A Pattern More Challenging Than I Thought
 

I'm currently working on a quilt called "Arctic Feathers," by Elizabeth Hartman. I love her patterns and I thought this would be the perfect quilt for my adult son's new house he's building. I even chose the same colors for my quilt that are in the picture:
https://elizabethhartman.com/pages/arctic-feathers

Now, I'm not a person who quilts every day. I quilt when I feel like it, or when I have the time, or available electricity, or when it's not roasting hot in my little studio. So, when I do get down to quilting, I have to rethink what I was working on and get organized again.

Many times, I work on quilts that are repetitive motions, cutting the same squares and HSTs and chain piecing like a fiend. These kinds of quilts go fast and there's not much critical thinking going on. This quilt is different. There’s lots of similar squares that are just a 1/4' different in size, asymmetrical blocks, color coordination, etc. It's easy to mess up and have to redo things. The pattern looks so easy, but I’m finding that it's more challenging than I thought it would be. Still, I find it's good for my brain and mental health, so I'm glad that I've taken it on. It's a big quilt, so I should be pretty smart by the time I'm finished with it. :)

Having done a couple of Elizabeth Hartman patterns, I sympathize with you. Her instructions are very well written but the tiny differences in sizes of some of the pieces make them really challenging. I try to label everything and separate each size into its own little baggie and still end up putting the wrong pieces together. Can't wait to see your finished quilt because every quilt you've posted is amazing.

I've made one of her patterns, Chuckles the Fish quilt. It looked very easy but took a lot of concentration. I cut and sewed one fish block at a time. I made it for my grandson to have on their houseboat. I don't think I'd make another of her patterns. Oh what did you mean by 'have available electricity" ? Just curious of why you wouldn't have any.

Thanks...I'm glad that I'm not alone. :) I did try to keep the pieces all in little baggies, but that soon got out of hand. Now, I just concentrate on making 2 or 3 blocks at a time and try to use up the pieces that I've already pre-cut, while slowly diminishing my jumbled mess.

We live off the grid and rely on solar power. It works great for 9 or 10 months out of the year, but in the middle of winter, we get a ton of rain, which means less sun, so we have to fire up the generator. We try to keep our electricity use to a minimum during this time.

I'm working on her bird blocks now (I usually incorporate them into other quilts rather than repeat the same animals throughout the entireity of the quilt). I like making the blocks, as I think of them as putting together a puzzle. I put all the pieces for a block in their places on a large homemade design board to (hopefully) ensure that all the pieces are in the right place. But I still make mistakes - most recently, the right cut of fabric, just oriented 90 degrees off. Easily recut.

I also have done an Elizabeth Hartman quilt, the dinosaurs and someone mentioned to me when she heard I was making one......I thought you didn't care for tiny pieces and boy, her quilts seem to have a lot of them as I noticed yours does too. Anyway, I plugged along and now I'm not afraid of tiny pieces but I won't jump into another pattern just for that reason. Just keep plugging along and you'll get it done and be so happy with the outcome. Good luck!!!!

It's when you have to work with tiny pieces that starching the fabric beforehand helps tremendously I find.

Elizabeth Hartman's patterns are a bit, shall we say challenging? I did the Dogs in Sweaters. I cut so carefully and put everything in labelled baggies and still had a few of the wrong sized pieces. I had to recut a bit and had some leftovers. I had to do one block at a time and work very carefully. It wasn't something I could take to a quilting bee (I learned that the hard way). I got it done and it's adorable, but her patterns are definitely not for the faint of heart. Especially if you aren't used to working with all those tiny pieces.

I recently finished Cats in Pajamas and it's adorable but I didn't enjoy making it. I sent it to the longarmer and just have to bind it.
Your son will love that quilt! It's beautiful.

I've done a couple of her patterns and the hardest one was Social Sharks because of the teeth. I always start singing Mack the Knife in my head over and over but just one line. "Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear. And it shows them pearly white."