"Some Assembly Required"

My dear friend, Nancy, recently sent me this pattern.  Camelot, designed by Trish Harper.  You can find this pattern on Broderie for purchase as well as look through their Flickr account to see amazing photos of wonderful blocks.

 I happen to be a handwork junkie.  I prefer applique but any handwork will do.  Knitting, embroidery, whatever, I love them all.  I have a feeling that Nancy knew I would not be able to resist this pattern.

 This is Block #1.  I'm going to refer to them as "rounds" since I've yet to add the setting that will make them into blocks.  I'm saving that step for the end as I have a twisted plan for accomplishing it...a little divergence, shall we say?

 Round #2 I just completed this morning.  So much for a "work in progress Wednesday".  There are sixteen blocks in all for this project and so far they're moving along pretty quickly.

Why is it that after I choose fabrics and get them stitched together do I always see what I could have done better?  In the big scheme of things I know it will be fine but I kind of wish my center circle (behind the X) were lighter and wishing my green points were darker.  Oh well, persevering.

 Hand piecing is so wonderfully accurate, given the assumption that my templates were precise.

I like to run the pattern through the copier and print it on template plastic.

Pro's: Perfect straight lines (though you must check that the copier doesn't warp anything)

Con's: Ink can take too long to dry unless you're patient, and still it can rub off the plastic and onto your fabric.

Love that nice flat center.  I'm not great at machine piecing so I know this would NOT have turned out great had I tried it that way.  For proficient machine people, give it a shot, probably so much faster.

There is probably a technique for tightening up that center (see the bitty hole?).  If you know what it is please share with me.  Several of the blocks have just this kind of center and I would love to know how to improve.


Happy Quilting,
Laurel