Dear Jane - Tinker Toy (B-9)

At first glance, this block looks to be very simple and straightforward but I found out that isn't quite the case. I chose a dark purple fabric with an all-over pattern for my Tinker Toy block and away I went.

I normally mark my cutting and sewing lines with a mechanical pencil and regular lead but this time it didn't show up on the dark purple. I looked through my pencil holder and a found a mechanical pencil that had yellow lead. It had belonged to my husband's sister and after she passed it was included in the stuff I received from her - thanks Wanda!

When I got to this point a sudden realization came over me...yikes...what do I do next. I seemed to have found myself in the middle of a bunch of inset seams. Lucky for me I was hand piecing so that made the solution quite a bit simpler than it would have been if I had been machine sewing.

I am happy with the way my block finished up but if I was to choose my fabric again I would definitely choose a directional fabric instead. The unique piecing design of this block is lost in my block because of the all-over pattern of the fabric. You can still see the way the block is pieced if you take a close-up look though.