Sugar Block End is in Sight

With lots of perseverance and the help of my trusty seam ripper, I managed to complete the block that turned me totally off paper piecing from my Sugar Block Club last year. Though not perfect, I think it looks pretty darn good and from a distance you wouldn't notice the imperfections.

This orange looks very red in the picture, but trust me it is orange. My daughter told me she thought this block was pretty. I'm glad she likes it because I am never making it again.

And then, pleased with myself for finishing all my 2013 blocks, I laid them out to take a picture.

All...11 blocks??

That's right. Somehow I managed to forget a block and ended up with just 11 blocks. So I looked up which block I was missing. It turned out to be the Star of Wonder Block and...

Pretty block from Stitchery Dickory Dock.

...it is paper pieced! I wanted to cry. And laugh. And shout. And drink wine. Instead, I calmly printed out the templates and spent the next few days working on the last block.

I really like how this shows the before and after of paper piecing. For a newbie it was hard to imagine at first, but as I've done a few now this trimming stage is the most rewarding.

The points weren't as finicky on this one and I was very, very careful with my pinning which is why, I think, this block was less frustrating than the other one.

Final block!

A few things I filed away for future paper piecing:

1. My quilty friend A recommended tiny pins for pinning the seams. She even bought me some. She was right, they helped.

2. My quilty friend C suggested I pin the block for precise lining up by looking at the front instead of the back. That helped a great deal!

3. My new machine is so awesome and I could more easily play with stitch length. On my machine a 1.4 stitch length ended up being perfect for the pre-perforating and piecing.

4. With time and experience comes greater skill. I think I also struggled less with this last block because I've been sewing for an extra year!

I'm glad I'm done, though I think this will remain a UFO for a bit still because I feel no inspiration to tackle the sashing. I know I am going to do a scrappy binding and use the famous IKEA nummer print on the back. This quilt will end up staying home...I picture it as a hanging-out-on-the-couch kind of quilt.

And I might do paper piecing again. But only for something really spectacular that I can't resist!

Lynn