39 Days and GO

My Sweet husband told me I was not allowed to stay off facebook so I thought I would give up healthy food and housework instead. Not that I do much housework these days. I have a girl that comes in 2-3 times a month. So far today I have been on fb at least 8-10 times. We have a fb wall for our farm and since my husband does not do things of computer I have been posting pictures and production records of some of our cows who had portrait pictures taken at out 2013 National Canadian Guernsey Show. Then, I have to keep checking back to see how many page views have come in and any comments made. Like someone from British Columbia wishes they could get cows like ours over there. They could but it  might cost several thousand for trucking since it is only 3400 km.   link
Now, I am  not even going to think about giving up my blog, at least not for more than 3-4 hours. I am having way too much fun writing, and checking for comments. About the no-reply blogger thing . . . I am  still not able to figure it out. Sorry. Also, my younger sister that laughed at me on fb and offered the "double dog dare you" has no intentions of staying of fb. I know. I chatted with her this morning.

Now, having said all that, the GO Real Fast Quilt is back on.
There are going to be 15 scallops altogether - 5 on each of 3 borders. The top border will be flowers and leaves from all the left over cut outs. I marked the 10 inch wide border strips by pressing them in quarters. Then calculated how far apart each one needs to be in order to lay balanced between the four 16 inch blocks. However, I had to factor in the seam allowance and connecting strips since I am machine quilting in sections. I measured 1 inch between each scallop which are 12 inches long.
I hope I am close.
After pressing them in place, I stitched down each one using a matching red thread with a small buttonhole stitch on the top of the swag and a blind stitch on the bottom side. This side will be covered over by the green scallops.

Since I have no instructions for this procedure, I am winging it. Looks like a slice of watermelon.
The crescent and the scallop were the first pieces I ran through the GO cutter since they were the largest pieces. After that, I ran the left-over fabric through for the leaves and the flowers. It was at this point that I got frustrated trying to cut out just lots of leaves that I got the idea to have a custom die made for just leaves. The leaves on my custom die are placed in such a way that I can lay  
fabric on it and cut a narrow strip or a full strip depending on what
I have. Does this make sense?

I actually used these left-over pieces as I was measuring my draft pattern. There is enough space between the leaves to lay a straight piece of pre-fused fabric and not waste so  much. The Rose dies have several sizes of leaves and flowers and circles nestled so close together that you cannot cut out just one size without wasting fabric and getting cut marks on the mat and wearing it out even though you are not actually cutting any shapes.

So, I am able to lay the mat on just the part that I am cutting and let one side  of the mat hang over the other side of the die. Good thing I have the large cutter to do this.
I am quite please with myself at this point.
Now if I could only get the raw edge applique stitching right I will be really happy.






Now back to check facebook to see if anyone wants to chat or buy a cow.
Blessings,
Chris