Pieces that make up the bigger picture
Small, futzy blocks aren't usually my speed, but the units above have been rockin' my world since receiving Jodi Godfrey's pattern for Red Sky at Night.
From top left going clockwise we have Square in a Square, Hourglass, House, Flying Geese, Pinwheel, and Half-Square Triangles. These are not blocks in themselves; Jodi refers to them as units. I capitalized them because, well, at three and a half inches square, with the exception of the Geese, measuring 3.5" X 2", these units have stretched my machine sewing muscles like no others. The Honeycomb Squares quilt was a lotta work, but nothing compared to what RSAN will be.
Previously if I wanted complicated, English paper piecing sufficed. It still does, and certainly will with this pattern because some of the paper pieces are pretty dang little. My idea of enjoyable futziness is basting papers, then sewing them by hand; give me all the angles you want, lol! Using my machine, and loads of scant-quarter-inch seams, DUDE! A little mind blowing initially, now more like skill-expanding. And that's GREAT. Really. I wouldn't have finished the Pinwheel if I wasn't having fun.
Having said that, I won't make another pinwheel, in part that while I had cut and sewn enough pieces for two practice units, when trimming them I messed up one, leaving three 2" half-square triangles without the necessary fourth for the pinwheel. And while it would be nice to have another pinwheel, going to all the trouble isn't worth the effort. There are forty-eight machine blocks in this quilt, another thirteen EPP blocks. I'd have to make four pinwheels if I wanted to truly go the pinwheel block route, but a Double Windmill block only requires a single pinwheel, and I won't even make a new one, merely use the practice unit. I know, lots of details in this post that probably don't matter much to anyone but me. But this quilt is for myself, and in writing all this here, I am recalling how much of a noob I am at this kind of sewing, and that despite being twenty-nine times two, I can still wrap my head around something previously avoided like the plague.
Insert laughing emoji RIGHT HERE! Or maybe a facepalm; again EPP is my go-to when I'm in the mood for concentrating hard. And I have pondered the possibility that I'll enjoy the machine sewing aspect of Red Sky at Night more than the EPP if the pieces are as small as they seem, according to the pattern. Now, that's a pretty unlikely scenario, but I won't discount anything because I am having so much fun making HSTs and the rest of the units. Okay, I'm not keen on the Flying Geese. They're hard to trim and require a lot of steps and the notion of making an entire quilt out of them.... Uggg, not my cuppa tea. Yet I'm sure lots of folks who sew might consider my obsession with hand-stitching equally bizarre. Good to keep perspective at a time of great leaps of faith.
In the meantime, above is a block I fashioned on my own yesterday, an alternative from one needing House units. I swapped out the corner solid blocks for HSTs and made a definitive X, hah! Below is the actual block.
I adore the swans, courtesy of Anna Maria Horner. Center block is Kaffe Fassett. Houses are a print from Joann Fabrics that while extremely pretty, the actual fabric is stiff and not conducive to hand-sewing. However it's great under a presser foot, and handy when I needed something bright upon which to learn the necessary techniques. Still much to learn, but in trying new things, not only do I weed out what is more work than they're worth, but I embrace what previously made me cringe and now elicits deep satisfaction and the desire to make more. Future Me smiles while Past Me smirks. It's okay, I tell Past Me: One day you'll LOVE it.
