SECOND LETTER

 Here is my some of my process of making the next letter in this project.  As in the first letter, I'm using the original freezer paper pattern.  I divided this letter up into parts and made the individual parts and then sewed them all together.  Here I show just my process for just one part.

I take the pattern of the part I'm making from tracing paper and use tailor's chalk to mark the sewing lines onto the fabrics.

Then add a 1/4" seam allowance and cut the pieces out.

I pin the beginning corners together to line them up exactly.

I use an awl to keep the edges of the fabrics lined up.

With this method I can get pretty close to the pattern.

Then I cut the curve on the opposite side.

This curve wasn't laying flat.  I pressed it to show how it should have lined up, then re-sew in the crease. This will make it flat.

I pin the pattern and then trim. Starting with oversized pieces allows for some adjustments before trimming.

I didn't get the curve sewn perfectly on the line.  However it isn't that important in this project.  What is important is that the black is the correct width where it will line up with the section next to it so the line will look like one continuous line.

All of this oversized parts sewn together that now need to be trimmed.

I pressed the original freezer paper pattern onto it, lining up the important lines.

Then I trimmed a 1/4" seam allowance on the two sides.  I'll still leave the top and bottom until the whole piece is together.

MORE SCRAPS AND MORE

 Cutting out all of these curves and strange shapes produces a lot of scraps.

And trying and rejecting different colors does too.

Here's how it ended today.  The last few rows are not sewn on yet.

CHOREOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

 I'm attending a 4-week workshop with Irene Roderick every Tuesday this month.  I was distracted by the 'Trinity' project the first week, but I've started on a new project that comes straight from one of my daily doodles (homework she has us doing). I'm calling it Amity Prime.

It's a stylized flower.  My doodle has five petals, so I drew out one petal onto freezer paper so I would have a 'pattern' to get the sizes correct.  Hopefully, it will all fit together.

I'm not sure about the colors yet.  I'm going to play it by ear, picking colors as I go.

I'm not even sure how I'm going to piece this...or how the background will look.  It's a project in motion.

FREEZER PAPER SEWING

 I didn't think about reversing the pattern when I drew it out on the giant freezer paper, so now I'm having to add the registration marks on the front (in the seam allowance).   This is the opposite of how I've done it in the past.  Live and learn.

I've settled on the colors and started cutting and sewing.

and it begins

Half way.

PATTERN MAKING

 Using the giant roll of freezer paper, 48" wide, I added more to make the 62" width.  I found a heat proof tape (golden) that make this process a lot easier.

This quilt will be 63" wide by 84" length.

I drew the pattern on the freezer paper, using a trammel to draw the circle's arcs.

It worked great (other than having to tape it to the floor because I don't have a table big enough).  Of course, the dogs wanted to help and I had to keep chasing them off.

MAKING TEMPLATES

 I finally got around to making the freezer paper templates for my upcoming project (no name yet).  It's a design I saw on Instagram made by graphic designer, Matt W. Moore.  He has given me permission to make a quilt from it.

Darrell made the file which I sent to a printer who printed it out very large.

First, I traced the design onto freezer paper.

Then I marked all of the parts and pieces with orientation, registration marks and which color fabric it should be.

NEW BLOCK

 I designed a new block for my Gifts project.  It was almost fully formed in my head.  I did some erasing and ended up with a better block.

It is "The Things That Get In Your Way".

BELONGING

 I spent a good hour fussing with the color choices to do this last part on my Transparency block.  It can be quite frustrating not having the exact fabrics colors you want - and I have immediate access to more than most do, I imagine. 

I ended up changing every piece at least once.  I wish I had taken pictures of all of the different iterations.  But I did get these two.

Then there was a lot of pinning to get some of these pieces together.

Here's how it ended up.  I wish that one part had been just a shade darker, but that was the best choice I had access to.

I tried a lot of different color placements and ended up with a pile of rejects for the scrap bin:

TRANSPARENCY AND CURVES

 I took a zoom workshop from Carolina Oneto today called Transparency and Curves.  It was about transparency and curves.

She had a great presentation about the 'Chromatic Circle' and how she achieves 'transparency' effects in her quilt making.  I gleaned a few pearls from her.

I was already familiar with the technique she uses for sewing the intersecting curves together and I sort of jumped ahead and made a more difficult block then she was teaching.  [I was the rebel student].

I'm using the palette of colors for my 'Gifts' quilt - that added a degree of difficulty also.

Here is what I had finished by the end of the workshop.

Nicole took Darrell and I out to lunch for my birthday at Smarty Pants Garage restaurant in Burien.  We had a great time.  We haven't eaten in a restaurant in a loooong time.  We had to sit outside and it was a little chilly, but we really enjoyed it and the food was terrific.

When we got home I did a little more work on my project:

SOLSTICE BLOCK FOUR

 We got a take out lunch from Cafe Con Leche and took it down to Diagonal Park and sat at a very cold picnic table to eat.  It was beautifully sunny, but a little too breezy and cold, day.  

Then I spent the afternoon in the studio making the fourth blocks of the Solstice Quilt. 

LONG DISTANCE WORKSHOP

I took a workshop, this morning, with PapperSaxSten, Jenny Haynes.  She was broadcasting from the UK and there were participants from all around the globe.  Some had to rise very very early, some were participating in their evenings.  I was lucky in that it started at 9am for me.

She was teaching us how to make her Floating Stairs quilt.  She discussed drafting the pattern, and different variations.  She showed us how to use freezer paper for paper piecing and talked about sewing curves.

It was a very informative class and I really appreciated her expertise and willingness to share.

I haven't started my project yet, but soon, I hope.

PARTS MADE

Okay, all of the parts and pieces have been made and are up on  the wall.  

I noticed that when you pull the freezer paper off of the backs of the ones that have been pieced with the 1/4" lines in them it pulls the threads of the seam allowances, making a bit of a mess.  All of the stray threads need to be trimmed so they don't shadow through to the front.  I figured it would be best to do them at the time, instead of waiting to do them when the top is all together (which I never seem to do).

Now I just have to sew them together. 

I got a few sewed together today.

Darrell and I took the dogs to Seward Park for a walk.  We haven't been there in a while - I had forgotten how special it is.