That's part of the reason I was thinking about basting them to paper. My admiration will probably graduate to petting!!

Can't give you any tips on stabilizing shot cottons DogHouseMom. But I thank you for the information you are providing.

It turns out I CAN do curves. :) Challenge block 2 is complete and will be dropped off this weekend.
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While stitching I kept thinking about a Friends episode where Ross was too cheap to pay to have a couch delivered. They were trying to go up this narrow stairway and he kept saying "pivot, pivot, pivot". Well, they got stuck but I didn't. I guess I pivot better. :) I'm quite pleased with how the second block turned out. The applique stitching isn't perfect but it worked quite well IMO.
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So tell me, what's not perfect about the stitching??? It's beautiful!! Now you know, YOU can do it too :D :D

Works4Me ... that's fantastic!!! It's so uniform!! Tell me, what weight thread did you use? It looks fairly heavy - and lovely!!

Love, love, love your design. What an excellent use of the FQ from a friend.

Thanks Anael. There are a few gaps and a few areas where there is over coverage but, overall, I'm really happy. I don't think anyone will notice but my worst critic, me. :)

DogHouseMom - thank you. I used Aurofil 40wt. I use it for all my machine sewing now. The machine stitch goes each direction twice so it ends up looking quite a bit like my hand buttonhole stitch.

Thanks jeanne49 - this is actually the third design. The first was a friendship tree with challenge fabric from the friend who started this thread. The second, another tree with challenge fabric from a quilt store. All money raised by the store, plus a quilt from the returned blocks, goes to The Delta Hospice. This third one is another charity one I did for the store after the fact so they would have an even amount of blocks for the quilt. I also made sure it co-ordinated with my first block for them.

I finally finished the planning stage of my DJ. Below is an image from DJEQ. I couldn't get the DJ software to insert the offsetting triangles against the outside edge, but those will be the same light grey used throughout the quilt. I am using the same light grey for the sashing and the background fabric in the blocks. If I planned it right ... some of the blocks will appear to "float".

This layout uses all of the DJ blocks including triangles and kites. Will be a generous King (108 square).

The colors are "rough". I didn't upload *my* colors and just chose the closest thing I could find in the DJ solids.

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And now a question about fabric yardage ....

I have a total of 4 colors in the above DJ. When I add all the yardage together it comes out to 56.5 yards (excluding the backing!!). That CAN'T be right!!!!

That's going to look great DHM!
I'm with you on the 56 yards. Say what? Since I don't plan to ever do a DJ, I can't help you on that. Maybe it takes a lot of yardage because of the waste from all those tiny pieces? By 56 still seems extreme.

That's a stunning lay out DHM!!! Somewhere I read you need 20 yards of background fabric and that seemed a lot to me. I don't know if that's right. But 56 yards...........wow, that doesn't seem right indeed!