Mary's May Progress

I made progress this month on my New York Beauty Chunky Mini Wall Quilt. My goal for the month was to make a sample block using the technique. I did this. There were aspects of Linda Hahn's technique that I liked: starching the curved pieces made them easier to work with and the way she did the paper piecing was quick once I got used to it. I didn't like the way she has you sew the curves--very little pinning and you make one or two stitches then lift the presser foot and readjust the pieces to align the next stitch or two. I used this approach on the test block and that went OK, but when I went to make another block I had to unsew it twice which was irritating and the method is SUPER slow. I went back to pinning the curved pieces (which were crunchy with starch which made them line up easily). The test block showed me that the design I was planning on with the bird fabric wasn't going to work the way I had hoped. 
So, I found a bunch of fabrics in my stash (florals, sky-blues, and some greens) and came up with a new design. 

Center of NY Beauty Bird Quilt, May 2018

I made a center block from 4 NY Beauty blocks set in a circle and then put it on point using the bird print. I designed a border for it using the spires from the center block and have created all the paper piecing patterns for that and cut the fabrics to make it. My next step will be to paper-piece the border units.

I am linking this up with One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.