RJ Ward Design

I'm behind a week with my NY Beauty QAL but I finally squeezed in some sewing time to do it. I didn't use the tutorial that was used on this block because it was pieced a totally different way that I've been doing it so far. The tutorial also didn't have any dimensions to cut the fabric so I had to measure and figure out my own way. I was very cautious the way I measured my squares because I want to be able to have enough of this fabric to finish. For anyone else that is contemplating doing this block I measured the height and width of the points and added at least 1/4" all the way around. This seemed to work well for me. On the smaller points near the end I used scraps since they were such tiny points. Of course no sewing can get done without ripping apart some seams or starting over and I did have to do that a few times. This is a learning curve for me and I'm plugging right along. So here is NY Beauty Block 3. In other news I've been honored to win...

The pictures are way to dark when I took this even though the sun was still out so you'll have to see purple and white not black and white. This block went together so well. I can see I'm starting to run low on my leftover material from my girls dresses that I'm so hoping I can get these done. We only have 4 blocks more to go. All my seams have come together without a flaw and the points look really good. I can honestly say I'm improving on this technique. Here's all the blocks that I've done so far. In other news we spent our Easter at our cottage in Northern Michigan. It was so nice to be able to get away and know that in 4 weeks we'll be putting the dock in the water. The lake was so peaceful and calm. I have so many projects in my head that I'd like to start and I'm hoping I can find the time to get to them. I took a job that is 3 hours a day being a Parapro for Autistic Impaired Pre-Schoolers, so hopefully I can find the time t...

I've been a paper piecing fool! For 3 days straight I've been playing catch up to get caught up with the NY Beauty QAL. Since work and family life has occupied my time I needed to get to my sewing machine pronto before I got even farther behind. Since I'm technically doing each block 4 times it took me almost 2 days just to cut and sew. I decided early on since I had so many blocks to do that I'd just get all the paper piecing done first and then put the blocks together. I didn't want to take the time to keep switching my needles and stitch lengths everytime I got a block done. This is Block 1. At first I was going to add a solid as the 2nd color. I made all of the pieces with the 2nd color to finally come to the conclusion I'd rather keep it a 2 color block - white and my purple print. So I technically had to go back and start over on the piecing. I'm glad I did because it makes the blocks more elegant looking without the 2nd color thrown into the mix...