Labor of Love: Progress!

Since I did Step One, call Aunt Carolyn for instructions, over the weekend, I have made a teensy bit of progress on my Labor of Love quilt block. JM would be proud!!

So far I have managed to pre-wash and dry my fabrics.  And press them.

I'm told this is somewhat important, so that when I am measuring my pieces, the fabric lays flat and I cut the right size. Okay, if you say so.

I emailed Aunt Carolyn one more question -- how do I add a quarter inch seam allowance to the measurements, when the directions are for a square to be cut in half on the diagonal???

Answer: usually the sizes given in the directions already include the seam allowances. Whew! What a relief!

And I have --drumroll, please-- cut out the pieces!! 

Lots and lots of little squares and triangles. All of which need to be sewn together, just so, with corners lining up correctly and everything. My Aunt Carolyn stressed that part. Seems it matters a great deal to how well the pattern looks, having the corners all matched correctly. Okay, if you say so.

Cutting was an interesting ordeal.  First I had to figure out how to mark my measurements on the fabric, without staining it or ruining it. Hmmm.

Then I remembered something called paper piecing, which may or may not be what I wound up doing, but it did inspire me, so I drew my shapes on two colors of construction paper (one light, one dark, to go with the fabric). 

Then I cut those shapes out -- I drew every.single.piece. I would need to cut, so that I could keep count more easily.  I pinned the little paper patch onto a section of fabric, and proceeded to cut.

 

Halfway through I realized my pins were leaving holes that were somewhat visible. Oops. I scoured my house for an alternate and hit upon a brilliant solution -- scrapbooking adhesive! Sweet! The tape stuck to the paper, and peeled right off the fabric. Whew!

Side note: scrapbooking things like scissors, straight edge cutters, paper cutters and the like - not so good for cutting fabric. Not that I tried that or anything, I'm just sayin'.  

I cut the rest of the shapes that way so I'd not make any more pin holes, just in case.

 By late afternoon, I was done!  Look at my pretty pile of shapes--

Now I can begin sewing. Should be fun!

If only I had me some Project Runway to watch while I work.....nah, on second thought, I will probably need to concentrate a bit. I guess only sewing pros can watch TV while they sew. Or people who have a machine to make sure their lines are straight. Whatever.

Since I'm neither of those, I'll skip the TV and pay attention to what I'm doing. Music will work to keep me entertained.

Look for more LOL progress reports (umm, there's a great pun in there if you look for it and if you know forum/chat lingo....) as this project continues. I'm sure it will be full of laughs.