Compass Centre

Look what happens when I manage to avoid turning on the computer in the morning!

I managed the whole thing today. Didn't get the laundry done though!

I haven't shown this project since last May, when I bought all the fabrics. The pattern is Judy Niemeyer's Prairie Star, which is the same pattern as her Hawaiian Star, only a different colourway. I have decided to call it Riviera Star, since many of the fabrics are from the Riviera II collection from Connecting Threads. It's almost sold out now.

Here's my colourway again:

The background cream fabric with the red flowers is darker overall than I expected, but I think it still looks ok.

The foundations are printed on newsprint. This worried me when I first opened the box, because it feels very fragile and easy to tear. So far, though, working with the smaller centre sections at least, it has been pretty good. It's easy to fold accurately, and it does tear away easily. I suspect, though, that those large outer sections are going to be a challenge!

But anyway, it was a fun day today. I love paper piecing, and it's always interesting to try out a new pattern!

Deconstruction

This is an old UFO that I started in 2010. Recently I've been tossing around ways to rework it, so I dug it out again today. It had a variety of problems:

• The fabric wasn't washed
• The HSTs were not cut accurately
• The design didn't use its feature fabric to the best advantage. These blocks were so bold, they drowned out the border print.

Because the HSTs were inaccurate, the blocks were a bit of a mess too. The red one is not too bad, but you can see the yellow one is worse:

So, I have a new design, and my plan is to take these 8" blocks apart down to their square units, wash them all in lingerie bags in the machine, and then square them up to make 6" blocks and re-use them. Fortunately, there are not that many finished blocks to deconstruct.

The seam ripper is not usually my friend, but this time I am enjoying it because I am interested to see how my plan will turn out.

Think it will work? I'll let you know!