HELGA RIDES AGAIN/ MY OJOS METHOD

 

After a month-long hand stitching journey, 

Helga and I resumed our Christmas Ojos sewing.  

It felt so good to be at my 

machine again ;))))

Above are the mostly

green ojos

and here

↧↧↧↧

are the mostly red ones.  

I only have four of

the red blocks-- 

(16 separate 4" blocks

seamed together)--

as opposed to 

Six of the green (24 

separate 4" blocks...)

.

So, I went to work on 

making more reds

this morning...

**********************

My method: 

(this is for you Lizzy)

💖

When I sew strips on 4" telephone

paper squares (diagonally)--

or any size I like,

I only sew through the paper on

the first two strips:

(right sides together)

After this, I only use the paper

to measure how long the strip

should be to cover the paper and

I fold back the paper:

so, I am only sewing cloth to cloth.

Then I iron the strip open and 

unfold the paper to measure for

the following strip.  

I do this on all the remaining 

strips on both sides....

So at the end, I only have ONE 

sewn seam to remove and the

paper comes off very easily;)))

You can see the one seam here on

the completed square...

All my strips hang over the edges

and I then use the paper to trim to size.

And I do not add any seam allowance

when cutting; I just trim to the paper size.

Here you can see how I am just

sewing strip to strip with the

paper folded back...

I am sure there are many other methods, 

but this is how I do it; as I

really dislike tearing papers

off as often seams come apart on me.

[As a side note, I tend to tear my

fabrics into the size strips that

I want as I go--no hours pre-cutting

for these...the only cuts I 

may do using my dies

are triangles for the corners which

aren't really necessary but I find

easier for good coverage. ]

********************

I am trying to use up most of my older

Christmas red, green, gold and

red/white fabrics.  They have been

around way too long; 

I am attempting

a no buy year...😏😔😏

With all the gorgeous new fabrics

coming out I find this very hard.

BUT, at 81, 

I feel that I must use up

as much as I can to whittle down

my stash....

Hugs for a wonderful 

and productive 

weekend,

Julierose,

La Blageuse

(Ojos-ing-along-euse)