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Surprisingly, I am keeping up with the Moda BH3. I am not saying it is a miracle (I kind of am), I will say it is a miracle when I have pieced them all. 🙂  Not only am I keeping up with my blocks, I am loving sewing along. I was away on a little quilt retreat…much needed except for that I became awful sick while there. Thankfully, it was pretty short lived. Anyways, I forgot to post my latest block because I was busy overpacking for my retreat. “I never bring enough projects to work on while on retreat” said no quilter EVER. lol So by overpacking, I was not referring to my suitcase.

Week 3’s block is brought to us by Betsy Chutchian. Her block, tips and instructions are available here. I loved making this block. Yes, it was a tiny bit more challenging than the previous week, but very fun and doable. I always find these blocks help me become a better piecer.

Again, starch is my BFF. I always starch my fabric liberally. Typically, I spray them down in the bath tub/shower and hang dry on a drying rack. I allow the fabric to air dry completely and then press with steam. I always have something to do while the fabric is drying. You would be ironing it forever if you pressed while it was soaking wet with starch. I like how the fabric has a stiffness to it after using starch. Makes it easy to handle and starch and steam helps the fabric keep it’s shape while piecing. Accuracy is spot on.  This seems to be a hot button topic every time it is brought up on the BH facebook group. As controversial a topic as to whether to prewash or not.  For reals. Number one concern: Starch may attract insects. I believe this was more common with some older formulas of starch. I have not had this issue as there is no corn or sugar based ingredients in the 99 cent starch I buy at Wal-Mart. If you have not tried starching, I encourage you to. You may like it. Never hurts to try. It is a real game changer, I swear.

 I found this block easiest to piece in sections. And I believe the instruction said to do that. I used my Flying Geese Bloc-Loc ruler as well as the Bloc-Loc ruler for half-square triangles. I do not mind the extra step of trimming my pieces down to the correct size. I chose to press most of my seams to one side so they nested. BUT I am piecing the 12″ block. If I was going with one of the smaller sizes, I would press seams open to reduce bulk.

Week 4’s block is a darling appliquĂ© block brought to us by Jan Patek here. I love to appliquĂ© and prefer to machine appliquĂ© or hand stitch wool appliquĂ©. When I decided to participate with BH3,  I decided to make my quilt without the appliquĂ© blocks…if there were any. I have made several sampler quilts with a combination of both pieced and appliquĂ© blocks, but no samplers with just pieced blocks. So I am going with only pieced blocks. The new blocks always post on Wednesdays and on Fridays, some of the designers may post alternative blocks. I opted to not wait until Friday and made another of week 2’s block, but use different fabrics and change the layout.

I love how it turned out! It looks more like a LeMoyne Star with this layout. I also opted to make Flying Geese instead of HSTs around the center pinwheel. In hindsight, I did not pay attention to the directional fabric placement, but that does not bother me at all. I like the just go with it look. Just changing fabrics and placement gives it a completely different look than my original block!

Still loving my fabric choices as well. I like the soothing color combination. Looking forward to next week’s block!

7 Comments

  • Stephanie says:

    I thought you have never pieced before? That you only are an incredible long arm quilter!

    • Linda says:

      Well thanks Stephanie!! I love to piece…but you’d never know as I don’t make time for like I should. Hopefully, this sew along will help remedy that. 🙂

  • Janet O. says:

    Very nice, precise blocks, Linda.
    So many of my favorite quilters recommend starch, but I have yet to try it.

  • KaHolly says:

    Your blocks look great.

  • Farm Quilter says:

    I'm with you – love starch and the control over the fabric it gives me!! Great looking blocks!!

  • trudie says:

    Question about the 99 starch from Walmart – is it a spray or do you buy a powder and mix it? Thanks

  • P Jarvis says:

    I love these two blocks, especially #3 the color placement is spot on. You're right, I never have under packed my projects for a retreat. You always have these big ideas of sewing the entire contents of your fabric closet. Sigh….. 🙁