The Geese are Flying!

Jeni posted the directions for putting together all the blocks for A Life of Plenty recently. It is such a beautiful quilt!  I'm so glad I joined this quilt-along.  This post, though, made me realize how far behind I was, since I had a late start.  I decided to work on the pieced blocks to get closer to the finish line faster.  I made three house blocks. I knew there were a lot of flying geese in this quilt, but hadn't realized quite how many - there are more than 40.

I really like using the no-waste method of making flying geese.  You make four flying geese at a time, and you don't really see the geese until the end. It is like magic! There are a lot of scraps used in these, from back in the day when most fabric came with floral designs. I don't know exactly what makes a fabric "prim", but there were some scraps I just wanted to use up that don't look like they belong in a prim quilt. I decided that just like I don't make purely modern quilts, I don't make purely prim quilts either.

I really dislike paper piecing.  I haven't had much practice, but when I try, things don't work out well.  The last block Jeni gave us was a paper pieced one.  I thought about substituting it with another block, but stayed firm and decided to make the block.  It is only one block, and I haven't actually completely made a paper pieced block.  At least if I actually make a block, I can say that I can do it, and maybe I will be convinced to use it more.  Otherwise, I can at least say that I tried.

proof that I have tried paper piecing.

I decided to sneak in the paper piecing in between the flying geese to make the job more palatable.  Instead of the flying geese making the paper piecing better, the paper piecing made the flying geese worse.  I kept having trouble with the paper piecing. I started out with the fabric facing the wrong way, then I pieced the second fabric the wrong way, then I pieced it on the wrong side, and mostly I kept coming up short even though I had a really large fabric.  There was a lot of ripping of seams. I didn't shorten the stitch, so it wasn't difficult, but having to redo the same parts over and over again was not fun. 

The frustration also made me be more lenient with the flying geese blocks. I left the chopped off points the way they were.

All the flying geese, house blocks, and the paper pieced star are done.  There are a few more pieced blocks to finish and a lot more of the applique blocks. I do think I will be able to go back to enjoying making this quilt now that the paper pieced one is done.