Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Time Out! - WIP Wednesday

I declared this week to be a paper piecing week.  I have so many projects that needed to be paper pieced, but I get a little worn out sometimes by the process AND the mess.  But I knew I needed to do it.  Only 2 days in and I want to quit.  This is mainly because I manage to mess up 2 different blocks yesterday!

The first one was a bee block for the Make it Modern Bee.  I put together a pretty darn good-looking Lone Starburst block - completely put together - only to realize that it wasn't to size.  My printer settings had been altered somehow and though I checked the little inch line (which appeared to be to size), the block pieces were actually 1/4 inch short.  If it hadn't been for the pattern designer's blog post, telling me the length the sides needed to be, I would probably still be scratching my head.  A second block is now complete (below).  The short one will likely be made into a journal cover one day, or a pillow.  Can't have anything go to waste, right?

Make it Modern May - for Sarah

The second block I screwed messed up was my house block for my Star of Africa bee.  This block is ridiculously overdue.  I chose a difficult paper piecing block - not my own design (maybe that is breaking the rules for the bee??) - and tried to fussy cut some things for the windows of the house.  All was going well until I accidentally sliced through an entire section of a house.  Needless to say, I had to put THAT block away for a little while and go sit in the time out chair to cool down.  I'm really starting to wonder why I even choose to paper piece this block when I could have appliqued it more easily.  Plus, the block wouldn't have really represented me or my country very well.  I think I may go back to the drawing board on this one.

There is a 3rd paper piecing project that I have all printed out and ready to go, but now I am doubting whether I should even start it.  I am not sure I have the patience.  But then again, perhaps 3rd time is a charm?

I also put together the backing for my Hands 2 Help quilt.  Now everything is ready to be basted.

Hands 2 Help 2013 - backing

This Wednesday...

Completed Projects:
  • Bee Blocks - We Bee Learning (4 blocks), Simply Solids (1 block), Make it Modern (2 blocks)
  • It's for the Birds Blog Hop items - you can see them here
On-going Projects:

AKA - "stuff I plan to touch this week or next".
  • Bee Blocks & BOM blocks - Lucky Star May (1 block), Guild BOM for charity (2 blocks)
  • Star of Africa Bee - I have really slipped behind.  Need February, March, April, and one more done.
  • Beginner Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery - Piecing the backing is in progress
  • Quilt for Hands 2 Help Charity Drive - basting in progress
  • Items for the "Say it with Flowers" Blog Hop starting at the end of May (my day is June 4th) - I have a plan, but haven't put in into action yet.
Back, Back, Back Burner:

These will likely be touched sometime in the future - I should really rename this category to "I want to remember that I have these projects, but realistically they won't be touched till 2015 because I'm too busy doing other stuff"
  • Handstitched Medallion Quilt - quilting in progress.  This is the project is going to take FOREVER!!
  • Discontinuity 2 - crib sized top is complete, but now I am thinking it really needs to be twin sized as all the girls are about to be in big girl beds.  On hold for now.
  • Curves Class goodies - catch up in progress, but on hold for now.   
  • Skill Builder BOM blocks (now 3 months worth) - I am saddened by putting these down here, as there are some wonderful blocks to make, but I just don't have time right now.
This week's stats:
Completed projects - 1 plus a handful of blocks
New projects - 0
Currently in Progress - 6 ish

Don't forget to link up any blocks you have been working on to the Building Blocks Tuesday post!

And as always, thanks for reading,

Jen

Quilter in the Closet

Linking up with
 WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

9 comments:

  1. Oh dear it sounds like your paper piecing mojo needs a good talking to! Please don't stress about the house block for the Star of Africa Bee for me it will be a long time before I get around to doing anything about the quilt anyway :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah sometimes a time out is what we all need from whatever it may be lol;) Sorry you are having troubles lately with the paper piecing. I do think your lone star is quite beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lovely work. sorry to hear it was giving you all some stress though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ugh! Paper piecing is like that for me too. It either all works wonderfully or it all goes to pot and you have to walk away. Your 'too small' block is really cute though! and I love the backing on the other quilt as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I feel your paper piecing pain. The mess in particular is ugly. I think it is worth it in the end though!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love that green star! So striking.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your star is beautiful! I keep a hand piecing project at the ready when i need to take a break... keeps me from throwing my sewing machine out the window!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aw Jen! That darn paper piecing! I definitely have a love/hate relationship with it. Maybe we need a support group.....or a glass of wine before we begin a project!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have sympathy. I'm paper piecing 100 blocks (simple ones though) for one quilt- got 60 done and I'm doing the Forest QAL which takes me hours to do each block so I'm only making four. I made two so far and got as far as printing the next one out. So yeah, after the big one is done I'm going to be doing some HSTs for a while to break it up...

    ReplyDelete

I had to shut off comments for a long time because I was just getting spammed. I'm going to try moderation for a while and see if that helps. Please leave me a comment.