Whoop! Listen With Your Eyes!! (some more tips, piecing NYB blocks)

Yes! Here's another 17 in 2017 item moved along.

All 40 NYB blocks finished

My "Listen With Your Eyes" kit has apparently been lost in limbo in my super-pretty chest drawer FOR SIX YEARS!!

What this will grow up to be:
"Listen With Your Eyes" - a Jacqueline DeJong design
This quilt SPARKLES amazingly in real life!

Good thing I put this project on my 2017 list, and that I didn't give in with so many still on it at the end of the year.  

I cleaned that drawer out completely and made sure I had all the bags, baskets, and boxes with parts of this stunning quilt.

It's a really difficult one to assemble, which is a lot of why it's been idle for so long. It took hours and hours just to sort things and reacquaint myself with what was going on and how to proceed. 

I lined everything up under my longarm frame where I'll see it every day and be prompted to work regularly on this top in the next months (and where cats can't interfere with it, as they're locked out of that room). 

Everything's in order of stages. Each stage is super intense! At least I had finished sorting all the colors the last time I'd worked on it, so "all" I have to do now is construct the components and assemble the blocks.

Some of my favorite pics from the 2011 work:

After getting everything sorted and studying the patter again, I settled in for the first stage in the line-up. The result was all those pretty New York Beauty blocks at the top of this post. There are 40 of them! I am super excited this morning to have this quilt moved to this point, and I suddenly feel like I've crested the peak of difficulty with this project. 

Tips about constructing these blocks:

Sailor's needle to take papers away from acute angles

CUT EXTRA AND TRIM AFTER SEWING - you want about 1/8" on each side at the inner angle  (start at the pattern edge at the seam and angle out at the point)

*and* on the outer curve, give it an extra 1/2" on the outside edge.

 This will provide stability when attaching it as well as give room for shrinkage if you mis-stretch the piece during construction. I just cut away the sewn seam allowance from one of the pattern pieces and taped it to the block so I could trim the outer edge. Very helpful with that super narrow curved seaming.

Thank goodness I had written those notes to myself on the baggies that held the arcs. I must have gotten those tips from Jacqueline DeJong at her workshop.

Jacqueline is a wonderful person, and she comes to the U.S. regularly. Her BeColourful quilts are AMAZING! If you want to make one, don't shy away from it. If you have your heart set on a 5- or 6-star pattern, though, I would recommend planning learning projects ahead of it. (This quilt that I'm doing is a 5-star construction.) 

The perfect lineup for me turned out to be: 

First, an easy Judy Niemeyer project, like Stepping Stones that will teach you basic paper piecing techniques. Next, do a project with curved piecing - try another Judy Niemeyer on a more complex level, such as Glacier Star (looks hard, but is extremely accessible as this pattern teaches you all kinds of advancing paper piecing techniques). 

Now try your DeJong mega-quilt. And if you possibly can, I also recommend going to a workshop with Jacqueline or one of her approved instructors. I'm not at all sorry I got into this quilt project. It's every bit as rewarding as it is challenging. And she has so many spectacular patterns now. I already know I want to reward myself for finishing this top by getting a kit for Spring Fever. . .   

~*~*~

Linking up: 

Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Linkup

Meridithe's 17 in 2017