Table Tease

You know, I keep talking about these bird blocks from The FLOCK, and they're really cool (I think they are, anyway), but they're even cooler when they become something.

This week, I decided to do just that - make something from four of the blocks from The FLOCK.

Now, before you say, 'oh, boy' here we go again with all The FLOCK stuff. (I realize that I can go on and on all day about these birdies - by now, you must know I'm kinda bird crazy!) HOWEVER, what I'm doing here could be applied to ANY 8" (finished-size) four-block collection.

I started out, not really knowing where I was going to end up. (I love those kinds of journeys!)

So I went to my stash, and picked out a focus print and four, make that five - I keep forgetting the cream - solid-reading fabrics that coordinate with the focus.

I kinda think that part (the fabric selection) is pretty key. Generally speaking, yes, the focus print goes with the four bird blocks that I selected. But I kinda ignored the birds when I pulled the fabrics. Another important factor, I chose a print that was 'noisy' but not so noisy as to steal the thunder from my detailed pieced blocks.

My mindset for the fabric pull: birds go with whatever environment they fly into. Sure, some blend into their surroundings, but not all (think cardinal on a winter day). If I were making this with non-bird blocks, I might pay a little more attention to the block coloring, but maybe not.

As stated, I'm not really sure where I'm going to end up, so my choices may wind up being a mistake. But I don't think so.

I want to keep the construction pretty simple. So I'm adding some skinny borders to the four blocks.

I pulled out my BlocLoc Log Cabin trimmers - the 1/2" and 1" trimmer and the 3/4" and 1-1/2" trimmer. While they aren't necessary for making this project, these are fun to use, and I like to have fun when I making stuff.

I've used these tools before on the cruise quilt I created last year called Water Logged. And I used the smallest size trimmer for my holiday card-stuffers in 2017.

What I like about these log cabin trimmers - they have that same seam allowance groove on the bottom of the ruler that the BlocLoc Half-Square Triangle trimmer has (my favoritest HST trimming tool)

To use the log cabin trimmer, I cut the strips a little larger than needed. For a 1-inch finished border or log, I cut the strip 1-5/8" wide instead of 1-1/2". And maybe about 1/2" longer than needed to have a little extra on each end.

Then I centered and sewed the strip to the block as normal. (I'm a serious pinner when adding strips to things)

Next, I pressed the seam toward the newly added strip. Chose the tool and the side of the tool that to trim to the desired measurement. Each trimmer trims two different sized logs.

I trimmed the end (on the right in the picture below). . .

.  . . then across the top. Nice thing here is that the ruler is shorter than the block, but that doesn't matter, I just slid the ruler along the seam, making sure the groove continues to lock in to the seam allowance lump.

Slide and trim, slide and trim, until I reached the end.

(Yah, ignore the fact that I put the rotary cutter down with the blade open - bad! bad! bad!)

Then I rotated the block so I'm not cutting at an unnatural angle, and trimmed that last bit on the end.

I kept adding strips until all the blocks had three borders, an inner one that finishes to 3/4" wide, a middle 1/2" finished border and an outer 1" finished border. I alternated the solid fabric with the focus print on each block, and I used a different solid on each block.

I like the way the print fabric almost feels layered.

And that's as far as I got. . . More to come as it develops. Stay tuned!

Happy Stitching!
Joan