Jen - It would be possible to paper piece the blocks for month 2 if you modified the existing templates just a little. The small circle would end up being appliqued over seam lines which is not ideal. Appliqueing the whole thing is a lot easier!

Caryl - the center star should be 11" diameter when finished. When the pieced border is added, you should have a 15.5" finished circle. With the outer border on you should have a 16.5" finished circle - 17" including seam allowances. If you have a smaller circle, then it may be that your seam allowance is too big. It could also be that you have shrunk the fabric a little if you have been using steam when ironing. And if you haven't pressed the seams totally flat that might cause the block to be smaller than it needs to be.

Hope this helps!
Sarah

Sarah,

On other threads there are discussions of the size of the month 1 finished circle. I haven't seen a definitive answer as to the FINISHED size of the circle and attached borders. Could you enlighten us? Mine finished at 16.75 inches. Is this too small? Should I re do it?

Thanks,

Caryl

I was wondering if we could do the majority of the block as paperpiecing vs. applique?
Jen

Fudsy - you can do it a couple of way! I fused all the applique shapes in place and then stitched everything all at once. Make sure you fuse them in the correct order as they do overlap. Or... you can fuse the first layer down, stitch, then fuse the next layer down, stitch, then fuse the last piece in place and stitch. The only possible advantage to doing it this way is that you can hide the thread ends.

Hope this helps!
Sarah

Thanks so much

I fused them all down and then did the applique stitch. If you're careful the pieces with the "pie piece" fused over them should form good inside points to stitch them easily without a big hassle.

I was just wondering.... Did you stitch all the pieces down at the same time or did you do something like iron D & E down buttonhole/ satin stitch, then iron B & C stitch, then iron A then stitch. Just wondering which is the best method to approach this month as I don't have much experience with applique.

Okay, phew! Thank goodness for smartphones. Yes. H, I, J and K are paper pieced to the block. No worries!

Wait. I'm going off of memory here. Let me check this!

Hi Cynthia. H, I, J and K are not templates, but pieces to rotary cut in the cutting instructions. They are the frames that you will paper piece to the outsides of the diamond blocks that you applique for month two.

I sincerely hope we are not dealing with templates H,I,J,& K yet. The templates I have for Feb, Month 2 only go A through F!!
Cynthia

That's why I did a satin stitch. I knew I couldn't mess that up!

Thanks Sarah, I have done very little blanket stitching and that explanation helped very much. The video was awesome.

Sharon

Good morning!!!

First fusible webbing: Steam a Seam works just fine, although it's not so good for printing onto the backing paper as the ink smears right off. Also be sure that you print/mark the applique shapes onto the backing paper that will stay on the fusible webbing after it has been applied to your applique fabric (since there is backing paper on both "sides" of the fusible webbing). My favorite fusible webbing is Shades Softfuse. Heat N Bond Lite or Featherweight is also good.

To blanket stitch the points: If you use the 2.4mm width and stitch length this is what I do... start at the bottom of the point (i.e. the wide end) and blanket stitch up the side. When you get to the top, there will be a place at which the leg of the blanket stitch falls onto the other side of the point - you'll be really close to the top. When you get to this point, do some straight stitches (2 at the most) up the edge right to the point. Now do a blanket stitch with the leg pointing straight down the middle of the point and then follow it with 2 single stitches along the edge - you'll be going down the other side now. Then continue blanket stitching as normal. You may have a couple of blanket stitches on each side of the point where the "legs" are crossing. Hopefully this pic will help - and it will look a lot better in thread!!! There's no need to mess with the stitch length!