:: Scrappy New York Beauty Quilt Blocks | daily practice ::

Really it should say weekly practice;)  I’m still trying my best to complete one full block a week, but here we are at Friday and the time just hasn’t presented itself.

I ended up hosting two Open Studios for paper piecing this July.  It was fun to watch people dig through the scrap bins and see their blocks evolve.  I was able to sit and stitch a few here and there once the gang was humming along.  We made progress on Pickle Dishes, Wedding Rings, Square-In-A-Squares, Flying Geese and world problems.

Next Paper Piecing Open Studio date is Thursday, August 18th.

All the blocks are the same paper pieced pattern with variations on fabric placement.  I’ve used all prints in the arches the most.  It’s the easiest method to demonstrate right-sides together.  I love its look the most.

The wee winks that fussy cutting in some of the points and background creates is fun.

The second fabric variation I played with was light valued points with dark value background.  This was another sample idea to show students how value placement affects design.  Next time I’ll do the backgrounds so that the fabrics match where the quarters meet.  I think it will have a better effect.  I love that out of the 20 million scraps I have I managed to place two of the last pieces of the chevron right by one another.  Nice job.

The last variation is my favorite.  You can really go either direction with the value of the prints, the contrast with the Essex linen is there.

I’m not sure yet if all the block variations will stay or not, but clearly I’ll be making some pillows or a backing out of any that don’t stay.

To ingrain the process into a student’s mind we follow the little mantra of steps written on a Post-It note.  It eliminates some of the “what do I do next?” when learning.

When students exclaim that something hasn’t come together perfectly it’s nice to point out an example of that same issue in my blocks.  Fabric not to size, points not matching, points cut off… in the big picture they never noticed any of it;)

One of the biggest issues is skipping the step ‘check’ on the Post-It to make sure the scrap is large enough to cover the space.  My solution is to just tag on some fabric.  Some students started referring to it as ‘scabbing.’  In the big picture you would never notice it and you could even use fabric of a similar value if you were out of the original.

I want to have some secondary design involved in the final layout or at least some corner stones to hard scape the blocks.  Whatever happens will be scrappy and traditional in style.

Luckily I have plenty of time to figure it out, but 12 are done.  Of course there’s a Pinboard.

I added another Modern Improv Strip Piecing workshop date to August and there is one spot left.  I’ve got some fall classes brewing, blocks I’ve had on my bucket list for awhile.

Happy almost August folks:)  How’d that happen?