And while the sewing machine was out...

I had gotten this fabric pack several months back from Allison Aller and pulled it out today. Its a fun little packet with fabric, pattern, trims, buttons, floss, and stitch info. All in my favorite colors to boot. I had mentioned yesterday that I rarely used patterns so I decided to do this block with the pattern she supplied so I could compare the 2 ways of doing it. The technique for this pattern was more of a paper piece method than the flip and stitch I generally use.

Here is the pattern I traced onto the muslin. As in paper piecing, I had to put the fabric on the reverse side and sew on this side with the lines. Its alot harder than it would seem to be and if you aren't careful you can short yourself and become confused with the mirroring of the image. I got myself in a few jams along the way.

Here is the end result of the 8" finished block. The red triangle in the top left corner was a place I shorted myself in the blue/green square. Well in CQ, no problem. Again in the mirroring of the image I got turned around and put the red dragon brocade and the purple top corner opposite of how I wanted it which put the red next to the orange. It was very hard to get the dragon motif lined up when I couldn't see it from the other side. The line between these 2 pieces I have more straight than the angle the pattern called for too but I could hardly rip this out as it is very fine silk. I think it came out striking with the fabric Allie chose and I am sure that the embellishments she included will just set it off. I really wanted Allie to see that I finally did it instead of keeping it in a basket! My sister was the recipient of the other packet and it will be neat to see what she does with hers. (Thats a gauntlet threw out there, sis!)

I have a really bad habit of hoarding scraps. Not miniscule scraps but any 2-3" piece (which may be miniscule to some) will not see the trash. I have several baskets that I use and I am quite organized with it. But today the scraps left over from this block found themselves directly sewn up into a wonky block that can be squared up and used in another project. I already see some weird visions in this block. I tilt my head to the left and it looks like a tent, I tilt my head to the right, it looks like a birdhouse. Yeah, maybe I am losing it. LOL , but I'll bet you'll try to see what I see !!

I took the scraps from yesterdays blocks and sewed them up into some small oblong squares to have for more needlebooks when the mood strikes. But it looks like I have a few blocks on hand for awhile and I can put the dustcover on the sewing machine for a bit.

PS. The "song block" from a few posts back was not saying for me and definately not keeping me interested. It can sit for awhile.

Till the next time...