-I used Kaelin's Quilt-along. Love her blog, by the way. Just a couple of things I came across that worked better for me: I wish I had cut AROUND the arc templates, sewn my pieces on, and then cut the arcs on the line once I had sewn the fabric. It seemed easier to cut through fabric when it was attached to paper, plus it could have saved a lot of time in cutting out the templates. It was also easier for me to pin my arcs to the melons by starting in the center and moving out, rather than pinning the edges and then filling in the blanks. But that was just me. Other than those two things, Kaelin's instructions were TOTALLY AWESOME.
-This pattern requires a lot of hand cutting. It really didn't take me too long, but it could have been a LOT of work to do a whole quilt.
-There was also quite a bit of sorting through fabric and cutting scraps into the right sizes. A little bit of work, but a GREAT use of scraps! That's part of the reason I think I might actually attempt this again.
-Piecing the arcs was my favorite part. Sewing the arcs onto the melons? Not so much. I never really got the hang of it (as you can probably tell from the puffiness). I think part of the reason the melons were so hard was because of my cheap white fabric, though.
-If I had known better, I probably would have just skipped the melons and white centers and just appliqued the whole thing onto my background fabric. I had to applique it onto the background fabric anyway and I could have saved some effort and some fabric.
-My sewing machine is really picky when it comes to applique. I should spend some time figuring out why I can't get a good satin stitch.
SO. It was fun to make this little sample. It would be a TON of work to make more blocks, but maybe someday I will try and brave it.
