WIP: Frustrating Edition

Hi Friends! Welcome to another week of WIPs!

I'm still plugging away on my black and batiks lap quilt. I'm loving it, and I've conquered four blocks now, but this last block...oh vey! It took about twice as long as it should have, and grrrr.

Nothing about this block was particularly tricky--HSTs, nine patches, some stripes...all straight seams, and all stuff I've done before. I loved the complicated look of the block but the lack of complicated features. Still, I don't think I've ever used my seam ripper so much for one block, and if I had enough fabric to do it over, I would, but I don't, so I'm stuck making do with what I have. I will make this block again, but I will certainly do things differently next time.

This bad boy was my first set of Y-seams, and while my first Y-seam was less than amazing, the second one came together much easier. I probably should have referenced a tutorial or some form of instruction, but I looked at it, guessed what I needed to do, and did it. (There are probably much easier ways to accomplish this.)

And a star within a star because I love me my stars. One of the points in the center star is too close in value and hue to the background material, so it kind of fades, but I'm hoping to remedy that with some echo quilting or whatnot. I am totally planning to quilt this in black thread, BTW.

All four blocks together, and I've got two more to go! Each block is 20.5" unfinished. I've got a paper pieced block to tackle in the next day or so--yikes! My first time foundation piecing!--and one other block that should be the easiest of the bunch. Then, sashing, friendship stars, pinwheel border, etc., but I think all of that will be pretty easy to put together.

I finished a couple of small lovelies this week. A pillow for a pregnant friend--my back always killed me and demanded a pillow near the end of both pregnancies, and she's in her third trimester, so I'm trying to halt as much pain as possible...

...and cheerful bunting for her baby shower. It took me forever to complete this, mostly because I was trying to work up the effort to make my own bias tape, then saw how ridiculously cheap it was at the store and just bought some. Totally worth it. I love this bunting. I am very sad to see it go, especially since it looks so cheerful in my sewing room dining room...

...and Annabel's quilt, which I'm hoping to post about later this week!

What are you working on?

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!