Tu-Na Travels: Day Two in Paris and Poodle Block Cutting Tips

On the second day of Paris, my true love gave to me:

A walk to the Eiffel tower during the day and another one at night,

and some great looking and delicious French desserts.

This was our first selfie we ever took. By the end of the trip, we would become better at it. My sister took many of our selfie pictures of our Europe trip and created a calendar with them which she gifted to us for Christmas that year.

We would hike that “your apartment is two blocks from the tower” route many times during our ten day stay. All I can say is that our travel agent has a different definition of two blocks than we do. Paris is a great city to walk around. While we bought an unlimited subway pass, we didn’t use it very much. We got lots of exercise.

I never tired of looking at the Eiffel tower. In fact, I think we walked past it at least twice daily and many days again at night.

Paris is filled with cute little pastry shops and yes we did our fair share of sampling. We often walked past the pastry shop close to our apartment and bought dessert for later.

This is a no-calorie picture but do wipe the drool from your phone or keyboard. Standing in front of this counter admiring the beauty and freshness, it would take me a long time to decide which dessert I would have. We often bought two different ones and cut them in half and shared. I think my husband suggested that as a way to decrease the time spent in front of this counter and increase the time spent elsewhere.

No trip to Paris would be complete without tasting some delicious macaroons which cost over 5 Euros a piece. I overheard a conversation between two women about where to buy the best macaroons. (Obviously, I missed something in the conversation as they also were the most expensive ones we found.) My husband and I were able to locate that place and do concur that they were good, but not as good as the ones my niece has learned to make.

What I learned today….Jeudi April 17, 2014

The word dessert is spelled the same way in English and French.
More things I miss about Germany…the amplemann (little man on the traffic light). When he turned red, all pedestrians stopped as fines are high to cross the street there. In France, it (walk/don’t walk lights) appears to be merely a suggestion. Wurst (sausage). There are only four kinds here. Bread. The baguettes here are good but the bread and rolls we had in Germany were excellent and had a nice crust.
Order tickets online and in advance to go to the top of the Eiffel tower. We waited in line for over an hour and a half this afternoon and when we got to the ticket counter, all of today’s tickets to the top were gone as they only issue so many per day. (Really, we were the first people they turned away that day.) We did walk up to the next level for a spectacular view of Paris. One lady told me she ordered her upper level ticket in September. We might try again but go earlier in the morning.
How to set my priorities straight when shopping for lunch at the food market across the street from our apartment. Grab a food basket and put in a bottle of French wine, then some really good and expensive cheese (because the cheese lady behind the counter didn’t speak English and thought I meant expensive rather than good tasting), and fresh strawberries. Finally, add some French pastries on top.
To ask Parlez-vous anglais (do you speak English)?

Poodle Block Tips:

Tu-Na Quilts: All Aboard. Fasten Your Seatbelts. We’re Taking Off for… You will find the pattern link in this post.

Tu-Na Travels: Day One in Paris which includes Part un (1): Pattern and Fabric Selection

Now on to Part deux (2): Cutting and Anatomy Labeling

(Sorry this post was delayed due to an important delivery I needed to make Tu-Na Quilts: We Have an Elephant Parade) and Tu-Na Quilts: ___’s Arrived!!!

I am using the Right facing poodle from The Objects of Design.

Cutting Tips:

Use a cutting check list and labels. To help save some time, I made a cutting check list and labels for the parts of this block. I improved the one I previously posted by adding label names (in red) onto the cutting checklist. So refer to the pdf and save yourself some time. Maybe it’s the teacher in me (ok. early childhood educator) or the quest to make things easier and simpler that keeps me coming up with new and improved ways to do things. You can download the labels and cutting checklist here Right facing poodle cutting checklist and labels
Strive to cut accurately. This pattern calls for quite a lot of small pieces. I’ve had to learn the hard way when working with small pieces in other projects to insure that my blocks turned out the right size and not too small. The key, I found, is in accurate cutting….and using a scant 1/4″ seam when sewing.

When I cut, I line up the ruler making sure that the edge of the fabric covers the window (look at the arrows). It doesn’t seem like much but over several pieces and many seams, it can add up. Since I’ve started doing this my blocks are coming out closer to the sizes indicated in pattern directions.

Let’s Begin. It’s easy as 1, 2, 3.

#1. Cut the strips. Following the cutting checklist or Sally’s tutorial, cut the fabric into strips using the measuerements given.

I like to check them off as I go along which is why I like to print out a checklist. Here are all the strips laid out. Since I was using some fat quarters, I had to cut several lengths to get strips that would add up to the length of the measurements that were given.

I cut some 1.5″ squares for my postage stamp quilt right away.

#2 Cut the strips into pieces. Following Sally’s tutorial or the cutting checklist, cut the strips into pieces. The new and improved pdf cutting checklist includes the label name to attach to the piece as it is cut. I’m thinking of ways to save you some time.

Here’s all the pieces ready to label. So I had to follow the tutorial and measure them all again in order to put the label on. It was at this point that I thought, hmmm, there’s got to be a faster and easier way to label these than having to go and remeasure. So I came up with the idea of including the label on the cutting checklist so you can cut and label as you go.

#3. Label the pieces. Using the labels provided in my pdf, label right after you cut the piece and then set it aside. If your sewing room is prone to visits by little whirlwinds or small wild tornadoes or if you like to keep your windows open, I highly suggest pinning or clipping them on with Clover Clips.

There looks like a lot of pieces but once you’ve got them cut and prepped, it sews together quickly. Sally says in her tutorial that once you are done cutting you’ve finished the hardest part.

Note: Not all pieces will be labeled. All the pieces without labels are extras and used for the corners or will be sewn onto other pieces. It will all become clearer.

I’ve set aside the extra pieces without labels. I’ll be using them soon enough.

These labels were a hair saver for me. The first time I made the block, I came back from lunch and had to remeasure and figure out what was what and ended up cutting more pieces only to find them later. There was lots of hair-pulling going on as I wondered if I’d gotten in way over my head with this poodle block idea. So I thought making some labels would save both of us time and hair.

That’s it for part deux. Coming soon: Part trois (3): Prepping the Furry Accent Pieces (Foot poofs, Tail, and Ear)

What I Learned Today:

Reviewing the 4890 pictures of our Europe trip took much longer than I expected as my husband and I talked, laughed, and cried over the memories.
We thought the French macaroons were delicious until we tasted the ones made by our niece for her high school graduation last year. I don’t think she has any French heritage in her. I need to get her recipes.
We need to plan another trip to Paris; I better start saving.
I have no fabric will-power. I stopped at one of my local quilt shops yesterday and bought 28 yards of fabric at $6.99 per yard. All were current designs from great manufacturers like Moda, Robert Kaufman, etc. This seriously cut into plans for #3 above.
I miss the little whirlwinds and small wild tornadoes that I used to have swirling about my house. They grew up and moved away much too fast.

Question: Have you eaten or made a macaroon? What’s your favorite dessert item? While I’ve never made a macaroon, I want to get my niece’s recipes and try. She made a strawberry macaroon that was absolutely delicious as well as several others that were almost as good. My favorite dessert is homemade Strawberry Shortcake. Yum!!! I think I will make some for dessert on Sunday. However, I don’t have whipping cream and a drive to the grocery store would mean I’d be going very close to that quilt shop again. Definitely a problem!!

Au Revoir

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more about my journey or follow me, please visit my blog Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats. Thank you for visiting Bee Inspired.

Linking with Yvonne for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday