The Pattern That Wasn't

On my first retreat in Bandon, I took with me a Kaufman kit called "Crystal Clear" It is queen size and I knew it would take up a good part of the retreat days to work on. With the sharp pointed star pattern I thought it would be paper piecing, but much to my surprise, it was not. I opened the box and it was all pre-cut pieces with little numbered stickers on each stack. Oh, WOW! As I looked through the box, there was no pattern, no photo, no diagram, no nothing. I only had the photo on the cover of the box. I was quiet upset as this was almost the only thing I had brought with me to work on, and I was a long way from the shop I had purchased it from. But not wanting to be a quitter, I thought I'd give it a try, to figure out how it went together. I organized the stacks of pieces, fortunately only three colors. They each had a cut notch on them to line up the sewing, I put all the "A" pieces together in numerical order, unfortunately the fabrics are batiks and reversible, sometimes the stickers were on the front, sometimes the backs. It took perseverance, but I got one section sewn together. I worked diligently for three days, slowly making progress and not doing too much unsewing. It was tough working out, where the sections were, without a diagram, and some trial and error, finally got me to assembly.

I was lucky to have a large design wall to work on at the retreat center, it would not have been as easy to assemble at home. There were a few poufy areas that had to be fudged in, but I decided it was sewn together properly, with all the correct angles.

Success!! I got it put together into a queen sized quilt! Since then I have found more of the gray fabric to add a wider border, to make it a bit larger. It is going to be for my niece who wanted a "Modern" quilt with grays and blacks, maybe chevrons. When I saw the kit, I knew it would be perfect for her. I never buy kits, it was quiet expensive, but I thought of her immediately. Since I was thinking of nieces, I thought my other niece would like this modern look also, instead of the quilt I was working on for her. So being the masochist I am, I decided to do it again! I had the fore thought to trace each of the pattern pieces, so I cut them up and with LOTS of Scotch tape, I taped each section together and made a paper piecing pattern. Shopping for fabric was tough as I had no fabric requirements to use. I found a beautiful black with a delicate leafy pattern and a gray batik with swirls. I bought all the fabric on the bolt, 4 or 5 yards of each. I figured 9 yards was enough to do a queen size quilt, then I would pray. I added a bright magenta to accent it.

The last day of the retreat I got a good start on it. The next week, everyone at the Bandon shop was going to the Big K Guest Ranch, near me, for their retreat, so Tracy and I signed up for that too. I worked on it for another day and a half, before running out of the black fabric. I was praying I could find some on the internet, it was a new fabric.

Driving home from the retreat, we stopped at the fabric shop in Sutherlin, Oregon, and they had the fabric, I bought the rest of the bolt! YEA!! So now, I don't need to worry about it, I had already found more of the gray batik, so I can add extra border. This was quiet an ordeal, but I stuck with it. Now to get them on the long arm and really finish them. Happy New Year to all! I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here to check out what other talented textile artists are doing this week.