A Prairie Gathering Quilt of the Quarter ~ Month Four

Welcome to Month Four of A Prairie Gathering Quilt of the Quarter!  Boy, these months are passing by so quickly....too quickly!  This month we begin a new quarter which means there is another historic story coming your way, and the subject this time is how nineteenth century women's contributions to many, many Soldier's Aid Societies made a lasting change, and helped untold soldiers in their time of need.  It was so fun doing the research for this story, and I hope you enjoy it.  Twenty First century women still bring aid and comfort to all of the folks in our Armed Services!  Awesome!!

Beginning with Month Four, you will also begin to get more fabrics from the Prairie Gathering collection, which means more to play with!!  Always a good thing!  Let's get started on what we're sewing this month.

For the next three months, we will be doing a lot of sewing to make units all building up to start assembling those gorgeous pieced borders.  I didn't want you to have to sew nothing but Flying Geese for a whole month, or Two Patches for a whole month...that would be boring.  So, I mixed it up and mixed up the fabrics, too, to bring a little mix into our piecing.  You'll be making more Flying Geese and will be playing with some of those new fabrics.

You'll me making more red/red Two Patches....

....and red/light Two Patches.

You will also make the cornerposts for the Flying Geese border.  The hints I have for cornerpost units are the same I have for making Flying Geese using the Connector Corner method.

The pattern instructions say to...

1). Draw a diagonal line from point to point.  That means that your pencil line should go from point to point.  Don't position the ruler on the points as then your pencil will be slightly off center.  It would be off enough to make a difference.

2). Position the Connector Corner square on the base.  Be particularly careful when doing this.  It seems like such a 'no brainer' thing, but can also make a difference.  Take care to precisely position the light print exactly on the corner of the red square base so that the two corner edges are perfectly aligned.  If you're even a little off 'center', it will effect the way the triangle is positioned.

3). Sew on the diagonal line.  Actually, that is a misnomer as you should really sew a thread or two inside the seam allowance.  This is the same effect as sewing a scant 1/4 inch, which allows for the threads lost when the fabric is folded over.  Look at the square in the upper left corner of the photo.  You can clearly see my stitches just a thread or two inside the drawn line.  

4). Press, and then trim the Connector Corner.  Actually, a lot of patterns instruct you to trim then press...never do it in that order!!  Always press first, and then check to see if the triangle is completely even with the corner of the base.  If it is, then trim both layers of fabric under your triangle...you don't need them, and leaving them in only adds to bulk, which robs you of accuracy.  If the triangle is not a perfect match to the base... if it doesn't line up on the two sides, then unstitch those stitches...it's a small seam - not a lot of stitches to rip.  Resew the seam (and you can easily do that because you didn't trim and then press!) so it's perfect.  You'll be happy that you did when you get beautiful points for your trouble!!  

You will begin to assemble Shoo Fly blocks this month, too!  Fun, fun, and I love Shoo Fly blocks.  They are often over shadowed by their cousin, the Churn Dash, or even confused that they're the same block, but they're not.  (The Churn Dash has two squares instead of the light rectangle...a light and a dark square.)  These are about as easy to assemble as a Nine Patch.  Just sew them into rows, then sew the rows together.  Easy, breezy!!

Hope you enjoy your piecing this month, and I'll be back next month with more helpful hints while we make this journey together!