Blocks From the Past Quilt Along, Blocks 27, 28, and 70

If you read my last post then you saw that I am doing my quilt differently than the book. I've changed my mind on the layout I posted previously but I think I'm really going to like it! And, as a bonus, it will even fit on my bed! I'm still doing larger blocks and all of these are 12 1/2" unfinished rather than 6 1/2". 

The block on page 27, Flock of Geese, was so straight forward, just half square triangles the whole way. 

 I like to make my HSTs a little bigger and trim them down, which isn't fun, but helps SO MUCH especially with small blocks. I recently discovered the Quilt in a Day HST square-up ruler, and it's pretty fantastic. I like to press my HSTs first, then re-fold and trim after to avoid distortion. It works great for me! It's SO MUCH FASTER than trimming all four sides.

Page 28, Birds in the Air, was also fairly easy. I don't love making the HST units with attached triangles, as it was a bit tricky to keep things straight. I lined mine up on my cutting mat and drew a diagonal line to mark the stitching line. It ended up okay. 

Now for page 70, Virginia Reel. I usually don't mind applique, but I'll admit that the ones I did from the book weren't my favorite! I had originally planned to use freezer paper to turn my edges, but decided it just wasn't practical. Even though I enlarged my pattern pieces to make a 12" block instead of 6", some areas are SO SKINNY that just thinking about turning the edges under made me kind of panic. In the end I used fusible web. I zig-zagged around the edges with clear monofilament thread and it made it MUCH less painful. The block will be a bit stiff from the fusible web, but it's done, right? I won't be using any applique blocks in my quilt so I made it in Marion's colors.