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Paper Piecing Madness

rodezzy | Posted in Quilting and Home Decor on

The only progress I accomplished with quilting this weekend is to finally finish putting together a paper piecing project that has been in the works for about 9 years, since I first started quilting.  No, I haven’t been working steadily on it for 9 years, I just have blocks in it that go back 9 years. 

They are blocks left over from past projects, practice blocks, and blocks I just had to try.  I started gathering the blocks and making this paper pieced quilt in 2004.  I was going to make a quilt for the 2006 quilt show orchestrated by my quilting guild and call it “Paper Piecing Madness”.  Well, it has been madness to still be putting it together (giggle).  Some of the blocks were specifically chosen for the project, and others as I stated above.  On any given night, I would drag out the bag containing the blocks and start to put it together in sections.  I would lay it out on my queen sized bed and start to arrange the sections into a quilt.  Then I would sew blocks into strips, and then larger sections, using strips of fabric to align them together.  Then I would get bored and put what I had accomplished back in the bag and forget about it for another year.  So, finally late Friday night after spinning my wheels about a new quilting project, I pulled it out again and set it on the table for the mornings sewing project.  I got up Sat. morning and put it together.  Then I started removing the papers and got antsy and bored again with it.  It’s laying to the side again.  Maybe, just maybe I’ll find the determination to get those papers out this week. 

Wish me well.  I don’t know why I’m so neglectful with this quilt.

 

Rodezzy, Fiber Artist

Replies

  1. User avater
    ThreadKoe | | #1

    It is because it is not a unified piece. It is bits and pieces from everywhere and does not speak to you. The only voice it has is a guilty one! Picking out paper is not fun either. It sounds like a "in front of TV, favorite show" kind of project. Time to put this project to bed Girl! You need to find a reason to finish it. Who are you going to gift it to, or where are you going to show it? Cathy

    1. rodezzy | | #3

      I want to put it in the Quilt Show, but I'm lacking inspiration.  I really do like it.  I'll also get a picture of it tonight to post tomorrow, and you can see it.  I do love it, it's just that I am project challenged at times.  Some things I can work on that are tedious and time consuming and never squirm a single bit.  Others, I squirm and squeal like a stuck pig about doing it.  Just like fitting my own body to make clothes for myself.  I just dread taking time to sewing anything piece of clothing that takes too much detail to do.  Like lining a jacket or anything.  I just Hate It!  And I shouldn't.  I know I could make beautiful stuff for myself, but I get a mental block when it gets too complicated.  That's why I make unlined jackets and coats, crochet and knit coats, and let the fabric speak to the Wow Factor, and not my sewing skills.  Making the doll, Cherl was time consuming and tedious, but I went ahead and did it with a smile.  What is wrong with that picture?  giggle.

      1. User avater
        ThreadKoe | | #5

        One of life's little obstacles, designed to keep you on your toes. Just think how happy you will be when it is finally DONE! Cathy

        1. rodezzy | | #6

          Yes, it will be a thrill and sense of accomplishment to finish it.  I'll get there, I know I will.  But it may not be in time for this quilt show either.  Everything has to be registered by Sept. 27. 

          And then, who knows.  I have a knack for doing things under pressure.  giggle. 

          Our quilt shows are every other year.  And I did two "quilt-as-you-go" quilts in September 2006 for that show.  giggle.  Queen sized at that.  I measure most quilts to the size of my bed unconciously when doing a design of my own.  I just plan out the size of the blocks to sizeof the top surface of my bed. 

          Except baby quilts and lap quilts.  I tend to focus on sizing accordingly to a quilt book design using the number needed for a particular sized block for a particular sized quilt.  

          1. User avater
            ThreadKoe | | #7

            AhHA! That may be the problem. You may have become overwhelmed by the size. A queen size quilt is big. Its been around around so long, that it has taken on gigantic proportions. In your mind it has become an albatross. (I have a couple of half knit sweaters like that). Time to move that baby out. Cathy

          2. rodezzy | | #8

            Sounds good.

  2. starzoe | | #2

    Don't despair - it took me seven years to finish my first (and only) paper piecing quilt. It was finished in about 1978 and by that time the orange/green colour chosen was out of date and now the quilt is covered by a duvet cover but still in use. It wasn't the colour that put me off finishing it, it was just that life interfered.

    1. rodezzy | | #4

      That's so funny.  But those colors are back in style now.  Have you seen the new clothes and funiture out today?  Boy, talk about coming full circle. 

      The other funny thing is, this is not my first paper pieced quilt.  I have made several.  I love paper piecing.  The three quilts I made for the returning soldiers are paper pieced.  I have made several wall hangings too!  That's whats so ridiculous to me, why can't I get this one out of the way.  It is the biggest. 

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