Farmers Wife #13 Belle

Week 3 of the Quiltalong - #13 Belle is a good block for fussy cutting and my first thought was to do exactly that, but the fabric selection I've chosen - Downton Abbey by Andover Fabrics -  wouldn't really work with fussy cutting.

You can find the GnomeAngel tutorial here.

I'm having a little trouble with the measurements for the triangles in the rotary cutting instructions on the CD. I'm not sure what the single measurement refers to in the triangles. Is it the two equal sides, or the long side? It's worked out ok so far, but in Belle it just didn't work out.

This block involves Y seams. I started doing the Y seam on the blue block - see below, and it was ok, but I lost some of the points. You can see Jinny Beyer has a video tutorial for Y seams, and I watched it as a refresher, but I think it is the size of the triangles that is causing me grief.

So I decided to change the sewing of the block. Angie at Gnomeangel has a 'cheat' in her tutorial, but I decided to do my 'cheat' a little different. I wanted to keep the large squares as one piece. I got out my trusty grid paper and started to draw the block and different ways I could 'cheat' on the block. This is what I came up with:

Much happier with this layout, and it will still look like the block. I need to trim the 'dog ears' in this photo.

 

My thoughts on 'Gift, Fun, Fellowship 

by Merry Christmas 1935

Merry Christmas talks about the tradition of a family Christmas. My early memories of Christmas were waking early - only day us kids woke early - opening presents, taking a bus ride to Maroubra, and a hot roast lunch with my Grandma and Auntie M and Uncle D. We would open more presents, maybe go to the beach if the grown ups would take us, and then what seemed the longest bus ride home again. 

We had a large extended family, so a family gathering was usually held some weeks before Christmas. As we got older the family gatherings would be at different times of the year, sometimes for a reason - birthday, celebration day, - sometimes for no other reason other than we all wanted to get together. All the aunties and uncles and cousins and second cousins and in-laws and friends etc. would meet at one family members home and we would talk as though we had seen each other only weeks before, when in reality it could have been a year before. We all brought food to share, presents for the kids if it was Christmas, and a good time was had. We always looked forward to family days.

Today, family days are few, except for weddings, special birthdays and anniversaries, and sadly funerals.

It is the funerals that make one think about the good times 

and the times that will now be missed.

So before I cry .... here is my quote:

The presents under the tree don't matter - the people do!

Happy Sewing

Allison