Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds
FINISHED
August 16, 2014

My goal is to get Moon Glow caught up this weekend.  After this one I’ve got 1 left to do.  I haven’t looked at it yet so depending on how complex it looks I may jump on it after this post or do something different and possibly get back to it tomorrow.  I’m really happy with how things are going.  It does save time to get these done at once rather than move to something else and come back to this in a few weeks.  The Bernina is already set up with the black thread (not that it takes too long to switch, but is one less step to do).  I’ve already got the process in my head so I do not have to think about what step comes next.  All in all, it was a quick turn around to get this block done.

Now, the process I detailed during Block 7 basically matched up until about this point… This is where all the foundation piecing was complete and I had to finish it with some other method.

Moon Glow
Foundation Piecing
Completed

The pattern had instructions to do the center star first.  From previous blocks, I opted not to do this.  Doing the center star first caused me to have to do Y-Seams and resulted in major puckering in the middle.  I’m not as proficient doing Y-Seams so I opted to do something different.

First, I opted to create plastic templates for the individual pieces.  I had a big piece of plastic for templates that I purchased from Joann’s awhile ago that I would normally have used.  But in getting my template paper out earlier I found some smaller pieces of plastic that I thought I should use up before cutting into the larger plastic piece.  This smaller piece was purchased at a LQS a couple of years ago and I was amazed at the difference between the larger piece and the smaller piece.  It reminded me of why I should purchase items at my LQS – the quality was that much better.  The smaller piece was thicker and sturdier than the larger piece.  It reminded me of when I first learned how to quilt traditionally.  I know it sounds cumbersome, but I basically created each plastic template, traced and cut the fabric by hand, and then pieced everything by hand.  You can see the end result at My Hand Quilt.  I enjoyed the process of piecing the hand quilt.  And I enjoyed this process despite having to create all the templates by hand.  I can really see the benefit of doing this for ONE block.

First, I put the pattern on a light box and placed my plastic piece on it. I traced the pattern onto the plastic.  In this case, all the lines were straight so I used a ruler to keep everything straight. I used a regular sharpie so the lines are thick.  If I wanted to be more accurate, I would have used a fine point sharpie.  Today, it seems, I wasn’t in the mood to look for my fine point sharpie.

Creating Templates
Step 1 –
Copy the template onto the plastic

Then, I cut the plastic with my ruler and my rotary blade.  When I’m in the mood, I try to right the quilt name, the block #, and the piece letter or number on the plastic template.  I don’t know if I’ll ever create this block again, but if I do – it’s nice to know I don’t have to create the template again.

Creating Templates
Step 2 – Cutting the plastic

Then I traced the plastic template onto the back of the fabric with my frixion pen.  (I love these pens!)

Trace the plastic template
onto the back of the fabric

I cut and pieced everything together.

Moon Glow
Block 8
putting the pieces together

Moon Glow
Block 8
putting the pieces together

Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds without the borders

Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds
FINISHED
August 16, 2014

TaDa! – Hardly any puckers!

~Melanie

I love Month 7 of Moon Glow.  It’s my favorite so far.  I did pretty well with the exception of one part where I trimmed too much.  My points lined up pretty well.  I’m really happy with how this is coming along.

Moon Glow
Block 7 – Sea of Vapors FINISHED
August 15, 2014

Step 1: Change the thread on the machine

Moon Glow,
Step 1
Change the thread on the machine

I like to use black thread because it hides better in the dark fabric.  I periodically forget to do this when I work on different months so I’m sure when I put the blocks all together it will be noticeable.  This is one of those things that I learned as I went.

Step 2: Print the templates

I use Carol Doak’s Foundation Paper to print the templates on.  I’ve had these forever and I’m not sure what project I had originally bought them for.  I’m sure there is probably something cheaper I can find and use so if you have any ideas, please let me know.

Step 3: Sort the fabric, Press and Cut

I have a ton of little pieces from previous months so I like to use up what I can before I cut into the new fabric that came with the kit for this month.  For some fabrics I have enough pieces from the previous month where I do not even use the piece that came this month.

Moon Glow
Step 3
Sort the fabric

Step 4: 1st and 2nd Piece

I have Carol Doak’s class, “Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing”, on Craftsy.  And I use the method she teaches in the class with one minor exception.  Instead of using pins, I glue the first fabric to the paper template with restickable glue.  I used restickable glue when I worked on the Iris Cameo at my guild’s workshop with Laurel Anderson.  This is the first time I used it when foundation piecing and it was the best method I’ve used for that first piece of fabric.  Pins tend to shift.  Then I trimmed the fabric between 1 and 2, placed fabric 2 down and sewed.

Step 5: Press

When I press, I have to be careful because the markings on the template transfers onto my ironing board.  So I put a piece of dark fabric on the ironing board.  That way if the template transfers to the fabric – you can’t tell and my ironing board is safe.  It’s not a big deal but I’m afraid that if the markings are on my board, it might transfer onto lighter fabric later for different projects.  That’s a big deal for me if it should ever happen.

Moon Glow,
Step 4-5
Sew, Press, Trim

Moon Glow
Step 5
Press

Step 6: Repeat for all fabric – Trim, Sew, Press

Moon Glow,
Step 6
Trim

Moon Glow
Step 6
Sew

Step 7: Once all the fabric is sewed on, trim all the sides of the templates

I messed up on one of the pieces where I trimmed too much of one of the sides.  It caused me problems later when I sewed all the pieces together and later, it didn’t lie flat on this side without causing puckering.  Luckily it’s the black part so it’s not very noticeable.

Moon Glow,
Step 7 – Trim

Step 8: Sew all the foundation pieces together

The olive green looks brown in this picture….

Moon Glow
Step
Pieced Star without borders and center

Step 9: Applique the center and piece the borders on

This month asked me to applique the center.  It isn’t always this way but I find I have more control in making sure the block lies flat better in the middle when I applique the center.

Moon Glow
Block 7 – Sea of Vapors FINISHED
August 15, 2014

Hopefully you enjoyed my step by step process.  It’s different enough from Month 6 where I felt that I wasn’t repeating everything all over again.

On a personal note: the kids started school last week and the girl caught something. 🙁  She stayed home sick yesterday and we’re not leaving the house this weekend so guess what?  I get to stay home and play in my sewing room! 🙂

~Happy Quilting!

Melanie