Monday 5 March 2012

Design Wall Monday - March 5

The incremental changes to the Monday Mystery continue.  Last Monday, we put together the small 1/2 square triangles.  I'm still auditioning corner settings, while I wait for the official plan. Today the next clue will, I hope, finish the blocks and then it will just be borders left to go.

The other blocks on the wall are from Dancing with the Stars.  The March package is available, and the first of two blocks is complete.  This one is Viennese Waltz, and Polka will join it soon.

I was a bit worried about this block of the month.  I don't do paper piecing in general. I tried it several years ago, and it was a complete disaster, so I swore off the whole thing and have studiously avoided any project that required paper piecing since then.  However, I fell in love with this quilt when I saw it, and I just couldn't pass it up.  So, I am commited to 30 blocks, paper pieced.  Last month, I cheated.  The block was pretty simple, so I converted it to regular piecing, and put together those 3 connecting blocks.  But the star blocks are not going to work that way.  So, this weekend I jumped in. Drawing on my vague memory of my last attempt at paper piecing, I carefully cut the pieces, reduced the stitch length on my machine, and made one part of the first block.

Imagine my surprise when it actually came out correctly, and all the points matched.  Eight more block sections, and I was able to assemble my first ever paper pieced block!  Now I can't wait to start block number 2.  And I'll even do next month's connecting blocks with paper piecing.

Also on my design railing, is the next quilt I need to quilt.  I like this quilt a lot, and want to do it justice with my quilting, but I'm not sure what to do.  I feel like I want to echo the increasing sizes of the stars, but I don't know if that would work, or exactly how to do that.  What would you do in the star points and plain areas, given the varying sizes?

Check out Judy's blog for more design walls today.

4 comments:

  1. I love your design railing :) That is a gorgeous quilt. Figuring out how to quilt something, especially something you want to be special is the hardest part for me. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

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  2. Dancing with the Stars looks like fun! I love to paper piece and hope you will become more comfortable with it. Also love your blue and white star! I agree that it needs the perfect quilting to set it off.

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  3. Your projects are all looking nice! It takes me forever to figure out how to quilt something too. I did find a blog called "quilting is my therapy" and she has some good posts on how to decide how to quilt a project. Maybe it will inspire you.

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  4. I hope your most recent experience will keep you paper piecing. Once you get the hang of it (as it sounds you have) you'll not want to avoid it. You will need to get the hang of it each time you start a new project, but that time will reduce with every start. Love your Dancing with the Stars blocks. The project looks like one for me. Have fun with it. I think your echo quilting sounds perfect in white thread. Sandi

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