Hmmm. I probably need to change a few things…
Unless I’m happy to finish this quilt some time around 2025, I’ll probably need to use a different block design 😦
I’ve made the test block. It’s really lovely, but it’s very, very time consuming to make by hand. I know this was the first one, but it took hours to cut, mark, stitch and press. And I do want a block I can make by hand. Just not one with eight Y-seams and a central 9-patch of 1 inch squares…
I also made life harder for myself by using a couple of directional fabric prints. That said, it wasn’t hard to make, just very, very fiddly. And the hand piecing process isn’t hard either, so long as you remember just a few simple rules.
Tradition has it that you don’t press any seams till you’ve finished assembling it. That didn’t work so well for me – I like to see what I’m doing – and I don’t think it’s necessary so long as you have a plan for how the seam allowances will lie.
This block can now go into my basket of orphan blocks, waiting for me to find a use for it. Or maybe one day it’ll form part of a scrappy sampler quilt, all different designs.
Oh, and I want to reassure you that the Quilt Supervisor was hard at work, keeping my nose to the grindstone.
It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it…
talltalesfromchiconia 
Your supervisor is very adorable 😍 and looks like the piecing of this block just wiped him out 😄
Yes, he says he was tolly zorsted… and can I please pick something a bit easier!
🤣
agree…with this
I love the effect but I can see the work in it… contemplating it makes me feel as the Mouse looks 😴
Those teeny squares in the middle nearly had me chucking it across the room. Glad I finished, glad I’m not making 29 more!
A beautiful block indeed, but no point continuing if it’s going to exhaust The Supervisor like that.
It wasn’t wasted effort for either of us, it’ll get used at some point, but I’m not prepared to put that much time into one single block. Time to hunt for a simpler alternative.
At least you know now.
The single block will get used in something I’m sure – it’s lovely.
I think you always had a glossy black dog in mind when choosing your colour scheme – it sets him off so well.
I still love the block but I can’t see myself getting faster enough to make using it for a whole quilt viable. I’m searching for an alternative… And Mouse? He seems to gravitate towards bright colours as if he knows!
I blame Mouse who is asleep on the job, no wonder it was fiddly.
No, no! He had his head on my foot most of the time, making sure I kept at it. No wonder he was tired!
I have every faith you’ll find a different block that is less fidlly to do by hand!
As for Mouse – he looks like nothing would wake him !
One of his most entertaining tricks is sleeping with his eyes open – which is exactly what he’s doing in that photo.
Change to EPP? That may be quicker?
It would be, but I want a handwork block to take on trips with me… I’ve been scribbling away to come up with some ideas. Hopefully I’ll find something soon.
Even though you aren’t going to use it, your hand piecing is fantastic, Kate!
Gosh, thanks! I enjoyed the stitching, it was just the faffing about with cutting and marking and pressing tiny pieces that was tedious. And I expect that block will get used eventually for something 🙂
I love Mouse’s head on the pillow 🙂 He certainly knows how to nap in style too! Since I only hand piece and quilt I felt your exhaustion in piecing this block. This is why I have always stuck to the simpleist of designs to work. Way to time consuming to get anything done. With that said – the block is GORGEOUS!
He’s allowed on our bed too, so long as ‘his’ blanket is down first, and I often come in to find him with his head on my nightdress. He likes something soft under that bony body….
I’m taking a second look at the block, and wondering how much pain I could save myself by making the centre one piece instead of 9. There’d still be 8 Y-seams, but I guess they’d get easier with (loads of) practice! More testing needed.
I am a dissenting voice I guess – I make a lot of doll quilts by hand, so one-inch squares don’t seem too awful. I wonder could you combine paper-piecing for that middle bit – would that help at all?
I suppose I wouldn’t mind either if the quilt was also going to be doll-sized! If I was going to include a paper-pieced section, I’d have to prepare a few of them in advance to ensure the block stays portable for handwork on trips. It just seems to add complexity…
I think you and Mr. Mouse should trade places. 🙂 Plan B?
Somehow, I don’t see him sitting and stitching blocks while I snooze… But it’s an enchanting image, with those long elegant paws holding a needle!
It does make one smile. 🙂
It’s nice to have a dog by your side helping. Very nice. Hugs to you and lots of pets to Mouse.
Yes, we all need the foot-warmer, the draft-excluder – oh, and let us not forget the trip-hazard lying just behind our chair that we don’t know about! Mouse thanks you kindly for the strokies 🙂
SMILE!!!
Boy, you really wore him out! 😉 It’s a pretty block, too bad it’s not going to work out the way you’d hoped. But now you get to try something else!
I’m going to give a modification a go, so it gets one more try before I abandon it. I’ll also test an alternative.
It is a beautiful orphan. I’m sorry about that but I would rather you had something that really is portable and can be done a little sooner than 2025. You mentioned a single block for the centre and that might help, if you had a fabric that my quilter best friend calls a fussy cut picture fabric. It’s a bit wasteful but can be very lovely.
I know you will find the solution. Then poor Mouse (and you) will not be so zorsted.
Yes, I’m thinking a fussy cut centre block might be the answer. I’ll try one of those to see how much time it cuts from the overall process. Meanwhile, I have a couple of other blocks to test as complete alternatives, also pretty.
I have no suggestions on what you should create whilst away…but I’m sure the commentators here have given you food for thought.
When I’m away it’s all about glue and paper – some I may have taken, paper acquired like guide booklets; bits of other things I find and always I end up with something from a fabric shop – like some tiny pieces of material which I then cut up…and stitch down with whatever threads I had tucked into my art-bag of tricks…
For me, time away is the perfect rationale for Slow Sewing. No deadlines, time to sit in the sun with something to make that doesn’t need a sewing machine and a big table and my entire fabric cupboard. So I’m looking forward to identifying what I’ll take with me so I can start preparing it in advance 🙂
Sometimes you just have to accept that ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’! At least you had the gumption to stop after one block – I have been known to plough on until a really good talking to is needed to abandon a project. It is indeed a lovely block but maybe deserves a starring role as the centre of a cushion or pillow cover? If you do enough experiments you will have a lap quilt in no time! 😉
I haven’t given up on it quite yet… A very different iteration with a slight simplification. Still plenty of Y-seams, though; I’ll be an expert by the time I get back!
Mouse will help!
He’s been quite helpful so far; rather good taste in colour for a doggo!
Glad that the quilt supervisor wasn’t lying down on the job. 😉
Lovely block — you are amazing! It’s waaaay beyond my skill level. I just heard my sewingmachine needle retract in fear!
I have to say, it’s a lot easier to do Y-seams by hand!
Mouse the perfectionist. 🥰
He totally is. He’ll stand there while I ‘make’ his bed, he doesn’t like things rumpled…. or crooked seams and points that don’t match, of course!