Oma's Blues: Making the BB1 Blocks

This is how I'm making the BB1 block. I've opted to piece, however you could also applique this block if you wanted to. For myself, I think piecing is faster and I did get through my 30x blocks in a day, which worked for me.

First up, is the always difficult choice of selecting fabrics. It should be easier when you have a two colour quilt like Oma, but believe me - I still ummmed and ahhhed for many hours before deciding on my final choice. These blocks make up a border which, in my mind, looks like an abstract vision of Delft stacked plates and dishware.

After fabric selection comes organised, scheduled preparation. I cannot stress enough how important it is to break up your task into segments of work. If I had attempted to make 30x blocks from scratch all in one day, it would have been too much to get through. I find it much easier to constantly 'prep' work and tuck it into envelopes to return to later. This is a great activity to do when I only have an hour or so free and it means that at some later time my work will come together 'quickly'. Well, it will look quick, but really there will be many little hours of preparation that have all come together.

pay careful attention to the curve as you stitch, it needs to be accurately and evenly stitched

 

I'm using Polyfuse which is a wash away fusible because it makes my work process faster and this means I don't have to remove the paper. Another advantage is that the fusible adds some stability to the fabric and this actually makes neat stitching easier than sewing without it.

Before sewing the second half, I'm pressing the seams away from any white area of fabric (because it will show through the white!). I do this throughout my work, if I left it all until the end I would probably never get around to doing it. When the blocks are completed, I will iron these folds into position, however this step now makes that process much faster when I am at the ironing board. Spotting seams of fabric show through which or light patches is a real annoyance of mine. As this quilt contains a light white background and many dark blues, I'm especially wary of keeping my blocks 'neat'. 

Before moving on, check seam lines. They must be neat and accurate. When they're not, I unpick and then re-sew them. Yes, this even happens to me. Don't hesitate to correct your work at the block stage, there's nothing worse that spotting these careless mistakes when the whole quilt top is completed.

Only when I am completely satisfied and my seams are flattened correctly, do I start with finishing the block

When the block is complete, I stack it to maintain the turned seams ready for ironing and final trimming later. I will trim my blocks down to size altogether at the end before sewing the border together.

Oma's Blues is my current FREE BOM. 

You can still join this free BOM right now - all parts are available over in my Group.