The Struggle Was Real

I like to think of myself as someone who works well under pressure, but that didn't seem to be working much for me this past weekend. 

On deadline to produce a 12" block for the Carp Fair's Community Quilt Block Challenge, it was time to get started. I'd been looking at the fabrics every day for a few months but just not getting any inspiration. All of my choices relied on more background fabric than I have and it was proving tough to switch gears. The struggle was real.

But, it was time to make something - anything! - so I landed on a modified Bear Paw. I checked the math to ensure that I could make eight HSTs at a time and made a test just to confirm that my dimensions were correct. Good thing, as I was half an inch too large, so I scaled things back. With the fabric restrictions I just was so leery of making a wrong cut.

I laid everything out very carefully so that my seams would nest nicely all around the block (do I sound paranoid?) and in no time it was ready... 

though I have to say that there was a fair bit of lunch bag letdown when it was.

Despite a little voice in my head (one of several 😉) I used the bees for the large centre squares because I wanted to see the bees, but the dark batik that I used for the claws would have been better there. Should have following my gut. 

Or, I could have switched the placement of the gold dot and the darker of the two creams used in the coordinating HSTs. Not surprisingly, I spent all night dreaming of patterns that would have been better suited.

By the next morning it wasn't looking quite as bad as I had imagined, but still nothing to write home about. Ah well, hopefully it plays well with others. Ironically, I realized that last year I also made a Bear Paw block, but it was much scrappier. I much prefer a four patch in place of those large squares.

Betty's block is very different to mine and very charming: a beautiful little schoolhouse set in the centre of radiating strips, and it's hand pieced. It has a scrappiness that I just love and will be a wonderful addition to the quilt. 

This was her inspiration. You can see how she mapped out the making of her schoolhouse and ultimately, the block. I much prefer the small pieces in her block to the sizes that I used. Apparently her block was not without it's challenges either - she ripped things out a few times and pressed her seams as she went, something she never does when she hand pieces.

It's a real charmer, reminiscent of a farmhouse and the rural community that hosts and attends the fair. Jean was tickled with both of them so that's all that matters....M