~ Good Fortune ~ Part 3 ~

Yeah! Chevrons!  Don't you just love the clue for this week?!  We get to use the green, which I love, even though my green is the color of spinach. (that makes more sense if you read yesterdays post)  Okay I'll agree these can be kinda tricky.  But this is doable.  The fist thing we need to do is... believe we can do it.  You know the story of the little engine that could?!....LOL!  It really is that simple.  You need to believe you can do it before you can do it.  A little positive energy goes a long way.  And remember those little imperfections will be hidden in the busy-ness of the quilt.

 But before I share a couple ideas/tricks I want to show you some of my fabrics.   The floral print in the middle is one of my favorite older prints.  If I remember right this is a Joann Fabric print. I love the red and yellow paired with the gold shimmer.  It's a Christmas print that doesn't scream 

I'M A CHRISTMAS PRINT!  

And then there's this.  How in the world did this get in my stash?  I would have never purchased any type of nautical fabric.  It's the right shade of green so its going in the mix. 

Now here's one that some of my older readers might recognize.  Jinny Beyer has come a long way over the years.  Her quilt designs today are works of art.  My hats off to a quilter that takes on a Jinny pattern.  If you've never heard of you need to see this talented ladies work.  Click here.

Alright let's get this party started.  The first thing I did was read an reread Bonnie's instructions for Clue 3.  The first piecing option was the one I focused on.  Then I started playing  on paper.  This is my go to method for testing piecing when I design a quilt.  I could make it from fabric but if the measurements are wrong then I have an orphan unit.  After a few years of that it's a lot of waste.  Scrap paper is plentiful, cheap and I don't feel guilty tossing it in the trash.

Luckily my first attempt was correct.   So a quick run down of my process.  I drew the lines from the instructions given in Clue 3.  I stitched the first line from corner to corner.  I felt like I had won the lottery when I DID NOT need to move my needle to make the 3/8" seam allowance.  From my needle to the edge of my open toe foot is exactly 3/8".  

If you don't have the quilt ruler Bonnie's is using and you've no idea where 3/8" is on the ruler here's a little guide.

It worked fine on paper but will it work on fabric.  There's only one way to find out.  So instead of marking oodles of lines on oodles of squares I'm using the lines I drew on the bed of my machine.  You can find a tutorial here.  My needle is centered with the center line on the bed of my machine.  Sewing from corner to corner.  Just take a stitch or two at the top and then shift your vision to the bottom corner.  The bottom corner needs to stay on the line on the bed of the machine.  All this will make more sense when you see the video below.

For the second line I'm using the first stitched line as my guide.  The lines on the bed of the machine are useless for this.  Just follow the previously stitched line.

Before I cut apart my first test piece I pulled back the top triangle, pressed and then measured.  It's the perfect size!  Yeah!

Then I repeated the same process with the larger triangle.  It's not perfect but it's staying.  I'll make some adjustments on the next piece.  I'll explain later what I didn't like about the larger triangle. 

Let's cut these babies apart.....carefully...that 1/8" that is missing makes a big difference.  

And through the magic of blogging we have beautifully made pieces.  

Okay lets get real.  This corner is a little off.  A fix is simple...without ripping seams I could stitch another seam.  Or I could just roll the seam back a bit till it lines up with the corner.  I think I'll just leave it as is.

After taking all these pictures I decided to make a little video.  So here you go. 

Video Removed 

 I removed this video due to some Bonnie followers believed I was breaking a rule. Sorry for trying to help out those who want and need help.  I in no way made one penny from the video.   I was only trying to be helpful with out posting any of the pattern sizes.  Sorry.

#goodfortunequilt #quiltvillemystery #quiltingtutorial #podunkpretties

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