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 5, 2015I bought it years ago and I use it a lot, especially to check colour placement of fabrics after the design is done. At other times, I just play around with designing. They never amount to much and usually get discarded but the odd one makes it to the cutting table 🙂
gretchenweaver
/ April 5, 2015There is something addicting about foundation paper piecing. Once you’ve got the technique down, it becomes habit forming. After I get my Jane completed, I’m sure I’ll look for other foundation projects to challenge me.
The solids fabrics make your blocks look crisp, I like them.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 5, 2015and they show up all the errors LOL. There’s no hiding with solids but I love them 🙂
Lisa in Port Hope
/ April 5, 2015Solids always are so crisp when sewn into blocks, looks like a great start and enjoy as you go!
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 5, 2015Thank you 🙂
Grace
/ April 5, 2015Love these blocks! I love civil war era blocks and fabrics!
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015Thank you Grace 🙂
Jule
/ April 6, 2015This is going to be great. 🙂 I love the little sidebar quiltlet, too.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015The sidebar isn’t my original idea. Annett from Knettycraft has one for her Dear Jane Quilt too. I’m not sure how she made her version.
knettycraft
/ April 6, 2015🙂 Oh, I took the awkward way because I couldn’t find any usable version and I’m not familiar with EQ7 (it was my birthday present last year in May… but I still didn’t know how it works – I miss someone explain to me how) So I built a table with word, copied it to publisher … the publisher version saved as png = the sidebar version.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015Just play around with EQ and use the help files and tutorials. There are also lots of great videos on Youtube. That’s how I learn anyway. Go fot it Annett 🙂
knettycraft
/ April 6, 2015… I have the handbook too… but things like that always take time…
claire93
/ April 6, 2015oh yes, Abigail’s Swing is looking a lot crisper now! And I love the secret project you’re working on. Gorgeous the way you’ve matched exact colours to fabric for your shadow quilting. It really enhances the geometric shapes.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015The design dictated the quilting style and I really enjoyed doing it 🙂
witchylin
/ April 6, 2015This is looking lovely. Your sampler on the sidebar is a very good idea. Your choice of colours is so “you”. It is going to look fantastic. Paper piecing doesn’t attract me very much. I have done a little but don’t enjoy it very much. However looking at your blocks so far I feel I ought to give it another try, 🙂
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015I can recommend foundation paper piecing but not English paper piecing as I’ve never done that. I’m not keen on the idea of hand stitching patchwork but I might try it one day. I think hand sewing these two seams was quite enough for now 🙂
katechiconi
/ April 8, 2015Now I can recommend EPP, which I find completely addictive, not to mention usefully portable. It does take time, but you can achieve absolute perfection of seam alignment because of the crisp shapes…
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 8, 2015I’ve seen your EPP and I’m very inspired! I need to ask you how to hide the tiny stitches or is it just a case of having matching thread? In fact, I have lots of questions. When I eventually find time to do EPP, I’ll send you a list before I begin LOL.
katechiconi
/ April 8, 2015Matching/blending thread, very small stitches that only pick up a few threads of the fabric you’re stitching, and practice. We’ll have a Q & A session one day, when you’re ready!
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 8, 2015Hmm, I’ll need to build up my thread stash as well? Do I have room for a thread stash? Of course I do!!
katechiconi
/ April 8, 2015I use one thread for it all. If it’s multicolour, I use a blender, something neutral. If it’s mostly one colour, I use a matcher. WWF was all done in dark blue. Hell on the eyes, but effective!
Carole
/ April 6, 2015I love block three, although they’re all lovely.
That sidebar whotsit is brilliant. What fun watching that gradually fill up 🙂
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015Thank you Carole 🙂 Number 4 is my favourite so far. I’ll be showing that one soon.
Occasional Crafter
/ April 6, 2015Those might actually be the neatest blocks I have ever seen! Those top two are spectacular! (Which makes it sound like the bottom ones aren’t, but the top ones are really striking.) They look great in the tones of one colour.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015Really? Oh, now I’m blushing 🙂 The top two are part of a sampler with 121 blocks all 6 inches square when finished. It’s fiddly work but you know all about “tiny” with your gorgeous tatting 🙂
basildonkitchens
/ April 6, 2015I love them all – I love your colour choices too…the solid fabric makes the old-fashioned blocks look modern.
BTW – I nominated you for the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge…I hope you will accept. It is something new for me and I quite enjoy it. See more on this post: https://wordpress.com/post/33520969/4325/
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015Thank you 🙂 I’m not familiar with the challenge you mentioned so I’ll take a look at that now.
knettycraft
/ April 6, 2015In my eyes it is looking quite perfect… can not see any mistakes. Oh and I love the colours of the surprise piece you showed in the snippet 🙂
Oh Sew Tempting
/ April 6, 2015I love the colours too. Thank you Annett 🙂