When I joined May Britt's little challenge on these blocks I said to her that I joined at half speed if I were allowed, two blocks a month, but so far I have made 2 in 2 weeks and am really enjoying myself :-)
I have redone the purple circle on the block from the other day. It was to not round at all.
I remembered I have a set of mylar washers in a drawer, and with a washer and a light spray of fabric stiffener after gathering the fabric around the washer with a basting thread I got a circle I like.
This week's block is the purple star. I am impressed with myself for making those small dots fairly well ;-) They are 1/4", just a tad bigger than a punch hole. I am not very experienced in applique, and that is my goal for this project, to get more experienced.
How I did the small dots:
I found that I could use one of my washers as a template, drawing the inner circle of the mylar template on freezer paper - much easier for me than drawing a good mini circle by overlay. Then I ironed the freezer paper circle on the wrong side of fabric, cutting the fabric with a scant 1/4" seam allowance. Then a touch of glue stick, folding the seam allowance over. Then I iron the whole thing good, pick the freezer paper out and iron again. The mini dot is ready for applique. I found that it was easiest to use an applique needle for pinning the dot in place and use my thumb nail to hold it down as I applique it to the block.
The main reason I can give my applique blocks more attention is that my DJ swap friend and I have agreed on a break, so this is the last Christmas colour DJ block for now, half the January dose.
I found our first mails on the swapping, which dates back to March 2004. We have swapped autumn colour blocks, summer-sherbet colour blocks and last Christmas colour blocks.
We have not swapped every month through these nearly 3 years, but I have a nice collection of swap blocks to enjoy - it has been very nice.
These are most of the Christmas blocks I have made lately + a couple from my teaching material, to make a nice layout for the photo, hence the doubles.
Hey, my friend, slow down ! You're going to leave me behind you ! LOL
ReplyDeleteYour colors are beautiful !
I'm just working at them, for the moment.
Beautiful blocks, Hanne !
Hugs & smiles,
NADINE.
Good Hanne, I will try to make my small dots the same way. I have three small dots on the block I am doing this evening.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing such a beautiful job on your little blocks. They look like so much fun to do! One hint - if you have an art supply store anywhere close look for a plastic template with lots of different size circles cut out. They are easy to find over here but I dont' know about over there. I just figure out which one is the right size then draw them using the plastic template. Really easy that way!
ReplyDelete1chartfp@comcast.net
I love your blocks they are so cute can't wait to see the next blocks in the challange. Your DJ blocks look great. I like the christmas colors idea.
ReplyDeleteLizzy
I like the applique blocks. Will you continue the DJ ones on your own or put them aside until your and your friend are ready to begin exchanging them again?
ReplyDelete