Paper Piecing Pleasure

This week I've been trying to catch up with all my monthly quilting projects for May. I hate doing them at the last minute, but they'd been pushed aside while I was busy on other projects. I'm hoping to do better during June--maybe I'll get real ambitious and get June's projects done next week! We'll see how that goes!

This particular block is NOT one that I made this past week; in fact, I made it a couple of months ago. But I just didn't like the contrast between the spool and the background.

So I took out that section and just redid it. Now I think the white is just a bit too bright, so I may go back and change it again!

The May block for the "And Sew On" project was "Keep Calm and Press On." I finished my block yesterday--the last day of the month!

I think I'm getting a bit smarter with these paper piecing projects. This time, before I began sewing, I put my fabric selections up on my design wall and stepped back to look at them. It really seemed to help me avoid the contrast mistakes I've made with previous blocks. I REALLY only want to make each block once!

This was the May block for the Lucky Stars block of the month. I thought that center fabric would go well with the others (and it does), but what I didn't bargain on was having such a big section of it right in the middle of the block. It kind of overwhelms the other fabrics.

What I'm finding with paper piecing is that getting the technique down is the easy part--the challenge is choosing fabrics that go well with the particular pattern and with each other. I really need to utilize my design wall for its intended purpose--putting up designs and previewing them, BEFORE I sew my fabrics together. And I need to do it with EVERY block. I didn't do it with this star and I should have.

Laura and I will be participating in a Walk/Run event today--walking 3 miles! We normally walk 2 miles so it will be interesting to see how we do. But there will be other people there which always provides Laura with plenty of motivation! And the walking course should be relatively flat, whereas here at home we've got lots of ups and downs when we go walking.

I don't know if I'll get more sewing done today, but the day is still quite young (I woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep), so there's PLENTY of time to Get More Done...Today!

I'm linking with Kristy at Quiet Play for the "And Sew On" Block of the Month.