Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Addiction is a Very Strong Word


Of all the things I could have chosen to become obsessed with, Midget Blocks aren't a bad choice. They are low in calories, highly adorable and will someday result in a finished quilt.
This block had me a little puzzled. It combines paper piecing with curves. The little paper pieced arcs were pretty straight forward. Tiny yes, but not complicated. That left the curves. I've never been successful at pieced curves, so I cut out a freezer template and decided to applique. The original pattern showed light pink where I used the muslin background color, but I couldn't find two pinks that played well together, so I changed it up a bit. I also thought the little triangles would show up better with more contrast.
Trimming and gluing gave me perfect little curves that were ready to position on top of the paper pieced arcs.
'I was having trouble with the paper pieced patterns being too small with on my first couple of blocks. I changed my printer settings, and now they are coming out out too big. I trimmed everything up to 2 inches, even though it would mean imperfect triangles. The bus came in the middle of the blind hem stitching. Sydney wanted to know why I was sewing it when it was already finished. I'll admit that it looked better while it was all just glued down, but I've never been one of the steam a seam people, so applique happened.

So, tada, here is block 20. Not nearly as difficult as I thought, but still makes me glad I am working in order or this pattern would have collected a lot of dust before I gave it a try.
Tonight is the Girl Scout leader meeting. Fliers went home this week with my contact information, so I've been spending a lot of time on the phone setting up new troops. I'll be coaching Academic Team this year, and practices start this week. The kids activities will all start kicking in soon as well, so I'm sure life will be back to normal soon enough and my Midget Mania will come to an end. Until then though, how cute is that little block? Seriously.

4 comments:

Quilter Kathy said...

Seriously adorable and I love it!
And yes...this is a fabulous addiction to have!

Amy said...

OMGoodness! Yeah---I QUIT!
#1--I'll never catch up now
#2--ummm....those TINY TRIANGLES!!!!!!!

;0)
You make me laugh, Angela!
Nah...I won't give up, but definitely slowing down (unlike you).

Candace said...

I can't even imagine.....

Darling Jill Quilts said...

Very cute!!! It looks awesome! I'm afraid to see how many I get done a week when I get started on them!