Player Piano Mouse

One of  Author quilt blocks will feature a book by Dr. Dachman, Player Piano Mouse.  I have had fun making this block, both the mouse and the piano keys.  It's a little wider than most of our other blocks, but it can be trimmed down and help to even out a short row.  (Not all of our blocks are turning out to be 10 1/2" square!)  You'd think with paper piecing, all the blocks will end up perfectly, but that's not the case.  Some are 10 1/4" or some other measurement.  One turned out to be only 9.5" wide, an inch too short.  We could add on an extra book to each short block to bring each block to the 10.5"  but we talked it over and decided to "square each row" to 60" rather than dink around with tiny individual variances!  So here is "Player Piano Mouse."  I used musical themed fabrics for the two books, too!

Football

One of our blocks in the Author quilt is about a football coach and his trials and tribulations as he pursues greatness for his team.  I found a paper pieced pattern for a football, and decided to use it.  Here it is:

Bias on the Bottom

I have finally finished the Whirligigs quilt top!  I still have to sandwich/pin/quilt yet.  But slow but sure wins the race, and finishes quilts.  Here's how it looks:

I put a small HST in each corner as a little accent, but it's hard to see.  The Delectable Mountains border turned out really well.  I was worried that they would stretch out when I sewed them on, but I remembered my rule:  "Bias on the bottom."  When you sew, it works better if you put the stretchy(ier) part on the bottom, and the strip of plain border on top.  The pressure foot pushes along against the top piece, but if there's no bias or seam, there is no stretch. The teeth underneath just grab the fabric and move it along and it all goes together beautifully.  That little rule made the difference is sewing that border.