Paper Piecing progress - UFO

Yesterday from noonish to 11:30 p.m., with a couple of breaks in between to maintain a decent level of sanity, this is what I have accomplished, ONLY two (2) rows. The quilt has eight (8) rows of eight (8) blocks. This is not a good project for those wanting to learn whether paper piecing is their thing. I will agree with the lady who commented on the first post, this is a quilt from H*ll!

I cannot begin to tell you how often I had to use the seam ripper. One of the blocks, third (3) row first block from the left, the fabric was not long enough. Of course, it was the last piece to sew on!! The fabric had been cut in class a long time ago and I didn't check what was already cut. I decided that I was not going to waste that block and sewed two (2) pieces of fabric together, just like in the olden days when fabric was not wasted. You will not be able to see the seam, but it's there and it's fine with me.

I had originally traced the pattern on tracing paper and needed more templates. I thought I would scan the block and print on this special paper piecing paper I had purchased back in 1999. After fiddling with the image, attempting to figure out how I can do this, I managed to print the blocks. Off I went to continue. The only problem was that my paper is no longer transparent and I had to rework my method of fabric placement. Believe it or not, at first I used the printed side to place my fabric. Well duh, I couldn't see the line to sew on, so rip it I went and used the printed side to sew on. That was fine until the placement of the colors were incorrect. If you recall, every other block as a section of two other blocks.

Around 10:30 p.m. my husband walks into my sewing room with the comment "wow you're still at it". I hysterically replied "and I've only accomplished two rows! I then begin to describe the process and he looks at me and says "it looks like you're working upside down and in reverse. I could never work like that". Okay, so I'm insane!

Perhaps I don't get it, but I really haven't seen the pleasures of paper piecing. First, you're always cutting these strands of threads. Threads every where! You're working upside down and in reverse. You need to cut numerous pieces of fabric that will need to be re-cut after sewing. You need to make templates. Finger pressing does not work as well as an iron (hey I did figure out that leaving my iron on low works better than finger pressing). It is bulky to work with. When you're finished, you have to rip all that paper out! Really, what am I not getting here?

Yes I do want to finish that quilt as it will be a souvenir of the course I took with Carol Doak. If it wasn't for that, I would have tossed that UFO a long time ago. I am determined to get this quilt finished. I will say that this will probably make the other UFOs on the waiting list a pleasure to work on, provided I don't give up and go totally insane!