Quilting Challenges

At the end of December I applied to be a tester, making scrap quilts for the Quiltmaker Magazine.  I answered an article asking for volunteers to make about 10 quilts over the next year.  I wasn't accepted as part of the team, but was given the opportunity to make test blocks for a book to be published later this year with 100 quilts blocks.

My editor (that sounds so official and important) sends me pattern instructions and I race to my sewing machine and choose fabrics to make up the block.  After the block is finished I fill out an evaluation form, photograph the block and email them back.

It's a lot of fun.  I see a block at a time instead of the whole quilt.  It allows me to think creatively by choosing fabric colors and combinations instead of being influenced by a photo in a magazine.  My favorite technique is patchwork, however; I don't get to choose which technique they send.  I get to test all kinds, whatever the editor sends I work on.

My least favorite is foundation piecing.  I just can't wrap my mind around the process.  Basically you sew pieces of fabric in a numbered order to a design on a piece of paper, stitching along the lines of the design on one side with the fabric on the other side.  Once the block is finished the paper is torn away and you have a multi pieced block with perfect points and angles.  It sounds simple but I am working with a design in reverse and often end up ripping out my seams to redo the step because my fabric didn't cover the area.

Foundation piecing example

I could probably make a quilt in the time it takes me to do one paper piecing block.  I have to admit this technique produces the most beautiful, complicated quilts you'd ever want to see.  I keep hoping if I try hard enough I'll finally get the hang of it and then I can have that beautiful quilt.  I'm thinking positive-- "I think I can, I think I can". . .