The Standstill...

Well, first up, the good news.

I made another paper pieced block using a little more orange. I'm not in love with it, but it is a nice one to have on hand in case I need an additional block.

Bluebird pattern by Liljabs via Craftsy

It's a little odd where the head and neck attach; I didn't catch the way it misaligned in time to easily fix it, and I'm not going back now. The 'missing' background piece is there, but mostly hidden in the seam allowance. I thought I put it on properly, but obviously there was an issue. I had removed it once and "fixed" it after an earlier error there (brown instead of background!) so I know this is user error rather than pattern error.

I'd been watching and waiting for another pattern to go up for sale on Craftsy, so I pounced and thought I'd whip it out as my 'last block' before I made myself sit down and baste that other quilt!

This is where it starts being the bad news part.

Firstly, pop over and take a look at what The Cat's Meow pattern should / could look like.

Do not rely on my pictures, because I've made mistake after mistake -- and several changes. I do not recommend doing any of what I've done.

Okay, did you look at it? Such a cool pattern, right!? I love it.

Well, of course I need a smaller block than this finishes at... so I printed it at a 75% scale. Not a great choice. It's not impossible, but not ideal.

I adore that Kate (the pattern maker) included a 'coloring' page that helps plot out what your cat will look like. It was a fun way to begin, and a good way to start planning.

Unfortunately, I really wanted to work with scrap fabrics instead of pulling things from a pile someone else curated. You know, because occasionally I like to challenge myself to take on my weaknesses. This was probably not a good project for me to take on that challenge. It was certainly not a good 'pull' of fabrics.

Here's the first half of the cat and my coloring page:

You might have already noticed my issue. I didn't.

Okay, there are a number of issues -- namely my poor choices of background fabrics and the lack of contrast between the background and the ear fabric -- but the big one is staring right at us. And I missed it. For about a week.

And here's about where I realized my issue. I made the first eye completely wrong! I inverted some of the colors, giving the cat a blue/green pupil in a black eye and black patch, rather than a black pupil, blue/green eye, and black patch! Ooooh, I was so furious with myself for not realizing it.

After properly finishing up the second half of the cat, I started pulling apart the first half to get back to the first eye. I must fix it.

I've only got a little more ripping to do, part of the seam between the orange patch and the eye, then disconnecting the eye from the remainder of the black (streaky) patch. I'll then re-do both the eye (one section) and the tiny black and white section nearest to it -- not because there's an issue with the second section, but because I don't think I can remove it in a salvageable piece. Also, I'd rather remake than continue to seam rip... Honestly, I very nearly just remade the entire first half rather than pick it all apart. But, I'm hopeful I can get this apart, fixed, and back together.

I just don't want to pick again.

But if I'm not picking, I'd better be basting.

Uuuuugh.

Thus, the standstill.