Piecing Words

The Phillies top may be done. I'm letting it marinate while I start on the quilt back. These free-pieced words don't seem to match the cursive team name on the front. And besides it's turned out that there are many more words than will fit on the front. So I decided to fill the back with them.

Piecing letters is so much fun. Why did I wait so long to try it? Some are quite easy: r  o  f

Piecing r, o and f

Of course, there are letters that eat my lunch. Like W.

Drafted w's and one attempt to piece it

After several iterations on graph paper, I thought I had a plan - until I kept slicing the wrong section or cutting the wrong direction. I finally have enough but they are much larger than the others. Ah, well. It adds a whimsical feel. {That's my story and I'm sticking to it.}

I pieced the FO's name first. {To respect his privacy, no photos of that.} I didn't know what I was doing but it came out okay. Next was his college with graduation date {The 2 was tough.} Now I've started a couple of sayings.

Piecing words for a quilt back

What have I learned so far?

1. It's hard to free piece and stay uniform in size. {No, they aren't supposed to be completely uniform but look at how the word Phillies grew. The s is as large as the h. Mrs. Davis, my second grade teacher, would not approve.}
2. It's hard to be a "little bit" wonky. {It's kind of like "a little bit pregnant."}
3. A quick graph of each letter helps keep track - of the direction and width of lines as well as width of open spaces. 
4. Typesetters have letter blocks with identical heights for a reason. 
5. It helps to mix making each letter the same height with sewing a couple of short letters together and then adding the height.
6. One-inch finished width "brushstroke" is too wide for a three-inch tall letter.
7. It's easier to  cut a larger background square and then subcut it for the letter. (See the r above.)

Fortunately, we are not in Houston this week but we are certainly keeping an eye on Hurricane Harvey. Our neighbors say they are prepared.

Enjoy the day, Ann