Playing with Jacks in the Afternoon!

Our Afternoon session on Saturday was Playing with Jacks – a simple 9 patch variation with oh so many possibilities!

I have a serious quilt-crush on asymmetrical blocks.

There are so many things you can do with them, so many different ways to lay them out!

It’s also a great 3 hour class to learn the ins, outs and round-abouts of the Easy Angle Ruler.  I love this tool!

And the die-hards who stuck with me for 3 or 4 workshops while in Peoria gained the experience of using this tool in several different common sizes, so they will be ready to roll whenever half-square triangles are needed.

Our Smith Mountain Morning class used this ruler with 3-1/2” strips and 2” strips ---in Playing with Jacks, we used it with 2-1/2” strips. We also used the ruler with 3-1/2" strips for the pinwheels in our Patches & Pinwheels class.  Common sizes!

How do you know what size to use?  Simple find the finished size of the unit and add 1/4” seam allowance all the way around,  just the same as figuring what size to cut a plain square with seam allowance added.  If you want a finished 3” unit, you’d cut 3-1/2” strips for use with the ruler.  If you want 1-1/2” finished units, you are going to add 1/2” and cut your triangles from a 2” strip.  We used 2-1/2” strips because this is a 6” finished block and each unit in the block finishes at 2”.

Click HERE for the Playing With Jacks pattern!

The most fun of all is the layouts you are able to get with such a simple block.  Look:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or even this:

Or how about this:

But of course, you could always do this:

I love blocks in a barn-raising set up!

Because it was only a 3 hour class, I didn’t get as many photos as in a full day – but my ladies were going great guns….click the slide show below to see!

If you can’t view the slide show on your mobile device, click the image below to be taken directly to the photo album.

Give this block a try…it is SO versatile!

October 7, 2013

I have a couple of hours to sew in my hotel room on a borrowed featherweight this morning -- so nice to have a machine to use! Lunch out and some antiquing is planned for this afternoon. Lecture tonight!

It looks like a beautiful Texas October day out there --- Have a great one, y'all!


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