I think I bit off a little more than I could chew today.  I should not have tried  to complete all of these in a day.  I was going to try a fourth block as well, but was too tired to keep going.   So I am sitting in my favorite chair writing this trying to relax for a minute or so.

These blocks were all so different.  They used, traditional piecing, appliqué, and paper piecing.  I think each, in and of themselves, is really fun, but combining them all together started to add a frustration factor especially to the paper pieced Balls in the Air block.

I started with Vintage Flower Basket.  I tried yet another appliqué technique.   I traced the outline of the flower and needle turned as I went.  I used gray thread this time which blends much better, but I still have a long way to go on needle turn appliqué.  Maybe by the end of this sampler I will be able to say that I am pretty good at it,  but now, not so much

I then moved on to the paper pieced block, Balls in the Air.  This was an easier pieced block than the dress block a few blocks back, but it did have some itty bitty pieces and there were A LOT of them!

I made sure to cut my fabric pieces larger than I thought I would need so that I would not have to un-sew. That really adds to the frustration factor in paper piecing. I would rather waste fabric than be too small and not cover the whole space.   But even with all of that care, I messed up my fabric placement!

I was completely finished with a one quarter block when I realized what I had done, and there was not a chance in Hades that I was going to redo it,  I just made the last little block match.   I guess I had too many balls in the air! Lol!  Oh well, I still like it and if there isn’t a a make do block in every quilt, than it just isn’t my kind of quilt:)

Lastly I made this Dashing with Chocolate block. I chose pinks and Browns because I love chocolate covered cherries and strawberries.  I hate it when people point out their flaws, but since this post is mostly about my quilting shortcomings for the day, I definitely have some point problems here.  I was somewhat tired and frustrated so the unmatched points will just have to do.

Lesson learned–  Paper pieced blocks should be done slowly and alone.  Give them the respect they deserve so that you have the energy another day to attain the quality you expect on your other blocks. I am not going to remake this block as a reminder to myself of this lesson.

I placed the blocks neatly in my wonderful repurposed napkin holder, poured myself a glass of water, and now I feel a ton better.  Just looking at these pictures makes me happy:)

Life is SWEET even when things don’t go exactly as we plan.

Thanks for dropping by–Tracy:)