Autumn Splendor - Clue 1

This November will be the 5th year that a specific group of quilters has gathered in Rainbow, TX for a retreat right before Thanksgiving.  Each year when I leave for retreat, it seems as though fall has not arrived yet.  BUT (I know, never start a sentence with but, but . . .) it seems that each year when I return our yard is in full regalia.  I always try and capture a picture of the day I return home  In 2014, this is what greeted me and this is where this week's inspiration originated.  Ohhhhh, the golds and browns.  So, so beautiful.

I guess that means it is time to begin.  Have you cleaned your machine?  Changed the needle?  Replaced the rotary cutter blade?  Pressed your fabrics?  If the answer to all of those is yes, let's get started.  I simply cannot stress this enough:  READ ALL THE WORDS and all the way through before starting.  You will have less mistakes and a more joyful experience.

Cutting is first - get your mat and rotary tool --- we are going to do some stripping.  IF you are choosing to do the smaller quilt, this particular clue is exactly the same counts and measurements for both sizes.

All strips are assumed to be WOF (width of fabric).

Color 2 (Gold) - 8 (eight) - 1 1/2" strips

Color 3 (Brown) - 3 (three) - 3 1/2" strips  (These are for Easy Angle HST's - If you use regular rotary cutting methods, make these 3 7/8" or you are always free to use whatever method you love best.)

Color 5 (Neutrals) - 7 (seven) - 1 1/2" strips AND  3 (three) - 3 1/2" strips (Again, these are for Easy Angle HST's - If you use regular rotary cutting methods, make these 3 7/8" or whatever other method you choose.)

Our first unit is a simple gold/neutral nine-patch.  Those who have followed me for any length of time know that I LOVE 9-patches and will work them in as often as I can and in all sizes.  Today we are a bit small, however, we'll work in strips and you won't hardly notice those small squares.

UNIT 1 - (make 36)

Start by setting your strips as follows:  3 sets of gold/neutral/gold (G/N/G) and 2 sets of neutral/gold/neutral (N/G/N).

Now, I understand that sometimes sewing the full width of fabric can make getting a straight seam difficult.  If this is an issue for you, feel free to cut them in half and sew smaller strips.  Either way, sew the trios together so that you have 3 G/N/G strips and 2 N/G/N strips.  FIRST, FIRST, FIRST -- try a small sample and make sure that you have achieved a 3 1/2" strip.  This matters.  Don't just rely on a 1/4" foot.  Sew and measure.  So many things go into getting an accurate seam and they start with cutting, then lining up fabrics together, sewing straight, and finally the thickness of the fabric and how many threads are involved in the pressing fold.  It ALL comes together to get the desired unit size.  Press all strips to the dark.

Once you are sure on your seams, strip away.  Doesn't this look luscious?

I am a careful stitcher.  Really, I am.  I am also all about avoiding duplication of effort if I can.  For this reason I will show you how I cut my little threesies so that you save time in both cutting AND sewing.  Lay your strip sets as shown, right sides together.  If you pressed correctly, the seams are already nesting.  You can do this with TWO sets and have one G/N/G strip left.  Trim your end even and remove selvages so that you start with a clean cutting edge.

Now cut 36 - 1 1/2" segments.  Keep them matched up and they are ready to sew, less fiddling.  The  leftover and remaining G/N/G strips also gets cut into 36 - 1 1/2" segments.  Now you should have lovely little stacks like this. ( You will have leftover fabric strips - save them, you never know when they will come in handy - even if it means some unsewing.)

Back to the sewing machine and your little "threesie" units just feed, one right after another.  Sew, sew, sew.  There's only 36 --- this doesn't take long.

Press open toward the side with two dark squares.

Grab your individual G/N/G segments and back to the machine we go.

One more set of 36 seams.  Everything should nest like magic and don't forget to stop with the first one and take a measurement.  Check, check, check and you will have such an easier time as we progress.  You should have a little 3 1/2" cutie of a nine-patch and yet you never messed with a little square even once.

Now, set those aside and here we go with the second half of this week's clue.

Unit 2 (make 48)

Cameras are funny things, aren't they?  My strips are chocolate brown, I promise.  Get the strips we cut at the beginning.

As I said, I use the Easy Angle Ruler so I will show that method for cutting these HSTs.  It has the same reasoning as above.  I don't like to duplicate effort and this one lets me match my units while cutting AND I don't have to draw any lines.  Pair up each neutral with a brown and lay them right sides together.

With your ruler, set it so that the 3 1/2" mark is in the upper left corner and the little black point is in the lower right.

Cut.  Notice that one end is squared off instead of pointed.  That's perfectly fine and what you have lost by using 3 1/2" instead of 3 7/8" is just your dog ear.  We don't want those anyway.  There is also the added bonus of feeding the already matched units into the machine when they are sewn - the points don't get eaten in the feed dogs.

Now the next cut is simple.  Just take the ruler and flip the lower left corner to the upper right corner.  Yep, it's upside down.  Now, again line up the 3 1/2" mark with the top of your strip and notice that the little black triangle hangs below the strip.  That's okay -- again, its just the dog ear.

Cut.

Repeat over and over until you have 48 already matched pair.

Off to the machine and away we go.  If you used this method, you will find that the flat end (without the dog ear) snuggles right up to the unit in front of it.  Easy peasy and soon you have 48 units all sewn.  You DID check the first one for size, right?

Now, here is where things always go funny for me.  My sizes are right when I sew.  However, after I press, things change.  There's always the possibility that I wasn't perfect sewing each one either, but we won't go there.  At any rate, HSTs (for me) always require trimming.  I honestly blame it on the bias.

This is what I had leftover from the first part of this clue.  Don't panic if you have remainders.  I always make extra units because some seem to be wonky and it looks like perhaps I could have cut a bit less to begin with.  I'm learning along with ya'll this year.

And TA-DA --- this weeks clue is finished and it's time to go relax.  I'm thinking it's cocktail time.  See ya'll next week and please share your progress.  I've created a Facebook group just for sharing our fun in this mystery --- here's your AUTUMN SPLENDOR LINK so that you can post and talk to each other.  The group will come down when the mystery is complete and it will be a closed group so that if someone is not in it, they cannot see the posts.

While working on another project this week, I found the perfect panel to use in creating my back for this quilt.  Do you want to see?  It's just darling and wonderfully appropriate as well as one that has been in my stash for a couple of years now.  Love, love, love.  Happy sewing.