Once again the temptation to add fussy-cut arc background pieces to what is already a complex block overcame me. It was worth the extra “fuss,” but is probably a good thing for my sanity that most of the fabrics I am using do not lend themselves to this treatment. I’m sure I’ll do it again a time or two. My planned layout will use 4 of this block, and with this one all my “Block A”s are done!
Another recent finish is this spiky one:
Doesn’t that aqua batik make a great arc background here? I love that fabric more every time I use it. These tall skinny spires are my favorites in terms of construction ease. For some reason the short, fat arc pieces give me a lot more trouble, and have a much higher ratio of oops-ripout-redo moments.
This one got a little extra attention as well. I added lines to the original template (the darkest blue strips), just for fun:
It may seem a weird kind of fun to a non-quilter to make this kind of work even more fiddly and time-consuming, but when you are well into Year 3 of a hand-pieced Grandmother’s Flower Garden project, with thousands of 3/4″ hexies, a few extra strips on a machine pieced block aren’t such a big deal.
Feels good to get a few more of these done! Official count is now at 12 completed blocks, which means I only need to make 24 more if I’m going to stick with my planned layout.
Anyone who is just tuning in (or would like a recap) can find pictures of all the blocks for this project — plus others — in my New York Beauty Flickr set.
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I just love your blocks and especially like the way you have fussy cut them. That was totally worth the effort!! The batik does work well for a background… love it! My goodness you make me want to break out my hexes!!
Admire your color sense so much … love how you mix batiks with other fabric.
Love your NY Beauty Blocks — are the patterns for sale somewhere?
Karen, if you go to the NYB sew-along flickr group (here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1900096@N20/ ) and look at the discussions, there are links to tutorials for all the blocks… they’re also all available as PDF downloads online somewhere but I can’t seem to find that link at the moment.
FYI #1: I am numbering my blocks from 1-36 as I make them, so I can keep count: this are NOT the block and week #s referred to in the sew-along.
FYI #2: The sew-along, tutorials, and PDFs are for 8″ finished blocks. I enlarged my foundation templates (on a photocopier) to deliver a 12″ block.
FYI #3: I have added extra lines (for extra pieces) on a couple of the arcs (as seen in one of the blocks here).
Do check out the flickr group for eye candy and inspiration!