Shoo-Fly for Suzanna

I'm late, I know.  However, I finally had a chance to do sewing today so I decided to tackle Suzanna's block for March.  I had been avoiding it because anything "wonky" seems impossible to me.  Not sure why I thought this was so difficult, because Suzanna's instructions were simple, and creating this block was extremely easy.

I already knew how to make a Shoo-Fly block because of the tutorial at Modify Tradition.  Adding the borders and trimming to make it crooked was a cinch.

One question-- the directions Suzanna included say to make an 8" block.  Does she want it to be 8" or 8.5" unfinished?  (I've trimmed mine to 9.5"... how did I not notice that my ruler isn't 8.5"?)

Suzanna's Fun and Jaunty Block #2

Don't ask questions, let's just call it temporary amnesia.  Call it middle age hormonal loss.  Call it the first day of Spring joy.  I made another block for our March lady, Suzanna.

Suzanna's Fun and Jaunty Block

Suzanna's Shoo-Fly block was so fun to make and her instructions were very clear and easy to follow.

I'll post it to you this week.  I hope you like it.  Your fabrics were really pretty together.

Happy Spring!

March blocks are in the mail

On Friday, March 5, I mailed the March fabric and instructions. Given how long it's taken family greeting cards to get to and from Florida, I imagine it'll be at least a week before anyone in the US receives their fabric.

This month we're going to make shoo fly blocks, then set them off kilter. The photo from Gwen Marston's book Liberated Quiltmaking was taken down due to concerns about copyright. (This wonderful book is out of print, but much of it is also covered in Liberated Quiltmaking II, published just last month.)

If you enlarge or zoom in on the image, you will see the variety of fabrics Gwen used. Our quilt will retain some of this spirit, although we're going to have a black background and jewel-toned shoo flies.

Each quilter will receive 5 coloured fabrics, plus black; no two packages are the same. You may use just 1 coloured fabric in your block, or more if you wish. The reason I sent so many fabrics was to (hopefully) include at least one fabric you'd like well enough to work with.

Most details are covered on the instruction sheet that's in your envelope. And although I tend to overexplain things (cuz few people seem to think like I do), I still managed to forget to include some things, so here goes:

Please sign the back of the block or pin your name onto it somewhere. Like Jennifer, I'll be making a suitable label identifying you all.

If you want to keep a strip or charm square from each of the leftover fabrics, feel free; otherwise please return any leftovers of 5” or larger.

If words on the instruction sheet look improperly spelled it's probably just Canadian spelling, except for "shoo fly", where I inexplicably added a hyphen all over the place.

When you get your package you may wonder why I included a flimsy, clear 8” square. I didn't want to assume that everyone had a large square ruler; after all, some folks might square up by using the lines on their cutting mat. The square I included will give you a window on your block, and you can line up an acrylic ruler to the edge of the square and trim. (My apologies to whomever is missing their square --I had one left over after stuffing the envelopes.)

Naturally, feel free to email or post any questions. I made one of these quilts as a baby gift for my neice 5 years ago and if I can find the photo I'll post it. It was fun and now I'm looking forward to having a dancing shoo fly quilt for myself. I hope you have fun with this block, too.
Suzanna