Craftsy BOM 2013 - Old VS New April edition

If you have visited this blog you know that each month my granddaughter Jana and I do the Craftsy 2013 BOM. She is using modern fabrics and making a hip and sassy quilt. Grandmother, that's me, is doing the old fashion, old-school  style quilt and using mostly reproduction fabrics. Reproduction fabrics really aren't my thing.  But we decided to go in different directions to see for ourselves how much difference fabric makes in a quilt. It should not be a surprise that my granddaughter chose the modern fabrics.

April's block taught us how to make curved seams.  During last years BOM we made Dresden Plates. These where not Jana's favorite and when she saw the fan block, she wasn't a fan. But we watched the video and learned that the construction was very different. and we would learned a few new tricks. This was the first time she had heard of using freezer paper. It was the first time for either of us to used heat-n-bond. It was also our first time using our blanket stitch, stitch selection on our machines. Our blanket stitches are slightly different,  so it did give us the opportunity to try another new skill.

Grandma's Old School fan block

Jana learned to make a template from freezer paper, reuse this for each cut by ironing it on the fabric and use her seam to center the template. We had to redo our template after a while as it seemed to get shorter on one side.

Using a freezer paper template.

Trimming the edge of the template.

The block went together in quarters. This is the first quarter. I found it surprising easy to sew the curved seams as demonstrated in the video. I admit that I had to help Jana with this section. I think she could have done it, but she was a little unsure.

Is this colorful enough!

The block went together nicely. Once again her color choices worked. "Grandma you just have to give things a chance. You might not think it works but you might like it, you never know," says the wise old eleven year old Jana.

Jana's new style block.

During the construction of this block Jana discovered something. She is crazy for Kaffe Fassett!
These are some of the fabrics she shopped from my stash. I wasn't surprised by her choices, but as she was putting this block together I realized the fabric was familiar and similar. A closer look and we knew why. They where by the same designer. I went to my old Quilt magazine and showed her Kaffee's picture and article. She started to laugh. "Hey I am a fan of his and I didn't even know who he was", said Jana. "His fabric is fun to use and it's very creative. I love it".

Kaffee Fassett fabrics

I think Jana has something about trying new things. When I bought this fabric I loved it, but I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I am, after all is said and done, a big picture person. Jana could see the details and color and was able to come up with other fabrics that complemented this fabric. The Moda fabric below is more colorful in person and she picked up right from the start that all the colors in the Moda fabric where found in her more colorful fabric.

Here she matched a Moda and Fassett fabric.

She accomplish the same with this combination. The very graphic and colorful Fassett fabric was match with
a totally unexpected fabric that matched the teals.

So April BOM is done. Here are the blocks to compare.

New and sassy versus old school reproduction

Our finished blocks.

Here is Jana and her pride and joy

Oh yes, and lastly..Here is grandma, who hates her picture taken, but had to give in after "Grandma every week you make an excuse. You say you are tired, your hair is a mess, you have no make up, just let me take your picture with your block". Okay Jana today you win, my hair is a mess, I have no makeup on, I have bags under my eyes. But you worked hard, tried new things, so you can take my picture and I will put in on our blog. Oh yeah. One day we have to clean out the non sewing side so we can get some nice pictures.