Thursday, July 9, 2015

the big bandaid


You may remember that I kinda wore myself out
by biting off a little more than I could easily chew.

I persevered,
fought with my supposed-to-be-perfect blocks
(that weren't at all perfect)


But I also ended up not liking paper piecing at all.

it called to me,
pleading with me me to give FPP another try.

celestial_orbs_full
source

So I basically begged Sylvia to let me pattern test it ;-)


Things started off well enough.


Sylvia's pattern is very well written.
(she has a real gift for getting the point across succinctly.
I
do not possess this gift)
She used just enough illustrations to clarify,
and everything fit together perfectly.
(everything did not fit together perfectly on my previous FPP adventure. 
I may have mentioned... ;-)


Even the curves,
which are 'supposed' to be scary,
weren't scary at all!
In fact, I didn't even need to pin them as much as she recommended.

I did, however, find that I needed to put a pin on each side of my center pin,
otherwise the fabric shifted a smidge.


Okay.
So the paper piecing part went well.
And the putting them together with the melons part went well.


But then, 
I sorta ruined it.

Well, I didn't ruin it entirely;
it's a perfectly functional
patriotic table runner/topper,
but I did ruin the wow factor
and managed to turn it into 
- what my kids say - 
looks like a band-aid.


And let's face it, they're right.
I took a perfectly stunning piece
and made

giant bandaid.

{{ face-palm }}


Even so, 
I'm proud of myself.


I revisited hard for me things
- foundation paper piecing -

I tried new things
 - curves, pattern testing
(which is tougher than it sounds, for a girl who has a hard time following patterns)
and bias binding -
(I also made continuous bias binding for the first time)
I even tried a new FMQ design
which served as excellent practice for the commissioned quilting I started on last week.

(and really ~ after distancing myself from it for a week,
I've decided that it still is a very fine table runner.
It's just not quite as fine as it could have been...)

binding sewn down on the back by machine. 

I'm still not a huge fan of FPP,
but I am a big, big fan of this pattern.
but I hope to revisit the pattern at some point
and make a whole quilt
that really shines.


I think this pattern would be a  great way to dip your toes into FPP,
as the stars are not very complex.
(plus, combined with the curved piecing
they really pack a punch!)


So
tell me,
are you a paper piecer?

Linking up with 'happie' Amanda Jean :-)

9 comments:

  1. It doesn't look like a bandaid to me at all! It's perfectly lovely and looks great! The fabrics are terrific, too. I LOVE paper piecing because I could never get such perfect stars without it. It gets much easier with practice, so maybe you should make a matching "bandaid?" :)

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  2. Oh Kids always manage to put us in or place! Giant band aid! I can see it, but it is a beautiful table runner anyway! Lovely finish!

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  3. These are amazing! I have paper pieced before but frequently. I can see the resemblance but only after it was mentioned :)

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  4. All I can say is I loved your runner so much I put the pattern on my wish list at Craftsy...! Great post.

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  5. It is a stunning pattern, but yes, now that you've said it, it looks like a giant patriotic plaster! Oops, but maybe if it had a plate or a vase of flowers on top of it it would go back to being wonderfully starry!

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  6. Good on you for trying FPP again - this looks amazing! And just ignore the children- I had one of my pupils tell me that the new scarf I was wearing, that I adored, looked like a tea-towel (dish-towel). Sigh. It does. Children...so blunt. Won't stop me wearing it though!

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  7. ah, Ladies ~ thanks for your sweet words. You make me smile :-)
    ~ Tracy

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  8. Hahaha! Oh, my gosh...you had me laughing out loud as I read! It is a perfectly beautiful bandaid...though I'm sure I wouldn't have thought that if it hadn't been pointed out.
    In all seriousness, it really is a great pattern, and a perfectly lovely table runner. Personally, I am not a fan of paper piecing - mainly because you have to pull the paper out, which I find unbearably tedious. Crazy, I know. I will find the stuff that can be left inside the project if I ever decide a pp project that begs to be made!

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  9. What a stunning accomplishment! I comfort myself with the idea that there are only so many shapes in the world, so everything looks like *something* else if you look close enough. Cloud gazing is proof enough of that :-)

    I'm glad the pattern went well, and the end product is lovely, I thought "American Flag" because of the red, the blue and the stars and stripes, but to each his or her own, I guess!

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