. . . magic . . .

. . . to tell you the truth . . .
. . . sometimes i'm kind of puzzled . . .
. . . like, for instance . . .
. . . how in the world . . .
. . . does this ↓ . . .
. . . turn into this ↓ . . .
. . . it's kind of magical, really . . .
. . . but, i'm no houdini or anything . . .
. . . so, i'll show you how it's done . . .
. . . c'mon . . .
. . . start with these pieces . . .
. . .rectangles, big squares and little squares . . .
. . . all cut to specification . . .
. . . if you have almost enough
of a fabric you really love . . .
{and who wouldn't love this paisley?
i'm kind of obsessed with it}
. . . but not quite . . .
. . . i totally believe in piecing scraps . . .
. . . notice this square is made of
four separate pieces . . .
p.s. this square is 2 7/8 inches on all four sides
{you can tell i paid attention in
mr. steiner's geometry class
my sophomore year at MHS ~
that's where i learned that
a square is the same length
on all four sides and
all angles are right angles}
. . . anyhow . . .
. . . start with the sixteen big squares . . .
. . . and just like that . . .
. . . bibbidy~bobbidy~boo . . .
. . . don't blink . . .
{someday i might take that antique masking tape off my machine}
. . . you end up with these ↓ . . .
. . . see, it really is kind of tricky . . .
. . . then one little square gets attached
to a magic triangle square . . .
. . . then another triangle square
gets added to the other end . . .
. . . making a . . .
{ready for this?}
. . . trapezoid shape out of
the small floral fabric . . .
. . . impressive, no? . . .
. . . then add a paisley rectangle
to each trapezoid . . .
. . . and another trapezoid on the other side . . .
. . . and abra cadabra . . .
. . . there you have it . . .
. . . i call this block
"laying down spools
and
standing up spools" . . .
. . . or "can you spot the spinning pinwheel?" . . .
. . . but real quilt people call it
"borrow and lend" . . .
. . . what do they know? . . .
. . . here are some other scrappy versions . . .
. . . i've gotta get these finished . . .
. . . i need to start on some
baby bedding
very soon . . .
{fyi . . . i'm pretty good at jigsaw puzzles}
{oh, and tetris, too}