Round Robin–Part 2

Every January one of my small groups gets together for a sew day.  There’s always show and tell with projects, sewing machines, and new hair styles, catching up on the latest news and events, food and, of course, the gift exchange where stealing is part of the fun and  I look forward to spending the day with this great group of ladies.

Most of the time a Pass The Bag project is part of the show and tell.  This year, in the glow of the moment, I volunteered to participate.  What was I thinking??

Don’t get me wrong, the level of craftsmanship, materials and group dynamics are great.  It’s my lack of ideas!   I’ve been stumped on both of the last 2 projects.   And, of course, I always plan to complete the project right when I receive it but end up doing it at the last minute.  And now mine is late.  Talk about stressful!

I’ve been agonizing over what to add for my round and last night I finally decided on flying geese to complement the previous round.  I picked out and ironed my fabrics, leaving a mound of discarded fabrics in my wake, and got out my handy-dandy Lazy Girl Designs No Math Flying Geese ruler.

Then I decided I needed to review the instructions and watched the YouTube video only to realize I cut my fabrics out “backwards”; the light color I wanted in the sky was actually going to be the goose.  Darn.  Big sigh.  What do do?  I continued watching the video and realize there’s a chance to salvage what I’ve already started and make half square triangles for use in the half-quarter square block (if that’s the official name for it…I’ll have to find a photo of the block and post it).  Awesome, I’ve got a plan!

I’ve been working on the Rocketeer with my last project, which is about 3/4 completed, but I just cleaned up the Kenmore 158.950  that I’ve had for over 2 months and wanted to give it a go.

The video reminded me that I should draw lines on my light colored squares, and now that I’ve switched my project mid-stream, and I detest drawing those lines, I decided that I needed to use my handy Clearly Perfect Angles cling template to just get on with the sewing.

If you’re unfamiliar with this tool, it’s a static cling with printed lines that you can lay down on the bed of your machine and use to guide your seams without having to draw lines.  I’ve used this template with my dear Pfaff Tiptronic 2030 in the past with no problems, so if you look at the seam allowances on these triangles, don’t hold the results against the template!

The foot controller on the Kenmore was rather touchy and it was hard to control at an even pace, giving me less than perfectly spaced seams; the stitches, however, are wonderful!  I decided to continue anyway, not only so I could get through it, but because there’s always a learning curve when you are on a new-to-you machine.

Fast forward to cutting and trimming the half square triangles, and something tells me that this is still not turning out the way I intended.  They’re way too small for the intended design and I have to fix several of them as well.  So, now I either have to figure out a way to use the triangles in yet another manner or I have to start over.  THIS is why I should schedule my sewing time better!

The project isn’t supposed  to be seen by the final participant until January so I can’t post a photo, but I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What’s your favorite method of creating half square triangles?