Elizabeth's contribution to Block-a-Palooza: Word Search. Definitely a challenging block for this simple sewist. When I saw it, I was kind of disheartened, actually. I am not a precision piecer. If you have seen any of Rita's work at Red Pepper Quilts you'll understand precision quilting. It is amazing. And Elizabeth is clearly no slouch. If you have seen her Tokyo quilt, which I believe is 1600 individual 2" squares (!!), you will understand what I mean! But me! The closest I am going to get to a Tokyo quilt is if someone makes one and gives it to me. I was completely flummoxed at being faced with 81 squares :)
I toyed with not doing it. Elizabeth also mentioned in her post that all the blocks would feature flying geese or 9-patches, which are not my favorite. I thought, "there are a million other projects that would be great for my special Nicey Jane FQ bundle." But in the end, I said, "self, don't be ridiculous - get off your duff and keep going. Broaden your horizons and learn something, why dontchya?!"
In the Flickr group, someone mentioned that they strip pieced their 9-patch blocks. I thought that it sounded promising and I resolved to finish the block by stip piecing. That way, I could still be involved in the quilt-along. Then, when I thought about it some more, I decided to follow the directions. I know, me, follow directions, what the what?!
This is a mock-up. It was going to be all green and yellow/gold. But part of the design in the block is that the three diagonal 9-patches are supposed to contrast a little with the others. So, I decided to take a white/pink/yellow print and swap out the yellow floral. It's still pretty subtle. I like the blocks in the Flickr group that are a little more pronounced. But I am really happy that I followed the directions. Most of my seams even match - quelle surprise. Still, I can't imagine doing an entire quilt this way!
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