These are not as difficult as I had imagined. I had several good books with wonderful patterns and ideas, but it was after watching a YouTube video/tutorial on the channel called "On Point" that somehow got me inspired. Apparently the planets were in alignment and I just jumped in and started. The 3 YouTube tutorials suggest freezer paper but after working with it, I went to Mylar plastic pattern pieces, and then made photo copies of the pointy arc. The pattern pieces came from a Karen Stone book.
These blocks finish at 7 inches, I need 36. The pieces in the photo are on a flannel board - no decision yet on a setting.
My goal is to make 2 blocks a day. However, one day, after listening to latest horrible political news, I was so frazzled and upset, I made the block wrong 3 times, miscut, missewed, trimmed wrong, and finally had to throw it out. That partial jaggey piece in upper right is another example of WRONG after listening to news - I cut wrong, tried to tape it back together, unsuccessfully.
I was able to finish one block in about 20-25 minutes - see? not really hard. Just go slow, a few stitches at a time, use something "pokey" to assist with the curves, concentrate with that paper piecing, use starch to stablize the bias. The paper on the teeth part is regular copy paper - works fine.
I followed Karen Stone's suggestion on fabrics, using just 5 in each block. Black and white, white and black, turquoise, pinks, and purples, but used a variety of each color, and am not introducing other colors.
So turn off the news already -- I do not LISTEN to news at all, I scan the paper each day and read a few articles. My power lies in the voting booth so I'll make my opinions felt there in August and November (after already voting in the spring primary). If I listen to anything, it is Pandora's music channels (blues, soul, doo-wop, and country).
ReplyDeleteGreat New York Beauties. That is one quilt on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteThe news is not conducive to calming thoughts and the creative process, for sure!
ReplyDeleteLooking great, Elaine. Love your color palette. Now THAT is calming!
It is looking great!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely colorway for your NYB, Elaine. And I agree -- the pattern is not as hard as it looks. (Thank goodness for paper piecing, though.)
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