WIP Wednesday

I thought it was time for an update on my Midnight at the Oasis quilt, which I started at the beginning of October (my first post and fabric pull are here).  As you can see, I've now finished the centre and the first border which is made up of orange peel blocks.  

I paper pieced the triangles in the centre and would really really recommend that method - I'm sure it was about a million times more accurate for me than trying to piece them any other way.  Sharon of Fabric and Flowers has a tutorial on how to do this.  If you go down this road, I would recommend leaving the paper attached to those triangles until you've added the inset triangle pieces - I think it makes that step easier.

 

The inset triangles were a little tricky, but I was having a Tim Gunn moment and managed to make it work.  I did a couple of things that I think helped me along though.  First, I traced the shape of the inset triangle piece onto a piece of freezer paper, and ironed it to my fabric.  Then I used my ruler and rotary cutter to cut out the shape, adding a 1/4" seam allowance to the two shorter sides (as per the pattern) and a 1/2" seam allowance to the longest side.  This extra wiggle room meant that the centre finished slightly larger than required and I was able to trim it down to the perfect size.  I also think using freezer paper to guide my cutting made it more accurate.  Finally, I made sure the longest side of the inset pieces was aligned with the grain of the fabric, so I didn't have any bias edges on the outside of the centre block.  Of course, my centre block still didn't finish perfectly flat, but my friends starch and steam helped a lot with that.

I used a hand blanket stitch to secure the appliqué on the orange peel blocks and also the centre circles (if you are interested, you can read/watch my tutorial about how to do blanket stitch).

Despite this quilt being outside my comfort zone (hello appliqué, tiny pieces and inset seams!), I'm really loving it.  It's completely addictive and I think I may have discovered a new love for handwork (although I'm generally in favour of anything which involves sitting on the couch, so I guess that shouldn't be a surprise!).  I'm also really happy with this autumnal colour scheme - it's really warm and rich but still bright and interesting.  I've started cutting out the little appliqué pieces for the next border - I might have to slow down for a bit while I work on other things though.

I'm linking up this post to Jess' linky - it's open for a while yet so if you are also working on a Midnight at the Oasis quilt you should link up too!  Is anyone else working on this quilt?  If you're further ahead than me I'd love any advice you have for the upcoming borders!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced: