What a month it’s been! Last month I was complaining about the cold and snow with over 20 feet of snow blanketing the camp up north. Well, now the number is well over 30 feet of snow! Guess what happens then?!? Stuff starts to implode from the weight of it all. And especially as it starts to melt a bit it gets heavier. My son was up there and he figured one shovel full was at least 100 lbs. Camps, barns, houses , businesses etc. have been collapsing from the snowload! What a shock when he went up there two weeks ago and found we no longer have an enclosed front porch! The camp has a metal roof which helps the snow to slide right off but this time when the snow let loose it dropped to the porch roof and poof (!) no more porch. Well it’s under there somewhere flat as a pancake. So tomorrow I’ll be driving up there early to meet the insurance inspector coming to take a look. I was looking forward to spending time up there this year to just R and R. I have finally made it through my mother’s estate and my husbands estate although there is still “stuff” to take care of. I loved sitting on the porch having coffee, looking at the lake, quilting away! Now my R and R will be replaced by numerous trips up there to supervise clean-up and build a new porch. I shouldn’t complain too much though thankfully there seems to have been no damage to the house itself. Many have lost their whole structures and we still have the rest of March with it’s up and down weather.
Well, enough of my saga. This clue should be titled “Stitching by the seat of your pants.” You will be shaking your heads with what is she thinking! I guess you just need to trust me. Ever hear that before?? Ha! Ha! I needed a corner french fry block and I couldn’t find anything that served the purpose. Plus I needed to make it simple enough for all the various sewing levels in our group. Paper piecing would have been a good idea but not practical here so this block was born. If any of you have a better idea I encourage you to try it out. Most of my blocks came out pretty good. Be careful…you have bias edges so try not to stretch them. The bias is up against a straight grain so that should help but you still need to be careful. Also when you line up your pieces make sure you overlap (make dog ears) so everything comes out flush. You’ll see what I mean when we get started. You may need to “massage”, adjust, when it comes time to trim but just do your best. I will apologize, I’m not educated in block design, I’m just a Get er Done…Figure it out…kind of old girl. Good luck and have fun!
Scrappy French Fries – Mystery Clue #3
Using the 16 each 5″, 9″ and 12″ x2 1/2″ assorted colored strips, lay them out on top of each other as shown making sure there are no two matching. You should have 16 sets of three. 
Divide the sets into two groups of 8 each. Using a ruler with a 45 degree angle, cut through the three layers. Cut one to the right and one left. Repeat with the remaining sets.
Using the 3 3/4″ background squares. Cut on one diagonal. Place the HST as sown on each of the three strips. Make sure there is an overlap (dogear). Sew, open and press to the colored side. Do not trim. Repeat with the left side. 
Line up as shown and sew. Make sure you overlap to have a quarter inch for the points. NOTE: the bottom ends will not match up. We will be trimming them later. Sew the right side and left side sections making 8 of each. Press but do not trim.
Cut one HST in half and add it on the small side as shown. Repeat on all right and left sections. Press.
Assemble one right side and one left side section as shown together making sure there are no duplicate fabrics. Sew and press the center seam open.
Trim to 9 1/2″ square French Fry Block! Complete all 8.
Phew! You made it!! I hope you didn’t have to tear out too much hair finishing this up. Thank you for keeping the faith! I showed this mystery to a couple friends and they really liked it so……..Micky D…….here we come. Hope you at least had fun. See you next month on April 9th.
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