Monday, May 3, 2021

You Don't Know Until you Try!






My thought was to have something similar in the center of my bird sampler quilt. 
Odd shapes are always difficult for me to paper piece. 

I persevered and actually thought it looked pretty good. 

I cut the pattern out for the center

It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. 

Then I printed the frame pattern, made templates,  and sewed them together  and the plan was to applique it to the top of the block.  I knew it was the moment of truth.....

It started out pretty good....

Uh, but went south pretty fast! lol

I thought I pressed carefully but obviously I stretched it at some point. 
This block will be the center of something else that doesn't need to have a precise measurement. 

Back to the drawing board. My second choice is a feathered star block. 

Have a great week!



 

16 comments:

  1. I find it easier to applique the star to a solid background piece and trim behind the star after.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like Diane has a good idea. After you applique, you can cut away the fabric behind the center andd it will look pieced. I know that was frustrating. Thanks for sharing your reality. I am sure if we could peek back in time, our ancestors had similar challenges.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your compass is lovely. The frames are cut too small. Appliqué to a background works well. I recommend you persevere just a bit more as you have come so far already.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with Barbara - The medallion is fine, the frames are too small (needs longer "arms"?). If you look at the 3 & 9 o'clock points, the frame seams are too high. Please don't give up on the medallion!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don’t quit yet! Cut an oversized square of background. Draw a circle on the background the size of the finished compass block. Put your pieced block underneath the square, using a light box to line up with the circle on top. Pin in place. Cut away the top background circle as you go and reverse applique. It will work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh man! I hate when that happens! Glad you have another plan. I'm sure this one will eventually land where it was intended.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you Lori for sharing your process!! So often challenge gets buried but your photos are helping all of us and the solutions being offered are terrific!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think your compass turned out great, Lori! Nice job.
    If the compass itself is not too large for your purpose, I agree with Barbara that cutting a square the size you need and appliqueing it onto the square would work--hey, I'd even do that, and you know me and applique! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your block turned out beautiful. A compass block will tell you in it's completion if you've stretched it during pressing...it will wave back at you! Your block is flat and gorgeous. We are all cheering you on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your compass is gorgeous!!! Some of the suggestions sound workable but a feathered star will be fabulous too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's stunning! Don't give up. Fix that one too long point then applique to a solid ground that you cut larger and will trim.

    For appliqueing the star you could maybe try a facing circle, sew face to face, slit, turn, press. When all pressed starch facing lightly and the trim it to about 1 1/2 or 2."

    Please keep trying! It's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh I agree with everyone--that Compass Star is too beautiful to give up on it...
    good luck hugs, Julierose

    ReplyDelete
  13. Such a beautiful compass! I don't want you to give up on your setting idea! Could it work to prepare the compass for applique in the same way we make circles with Karen Kay Buckley's perfect circles? Make a stiff template in the circle's finished size, sew a running stitch around the edge of the pieced compass, draw up the threads to gather the fabric edge over the template, adjust points, starch the edge, then applique to a background square. Cheering you on!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Brave woman!! sounds like all the quiltists/commenters have a great solution to an understandable problem. Keep on keepin' on! It's near perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I hope you can get this figured out! Not my forte at all, but it will look awesome in your quilt!:)

    ReplyDelete

Because the ridiculous amount of SPAM I have resorted to comment moderation.

I love to reply to comments or a question. If you are on noreply-comment@blogger.com I have no way of contacting you. Please leave an email address. If you need help changing the setting please email me.
If you want to comment feel free to send me an email as I would love to hear from you!