Slow and Steady

I've been working on the 5" Ocean Wave blocks, perfecting the alternate block that continues to come out anywhere from 4 7/8" to 5 1/8". ARGH! I changed to a thinner thread, I switched machines, I redrafted. It continues to baffle me. Tonight I'm going to cut the base triangles with the straight grain along the bottom edge, see if that makes any difference. It's hard to get a good photo of it, the colors are actually 1930's pastels. You can tell by the links I've been working on this for awhile, well... off and on until this month when it's been more on than off. Switching to the featherweight has made all the difference, now piecing these blocks is an absolute *dream*. The Janome just can not handle seam allowances more than 4 layers thick, it jogs *around* them! I had to rip and redo over and over; with the featherweight, straight as an arrow, spot on, first time.

I have a whole *box* of fabric pulled together for this project, mostly from stash, I don't *need* anymore, but I was delighted by this gift of a Bali Pop pack from my SIL recently. Finally opened them and *hooray* some of them are the perfect shade.

I washed them in the dish pan. Some people say batiks don't bleed, they've been boiled after all. But the water was gun metal gray. Since the background color is white-white I'm glad I washed 'em.

Back to the piecing!