Saturday, May 10, 2014

When I started stitching this morning I had already decided on my title for today’s blog. I had high hopes of getting three paper-pieced blocks done today and I was going to tell you how I was turning into a paper-piecing machine!

I had picked out the pattern and the fabric for my first card of the day. Yes, it was paper-pieced and it went together very well in spite of using 6 different pieces in a two-inch square. I finished it off a little differently than usual; once I post my April cards you’ll see what I mean.

Next up was my Farmer’s Wife block. It looked like it should be simple enough; very clearly the pieces called for a dark, medium and a light. I struggle with the blocks that aren’t symmetrical though as I often have a dark where a light should be. I had it all laid out before I stitched anything and was confident enough to sew four of the pieces at the same time. Not so fast though. When I went to put the four pieces together one had a dark where it should have had a light. So I made a copy of the piece, changed the placement of the dark and the light fabrics, and realized I had the same pattern as I had in the first place. Third time lucky and the block came together.

The problem is that the paper-piecing pattern is reversed to the pattern I see in the book. That complicates things enough, but when I photocopied the pattern pieces I think they put the colours back into the pattern that shows in the book. Now I’m wondering if I print the paper-piecing pattern on regular paper and then photocopy it onto paper-piecing paper (much like newsprint) maybe the pattern will show as it does in the book. I’m too tired to sort through that today though.

I still had a bit of sewing time left so I cut out some pieces for appliquéing for my pizza box block. This is the last block of the series and I’m looking forward to receiving a pizza box of blocks at the next Guild meeting. There are certainly some boxes I don’t want to get though, but the drawing and trading will make for a fun evening.

I finished Pat’s third pair of socks last night. The first pair was a test for size; the other two pair started as tube socks but then were ripped back and I added a heel and adjusted them a bit for the sizing. I’m not sure what I’m going to work on next. I’m a little tired of socks, but when I pointed out to Alex that he had holes in two pairs of his socks in two days he suggested (well actually he told me) I needed to knit him a pair!