Okay, so paper piecing probably isn't *really* that hard. But there definitely is a steep learning curve. Today I tried my very first paper piecing block. Never done it before, but always wanted to try. I watched the Carol Doak DVD on how to do it last night ... for the third time. She makes it look so easy and I was just sure I could do five blocks this afternoon. Okay, I was aiming for two.
Instead, I spent the whole day trying to wrap my brain around where to put the fabric in order to have it cover the whole section it's supposed to cover. Obviously with the baby and all, I wasn't sewing constantly, but it's midnight and I just now completed the block. I told myself I wasn't going to sleep until I got it right! By the way, my colors are way off in this picture (remember I said it's midnight?) The colors are a true brick red, and a dark purple - closer to the picture of the one section, below. The block is named "Bat Wing" so I wanted it to be dark. I'm happy with it, and that's what counts, right.
The problem I was having was with where to put the big red piece in order to get it to cover the whole section. I literally must have sewn this same piece on at least 12-15 times - not exaggerating at all! It finally occurred to me that even though the purple section is labeled #1, it would work fine to put the red section down first, which made life simple! The block is not perfect, but it is done, and I've got over a hundred more chances to make a perfectly paper pieced block. So on to the next. Oh, and surprisingly, I still really like paper piecing. My seams line up and the block is the right size. But I'm sure I would be doing a lot of muttering under my breath if I didn't have that Carol Doak DVD. That thing is priceless! (My 7 year old used to think "priceless" meant free ... since it was without a price - lol). But seriously, I'm sure I couldn't have done this block without that DVD.
And sewing isn't the only thing I did today.
We went up to the lake this evening. It was already getting dark when we got there.
I was planning on picking chokecherries while the guys fished, but the chokecherries looked terrible. So plan B was to fish. The baby didn't agree with that plan. Instead he and I stayed in the truck and I nursed him. It was pretty chilly with a bit of wind anyway - not good "recovering from pneumonia" weather, so it was probably just as well. I'm going to try to find time to run up to the other lake tomorrow and see if the chokecherries are any better there. We'll see how the day goes. Now that I've finished that block, I'm tired and looking forward to sleeping - hopefully a long time. I think I might even sleep in tomorrow - a rare treat. There are a couple of yard sales to hit, and I have to pick up my co-op fruits and veggies, and my mother-in-law and I were considering making Oregon grape jelly tomorrow, so we'll just have to see how it goes.
The two year old was in his element with water and sticks. He loves to fish, but spent the whole time finding sticks to throw into the lake.
This is my favorite picture from the night. I love how the shadows look, and all the shades of blues. The lights in the distance are a very nice restaurant we like to go for dates occasionally. It was a nice outing, even if they didn't catch anything.
Instead, I spent the whole day trying to wrap my brain around where to put the fabric in order to have it cover the whole section it's supposed to cover. Obviously with the baby and all, I wasn't sewing constantly, but it's midnight and I just now completed the block. I told myself I wasn't going to sleep until I got it right! By the way, my colors are way off in this picture (remember I said it's midnight?) The colors are a true brick red, and a dark purple - closer to the picture of the one section, below. The block is named "Bat Wing" so I wanted it to be dark. I'm happy with it, and that's what counts, right.
The problem I was having was with where to put the big red piece in order to get it to cover the whole section. I literally must have sewn this same piece on at least 12-15 times - not exaggerating at all! It finally occurred to me that even though the purple section is labeled #1, it would work fine to put the red section down first, which made life simple! The block is not perfect, but it is done, and I've got over a hundred more chances to make a perfectly paper pieced block. So on to the next. Oh, and surprisingly, I still really like paper piecing. My seams line up and the block is the right size. But I'm sure I would be doing a lot of muttering under my breath if I didn't have that Carol Doak DVD. That thing is priceless! (My 7 year old used to think "priceless" meant free ... since it was without a price - lol). But seriously, I'm sure I couldn't have done this block without that DVD.
And sewing isn't the only thing I did today.
We went up to the lake this evening. It was already getting dark when we got there.
I was planning on picking chokecherries while the guys fished, but the chokecherries looked terrible. So plan B was to fish. The baby didn't agree with that plan. Instead he and I stayed in the truck and I nursed him. It was pretty chilly with a bit of wind anyway - not good "recovering from pneumonia" weather, so it was probably just as well. I'm going to try to find time to run up to the other lake tomorrow and see if the chokecherries are any better there. We'll see how the day goes. Now that I've finished that block, I'm tired and looking forward to sleeping - hopefully a long time. I think I might even sleep in tomorrow - a rare treat. There are a couple of yard sales to hit, and I have to pick up my co-op fruits and veggies, and my mother-in-law and I were considering making Oregon grape jelly tomorrow, so we'll just have to see how it goes.
The two year old was in his element with water and sticks. He loves to fish, but spent the whole time finding sticks to throw into the lake.
This is my favorite picture from the night. I love how the shadows look, and all the shades of blues. The lights in the distance are a very nice restaurant we like to go for dates occasionally. It was a nice outing, even if they didn't catch anything.
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