Saturday 2 April 2016

RSC 16: April is the orange month; paper piecing

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who gave me advice on paper piecing last week. the consensus seems to be: "Don't worry too much about the grain, especially on the smaller pieces. Just keep the paper on as long as possible." The block hasn't progressed much over the last few days, but, following your advice I finished the remaining three quarters of the block on Sunday, doing more than on Thursday and Friday together! I used as much of the mis-cuts as possible and what was left went into a Quilty 365 circle (see my post of yesterday)

Each month Angela at Soscrappy gives a rainbow colour of the month, and this month's colour is orange. She also gives instructions for sampler blocks, but this year I have decided not to make the sampler, but to make at least one pair of bear paw blocks in each colour. Last month I made four purple blocks, but who knows how many orange blocks I'll come up with!

As yet, however, I've barely made a start.

2" orange strips ready to incorporate in the bear paw blocks
I've just pulled the orange strips from the 2" strip bag, but there are plenty more larger orange scraps and FQ's. When I have two blocks completed I'll try combining them with my two brown blocks, thereby fulfilling this month's colour instruction: orange with brown or black. It'll be more than a hint of brown though!

I'm linking to 

RSC16

Click on the button above to see more orange loveliness, and some purple.

Happy sewing

Marly.

11 comments:

LA Paylor said...

really pretty oranges and I recognize a few fabrics

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

It's been fun this week seeing the oranges people are pulling out! Those will make some pretty bear paws!

Debbie J said...

Your oranges are nice!

Sue Noetzel said...

Finding the orange fabric is half the challenge so you have made a good start for April.

The Joyful Quilter said...

You made a start by doing some prep work. Sometimes that is the MOST important part!!

Nell's Quilts said...

What fun you'll have with those great looking orange 2 inch strips.

Sue Noetzel said...

You have some great oranges to work with! Have fun with them this month.

Ivani said...

Pretty orange fabrics. You will make beautiful bear paws with them, I am sure.

PaulaB quilts said...

What a nice bright selection you have to start with. Glad your paper piecing went well this week. It is no fun feeling stuck in a tricky spot. Can't wait to see the results. Keep up the good work!

Christine B said...

Glad you got the paper piecing sorted and good luck with the orange blocks! Lovely choice of fabrics! Christine x

Vireya said...

Somehow I missed your question about the paper piecing. But I agree, don't worry about the grainlines. Trying to keep the blocks on grain would drive a person crazy. I have enough trouble just making sure that any triangular pieces will end up covering the area they have to cover, without getting the grain straight as well. Keeping the paper on stabilises them until you sew them to the next piece. And the blocks you are doing are so tiny that I don't think the distortion would be uncontrollable even if you removed the paper.