Rusty

September's queen bee picked a paper-pieced block, Hidden Gems. It's a lovely block, but I'm not gonna lie - paper piecing is not my favourite and I put off sewing this for a long time. I don't like cutting out the pattern pieces and I don't like the actual sewing, and then I definitely don't like pulling out the papers once you finally make it through all that.

But I finally gritted my teeth and got started. And right out of the gate it did not go well. I wasn't thinking when I picked that very directional print for the centre pattern. And of course those are the pieces I started with first because they were the easy ones. I soon reached the "I'm gonna scream or cry" stage, then realized I needed to walk away.

With a fresh start and an unwilling-to-be-beat-by-a-block attitude, the rest came together better although those grey points were a bit pesky to line up.

I quite like the colour scheme the queen bee picked, and actually it inspired a pillow I made soon after.

The second one went together swimmingly! I even got the two halves together perfectly on the right try! My paper-piecing skills must have been rusty on that first go.

For other anxious paper piecers out there, my best tip is to use a long basting stitch first when joining sections. Then if things don't match up well, you can easily rip that out and try again. When you finally have everything where you want it, then use the short stitch. All the precision, none of the tedious ripping!