Jack the Ripper

 Beauty is going to be a really Challenging quilt!  I have re-done several parts of it, multiple times.  Perhaps it is the perfectionist in me, but I want it to be perfect!  My seam ripper is getting a lot of use! I have since decided that "good enough" will have to do!!  

The paper piecing is going well. The small tight circles are the problem. 

That center yellow appliqued circle turned out horrible! You can see that it is not round!  I edge stitched it because the applique stitch on my sewing machine is not working.  (What the H happened with that??)   I watched some YouTube videos on how to make a nice round applique and tried again, with much better results.  Jack the (seam) Ripper got into action and tore out the wonky circle.  I made a turning circle with freezer paper (watch the video to see how and why,) HAND SEWED the new yellow circle into place, and proceeded with the next step, adding the black ring.

Again, the result were not satisfactory.  So many puckers in the black ring!  I tried to iron them out.  Big mistake.  You cannot iron out a pucker-- you HAVE to pick the stitches out, and rearrange the fabric! Also, in the process of ironing, and not getting the pucker to lay flat, I tried some spray starch to "help."  Bad bad bad!  After I did that, the fabrics wrinkled even worse, and I completely gave up at that point.  Walked away.  But a few days of absence allowed that frustration to dissipate, and I was able to climb back into that saddle and, as my 5 year old grandson would say, "Try again!"

The yellow circle stayed (I had already replaced the wonky center circle with a new, more "round" one), but I had to completely remove the black ring and make a new one.  By redoing all these sections, I am hoping it will not come back to bite me at the end when I run out of fabric because I made two of everything at this stage!  I am not worried about the black fabric.  I have plenty of "Amish Black" and it's a common fabric, so it's easy to buy more.  But these rainbow batiks... that's another story.  I suppose I could get more with a close enough color that it might not be noticeable.  I am hoping that this quilt kit will have enough extra fabric built in for mistakes like these.  Some wiggle room in the yardage.  I did another quilt kit by this same designer, Jacqueline DeJonge, and if I recall correctly, there was plenty enough fabric to recover from an error or two.  Anyway, I finally got it all sewed together, and it's much better.  Not perfect, but decent.  I'm really glad I took the time to redo it.  I feel so much better about it all, and am ready and enthusiastic to continue with the next spikey circle!

The next circle should be easier because it's larger, and the curves won't be so tight.