Saturday, March 05, 2011

Arc update

I am building arcs (not the Noah kind, the Karen Stone kind!) as fast as I can for my Indian Orange Peel quilt. I honestly had no concept of how much time this project would take me. I know that sounds odd since I've been quilting for 20 years and should know better, but I really didn't take the time to calculate it out before I jumped in with enthusiasm. Well, the enthusiasm is waning, but I am I must admit that I love looking at the arcs and arranging them for photographs and love thinking about how my quilt will hopefully come together like I see it in my mind.

On the left are finished arcs # 53 - #60.
On the right are arcs #61-#68.
Many people have asked me how long it takes to make a quilt like this. I have no idea! There is all the fabric shopping, organizing and cutting into strips. Then there is the pairing of warm and cool colours for each arc, and then the paper piecing and trimming of the arc. I know the sewing part takes me about 15 minutes per arc, therefore to sew the 120 arcs will take me approximately 30 hours. But as I've said before, I do really enjoy the zen of mindless paper piecing and look forward to tackling the weird and wonderful curves of the border units.
Below are arcs #69 - #78....I have made over 80 arcs now, and I need 120 arcs for the class on March when we will work on project layouts. Do you think I will make it? Should I start a pool and take bets on if when I finish?

After seeing these photos, I decided I need more yellows and blues in my arcs, so have cut more strips from my stash. And again, reality hit me that if my plan is to not repeat any fabrics in the arcs, I will need 240 fabrics...say what?!? Why did that just occur to me?!? I'm pretty sure I'll be repeating some fabrics soon, since I've depleted my bag of batik pieces.
To see the arcs made by other people who will be attending the class, click here to go to Gail's blog, scroll down past all the great chemo quilts her guild has made, and you can see the arc photos.

7 comments:

Appalachian Mercantile said...

Oh, yummy! I've got several of those paper-pieced quilts just calling my name, and that is one of them! I will live vicariously through you for now! Can't wait to watch them progress!

Blessings

Ellen said...

The colours you have chosen are wonderful - they look tropical to me! I believe you will finish on time.

Kate said...

The arcs are coming along nicely. Love the colors.

Julie said...

Wow! I guess it is good that you have a class to get ready for, so that you won't be tempted to quit, or put it aside for later. You will be so proud of yourself when you finish. I cannot wait to see this one.

Quilt Rat said...

well how about if someone was to send you some batik bits????? I'll contribute, what size piece of fabric (batik for points) does each arc take?

Lindah said...

Those are a lotta arcs! Wonderful colors. Happy colors. Have you noticed? --the last photo looks like a group of very happy smiles.

Looking forward to following your progress.

Mary said...

Very interesting layouts you pictured. I saw scary teeth in the bottom one. Good luck getting 40 more made. I think you will do it by the night before.