Mary's Step I

Recently I decided to make a paper-pieced star but  it has been many years since I've used that technique, so I first made a "prototype." I just didn't want to risk my really good fabric from the US if I didn't like the design or couldn't manage the technique. For the prototype, I used material from my stash that I had purchased here in Panama and knew I could replace if necessary. (And for sure, the fabric selection in Panama is mighty slim!) I didn't put the final wide borders on the block the pattern called for since that posed no challenge. (But oh my goodness, paper-pieceing is so much more fiddledy than our wonderful, free-spirited Liberated Quilting!!) The good news is that this block made of totally uncoordinated fabrics might turn into Step I for our RR II.
Not such a pretty picture, right? 





So I chopped off the little navy flange then whacked a couple of times across the whole shebang and inserted curvy scraps. Next I diced the entire piece and flipped the parts left to right. Now what? 





Okay, add some sashing. But I'm still dreadfully unhappy -- how Fugly can it get?!! And I realize the turquoise is a very big problem: it's NOT 100% cotton since my hot iron has made it pucker! Furthermore, it has inadvertently ended up making a big X across the whole square - how did THAT happen? So I chop off as many big pieces of the turquoise as I can manage.

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Add a bit of green at a wonky angle and voila! I declare the block Step One -- hardly any resemblance to where it all began! Wheeee! Wonder what's next?