What's Under My Needle?

Sometimes I just want to sew. I upsized some Dogtooth borders for foundation piecing and got to work using some 2-1/2" strips of Kaffe Fassett fabrics that I had on hand. What are my plans? I really don't know. Who says I have to have a plan?

Foundation Pieced Dogtooth strips

What size are they? 4" wide and about 12" long (finished).

Dogtooth strip before trimming

 And can we see the front?

Trimmed. Can you see those 1/4" seam allowances?

Then I had a thought to add these to my Pickle Dish quilt center. This is a new class I am teaching and is based on a pattern from American Patchwork & Quilting (yes, I asked permission). I tweaked the pattern in so many ways so that it is teachable and for my students to be able to stitch it.

Here are my steps:

Three of the fabrics

 I always make a cutting template for odd shaped patches, rather than use squares or rectangles, which can result in a LOT of fabric waste.

Cutting Template

 These are my background triangles.

Background triangles

Now for a shot mid-process. It took me quite awhile to realize I got my colors messed up. Each curved unit is to have either the orange OR the purple throughout. Can you say RIP IT OUT?

Color mistake!

Now let's see the paper pieced arcs:

Unit with blues

 And the other one?

Unit with oranges

But then I had a flash and wanted a different arrangement. Can you hear the frogs again? Rippit. Rippit.

Here is my quilt center. I wanted all the red-oranges to be in the center and the blue-purples on the outside. Good thing I had only done two blocks before the flash.

Four block Pickle Dish

Do you remember my previous post about this Pickle Dish pattern? I had used the Windham Collection called Up in the Air:

Pickle Dish arcs

And the joining of the background and center melon shape:

And the center:

Four Block Pickle Dish before borders

Then I added borders

Traditional Pickle Dish

So, back to those Dogtooth Borders. Not sure what I'll do with them, but I'm inching toward adding them to the Kaffe Fassett center. But I'm in no hurry. I'm busy getting ready to teach 7 workshops and present 3 trunk shows in September, so I'm lucky if I can fit in some serious sewing time.