Victory Quilt

I started this with a post back in August.

I am going to show all the the blocks I have made and will try to keep this updating as I go along.

First, I'd like to mention that making the blocks is much fun. MOST of them are coming together exactly to size and the one, the only one so far, that didn't is still up in the air as to why. I'll get to that later.
Also, I am not listing them in any order, just however they appear when I UL the image to blogger.

But here is the "Radio Windmill"

I had to unsew and resew the center twice to get the points to meet. They are not perfect. There is a lot of bias going on in the block. Now, interestingly, EB says this one is a Beginner block and I would have to disagree. It isn't difficult but that bias stretch makes it a tad more challenging to join up than straight, simple on-weave piecing.

"Fala", how cute is he?

The first block in the book is "Roosevelt's Necktie" and I didn't find it interesting at all. (There's another one of the 20 featured in the book that I will give a pass on as well. You'll have to read on to find out which that might be.) So I decided I'd start by doing the applique Fala. There's a little piecing but it's mostly applique. And he is NOT finished at this time. There is a little more embellishment to do on him before he's complete. But I like him. He was fun.
"Comfort Quilt" - Easy

This SHOULD be level easy. It is. Very. and I like the simplicity. Teresa Varnes' large version of this quilt using the block repeatedly with echoing sashing is super. That's in the book.

BTW, it's a terrific book for ANYONE who is keen to try a "Block of the Month" but doesn't want to join a shop's offering. I work at a shop that has several wonderful BOMs every year and I usually take part in at least one but this is a solo BOM. I am making it at my own speed and if I choose to put it away and focus attention elsewhere, I know it's there waiting for my return.

Okay, Back to work.... "Stars and Stripes"

When I made this yesterday, I found that the center, the stripes, measured out 1/2" too long and I fretted over where I went wrong. I found another blogger, Lillian's Cupboard, who has completed the whole quilt and the back is a work of art. Go Look and scroll down. The Cupboard is a fun blog, great looking recipes and instruction. Give it shot!

Anyway, upon rereading the instructions, I see EB has this covered.... if the block measures more than 4 1/2" wide, trim the excess. Right, try to remember that in the future, CT.

Now it comes together exceedingly well. BUT I don't like how anemic my block turned out, and until I get all the blocks finished, I will not remake it. It might turn out to be exactly what the quilt needs when I start to lay it out. (hey, a girl can dream)

"Star Spangled Banner"

This one is not finished either. The solid bits will each have an appliqued 4 point star, hence the "star" part of the title. But I am waiting for a new product to arrive in the shop. It's a spray-on version of steam-a-seam, 606, and I am keep to give it a go.

"Sky Rocket"

This one was fun; although it looks complicated, it came together brilliantly. It's categorized as a 3 Star difficulty level and I don't get that at all. Go figure.

"Silent Star"

Eleanor Burns version had green outer corners and my quilt will have NO green at all. I think the yellow stars work well, I love the name of this one.

"Signal Lights"

I love the way it turned out but alas, it's 1/2" too small. This one must be remade and that has to wait til the last block is complete. I don't know what fabrics I will have left and that brings me to this paragraph:

Lessons learned:
1. READ the instructions!
2. UNDERSTAND the instructions.
3. BUY FABRIC YOU WANT TO HAVE ON HAND when you need it as soon as you see it! When I started collecting the fabric for this quilt MONTHS ago , I wanted to use a super great red stripe and that dark blue with stars as the outer border swags. That was going to be months away, but we had so much on the bolts I thought, heck I'll get that another day. WRONG! Epic fail on my part. I went to the shelf last week to take off 2 yards and the BOLT was gone. poof.
Tracking it down on the internet took hours, no exaggeration, and I did get 2.5 yards ordered. But I was starting to sweat.

I'm fairly certain that list will grow as I proceed to the end.