Block 26: Kitchen Window

You can see my fancy ziplock
travel case! :P

The Kitchen Window block had a nice simple construction. Last Sunday I knew I would be killing time in the afternoon so I packed up the block, needle, thread and scissors to take with me.

My only miscalculation was that I finished the block before my time was up! (That was because when I was preparing the materials the night before, I couldn't resist starting on the sewing. And then sewing just one more seam...)

I was a beautiful day. Some would say too hot, but sitting in the shade after freezing in the AC--it felt wonderful to me!

On most seams, I take the time now to mark the quarter inch line. My blocks are turning out much better (and mostly the right size). It's a little more time to start, but it makes it so I can just concentrate on the sewing and the size of my stitches, and not think about the line. It's nice to simplify the process by breaking it down into separate steps.

You can see on the finished block that the blue lines on the seams are still visible,

especially through that white fabric. (Although it's a bit amusing that the blue matches one of the stripes in the fabric of the outer border so that you could almost convince yourself that it belongs there!)

But all that blue showing on the right side is easily taken care of with a rinse under some water. I let it dry, then a starch and press and I have another finished block:

What a nice view through my "kitchen window". Fruit and flowers. Lovely.

Here are all the blocks finished so far in a mock layout:

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And here is Kim's block:

Whereas I made the inner and outer borders similar in value, Kim made the inner border and the centre both light and the outer border contrasting. And you can see that we both used the same yellow flower fabric!