Autumn Splendor - Clue 7

Oh my, oh my.  The middle of October is almost upon us.  For us, that means the end of this mystery is in sight.

I'm back from a wonderful retreat down in Rainbow, TX on the Brazos River.  It's such a fantastic time of year --- Retreat Season, of course.   Oh -- you thought I was going to say Autumn.

Have you taken the time to go outside and just bask in the beauty of fall this year?  I have loved the cooler temperatures and rainy days.



I know, I know --- onto the mystery.  Are you sure?  You don't just want to read my ramblings?  One more beautiful picture and then we'll get started.  All of these are from my yard -- such beauty.

Okay - here we go.

Broken record here:  Please read all the way to the bottom before starting.  This week can get confusing if you let it.  Just go slowly and methodically and it will be perfect.

Cutting?  Hmmm.  Let's see.  Here are some notes before cutting:    Always check your leftovers BEFORE you start cutting.  Depending on the size of quilt you are making, you may be able to use some up.  I am ONLY going to give the strips I KNOW you need to cut here at the beginning.  For the first unit (2 units for smaller), I am pretty sure you can use scraps.  If not, you will need some 1 1/2" strips.

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

Full Size:

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

Smaller Size:

Color 1 (Wine) - 6 (six) 2 1/2" strips

Unit 21

You will only need 8" strips to make this.  Use up those spares and I know there are 16" lengths remaining from before that you may not have touched yet.  If you don't have enough, cut what you need to get this layout.

Stitch together as shown, watching those seams and measuring along the way as before.  You should have 7 1/2" when finished.

Cut this strip set into TWO (2) 3 1/2" sections.

From here on, we will be using them in this direction.

SMALL SIZE ONLY:

Unit 22

Again, you only need 8" strips to make this.  Cut to 3 1/2" as with the previous sections.  You will need 2 of them.  As I am not making the small, I do not have actual pictures for you.  Just do the same thing we did above only you should measure 9 1/2" before subcutting into the two sections.

Now, get set to cut.  HOWEVER, not like I did.  Check out my picture.  Can you see what I did wrong?  My ruler is turned and instead of 3 1/2" cuts, I have 4" cuts.

Thus, forcing me to trim 1/2" from ALL my units.  ARGH!!!

So, what on earth am I talking about?  Remember these?

I hope you labeled them, cos now we are going to cut.  I know, I know -- I'll help you out.  ALL cuts are 3 1/2".  I'm sure you pulled that from my mistake above, but I want to clarify.

Unit 9 - OGBOB - You should have two of them (small 1).  Large - cut 20, Small - cut 12 (small needs to cut VERY carefully to get 12 from their set.
Unit 10 - GOGBO - You should have two of them.  Large - cut 20, Small - cut 16 (Here is where I apologize to the people making the small version.  IF you are working this as the clues come out, I had an error on this unit and you should have made two strip sets.  Please make another and accept my humble apologies.  IF you started Clue 4 after October 13, the clue was corrected and you should already have two of these strips.  I am so very sorry.)
Unit 11 - BGOGB - You should have one strip set.  Large - cut 10, Small - cut 8
Unit 12 - GBOBG - You should have one strip set.  Large - cut 8, Small - cut 4

Add in the sections cut above and here ya go (the small size will have an additional stack)

Have you guessed?  BORDERS!!!  Woohoo.

Starting with LARGE size top and bottom first and SMALL size sides.  Here is where it gets tricky and you need to pay attention closely to what you are doing.  This is the order the bricks go in and the R means to reverse that brick.  For example 9 is OGBOB but reversed it is BOBGO.

Lay out  your units in the correct order.

Repeat so that you have two

Stack in the correct order (or whatever method works best for you) and sew these together.

LARGE size sides

Repeat the same process as above only in this order.




SMALL size top and bottom

Repeat the same process as you did for the sides only following this order and using your #22 piece.

At this point you should have four borders.  Two sides, a top, and a bottom.  BE GENTLE with the strips.

Last step for this week.  Those wine strips that you cut at the beginning of the clue.  Sew them end to end.

Now cut the strips as follows:

Large - 2 (two) strips 67.5" long and 2 (two) strips 85.5" long
Small - 2 (two) strips 49.5" long and 2 (two) strips 67.5" long

The shorter strips are your top and bottom and the longer are your sides.  Match them up with the border strips you just made.

I started with the shorter strips -

Now, fold the wine down onto the stripes and pin.

Stitch -- BEING OH SO CAREFUL not to stretch the stripes or your seams will pop.

As soon as your border is attached, sew the other side in a 1/8" staystitch seam.  This will keep your pieced border from becoming an unpieced and, oh so, annoying border.

TA-DA --- your finished pieced top and bottom.

Repeat the entire process for the longer side strips.

That's it for this week.  We're getting soooooo close.  How much longer do you think?

Until next week, stay creative and enjoy the season.  You can still meet up with us in the Facebook group - here's your LINK TO JOIN.  Share your pretties.  Pretty please.