I Was That Guy

Thursday night I was that guy. You know the one. The guy who shows up to work or class or wherever with a stuffy nose and a cough. The guy who who clearly should have done everyone else a favour and stayed in bed. I try very hard in real life not be that guy. I'm no martyr. As an HR gal, I like to model responsibility and call in sick when I'm unwell. So it was quite unlike me to drag my sorry ass to The Workroom on Thursday night for quilt class. But the thing is, I had to go! We were doing our applique and drunkards path blocks, both of which were new to me. I needed instruction!

Applique is a technique that I've dreaded. Handsewing?! No thank you! One of the reasons I love to sew is the sewing MACHINE. I like power tools. So the idea of having to sew something by hand did not appeal. But guess what? I really liked making this block! Life is just full of surprises, isn't it? Our instructor taught us needle turn applique. There are many different applique techniques; I'd love to hear which one you use in the comments. It took me a while to decide how to lay out this block. We were given five different sized birds to make templates with. I chose the middle size and the smallest size. I think this layout worked well. I'm particularly fond of the background fabric, which is Lawn from Kate Spain's Central Park line. This line is basically sold out at most major online stores, but is still in stock at my LQS. I should probably pick up a yard before it's gone for good. Because we all know how much I need more fabric.

Sewing curves freaks a lot of people out. I learned that the key to doing it well is to use lots of pins. Our instructor had us finger press our pieces in half, and then in half again and then line up the creases when pinning. That would never have occurred to me on my own but made perfect sense. My curves worked out extremely well. I'm not sure I chose the right fabric for this block though. I decided to use four different fabrics, rather than two (most people in the class also chose four). We were told to chose any layout we wanted and were given a handout with about 20 examples. I think I would have had more options if I'd gone traditional and just selected two fabrics. In the end, there were only a couple layouts that looked good and I chose a basic circle for my block.

I'm tempted to make two more squares with the pink centres and perhaps redo the block in a different configuration. I have some time to decide, because we aren't putting the quilt top together for another two weeks.

All five blocks to date

I'm really glad I decided to go to class because I learned so much that I know I wouldn't have figured out on my own. Next week we are making our flying geese blocks. I've made them before, but I'm sure that our instructor will have new tips and tricks for me. I love this class! I hope I didn't get anyone sick!