Thanks, Margo for the staples instead of pins idea--I like that. Ritzy, your tool looks like it will do the job well because the rubberized ends would keep the fabric from slipping. Appreciate the great ideas!

Thanks for the photos Ritzy! And thanks for reminding me that when stacking layers of Stable Stuff to cut out shapes we can use staples instead of pins!

There's seldom just one way to accomplish what we need to do!

So do I!!! Such a nice group!
Andrée

Ritzy, great idea. What a wonderful group we have. We can get answers to our questions from all over the world. I love my quilting friends.

Finally watched Margo's latest video and as always she has tons of great information. I saw her orange stick and thought of the tool I use. It is made by American Art Clay Co., Inc. It's original use us for smoothing and modeling clay. I use it for turning my edges when I am gluing them for applique. The tool has two rubber ends. I use it the same way Margo uses her orange stick. If I do this correctly, you should be able to see pictures of it.



You might even see the glue on the ends

Thanks everybody. Yes Margo I did make up a full template and noticed that it was shorter than the 17" square so thought I better check before cutting anything. Not that I am there yet - still cutting out my pieces.

Rita, the block should be trimmed to 16 1/2 inches. It's at about minute 49 in Margo's video for this month. Also, if you measure the pattern piece for the appliqué background, it also measures 16 1/2 inches.

Rita, I'm making the same assumption that we are to square them up to 16-1/2" and that is what I did in my video.
If you made a full size template for the background fabric from the pattern in the instructions, the over-all measurement does, in fact, measure 16-1/2" square.
I totally agree that Sue Garman's instructions were much more explicit!

Nancy, I left my ARC units larger so that they could be trimmed after the whole applique block was assembled.

Sue...yes....the PDF is copyright protected. It is my understanding that we can only make copies from the PDF file, but not do copy/paste or make any changes.

can I reply at all? I'm trying to copy/paste a part of month 3 directions and getting error codes, so ignore this while I experiment.

The directions say 17 by 17 light turquoise for the applique background.

Ha! this worked so that pdf must by copy protected. maybe.

Reetzbobeetz wrote:
Rita, I think I remember Margo saying something about making the medallion blocks large to allow for any shrinkage/distortion. As you can see I did not make my medallion larger, I plan on using double stabilizer when I do my double blanket stitch (and cross my fingers). Usually when I do machine embroidery I will make my block larger because I know with all the embroidery there definitely is shrinkage and distortion as I found out on the Sedona Star. It pays to experiment.

Are these centre squares meant to be squared up to 16 1/2"? They start out at 17" but the rectangular pieces are 16 1/2" long so I am guessing they have to be squared up to 16 1/2". It doesn't say anywhere in the instructions that I could see. I must say in praise of Sue Garman she was always clear about what size the finished pieces should be. I miss that.

I am very interested in what you are doing Nancy. It looks great so far. I am going to start tackling the centre medallions today - I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can sew!

gynconnie wrote:
Connie, you crack me up.

Nancy, beautifully done! I think that "whoosh" I hear is the sound of your sewing machine running at top speed!