It's Worth the Effort

I love foundation paper piecing.  I know it drives some of you mental, but for me there is nothing better.  It gives me an excuse to pull out my crayons.  The template tells you where to stitch, so you don't have to pay attention to that quarter inch seam, AND you get the pointiest of points in your final block.  Win win win.

Over the weekend I pulled out my trusty star templates and started stitching.  Much to my surprise they came together WAY easier than I thought they would.  Only once did I really really mess it up, but that was my own fault for sewing while tired.

I was very lucky to not run out of my chosen fabrics. I had forgotten how much wastage there is when paper piecing and I really wanted to have some left over to pull these colors/prints through to the borders.  I came quite close to the end of my red pin fabric, but squeezed out every last drop from the FQ I had.  Whew!

I have all 8 sections pieced now and I'm trying to put them together in quarters, halves and then into the final block.  Now here my system of simple sewing on the line is breaking down.  I am not getting the lovely matching seams and pointy points that I would like to have.  I think it's because I can not quite feel the seams to align them with the two pieces of paper on either side.  The four layers are also quite thick to sew through and a little slippy with the paper running along the faceplate.  I have started to rip out the paper from two of my sections to see if I have better luck stitching them together.  I will let you know how that goes.

With any luck, I will have a finished block tonight.  I have to start thinking now about borders and placement.  Will this block go on point? Or what borders will I add to bring it to 15 inches?  I'll probably mess with a few options and ask your thoughts on IG (@fluffysheepquilting) later this week.

The two quarters on the right have been joined together, so there's a bit gap
with the "used" seam allowance.

My, these look dingy in the dark evening light. They're really quite vibrant
and pretty....honest!

In other news, did you see that Rapture, by Pat Bravo, has arrived in the shop?  This line is just gorgeous and, as with all Art Gallery Fabric prints the texture of the fabric is just divine.  This was supposed to arrive at FSQ back in December, but was stuck in Korea for nearly 2 months!  I nearly cried when it finally arrived!