Learning the hard way

A couple months ago I was flattered to receive an invitation to join Cocorico {A Patchwork Bee}. For lack of a more acceptable description, it's a Ringo-Pie knock off.  A creative bee for those of us who are in awe of the talent in Ringo Pie. Despite my better judgement (it will be stressful, challenging, hard...) I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did because the girls in this group are amazing!

First up is Lauree who chose "anything from the kitchen that goes on a shelf...especially if it has special meaning to you or your kitchen." I'm crazy for vintage cookware - namely CatherineHolm. I dream of owning a shelf full of pieces. But mostly I want the fondue pot. I will never use it - all that melted cheese/fat/chocolate is too much for our 30-something bodies.  But oh how I love the look of the fondue pot.

And it reminds me of my dad.

My dad could cook only three items: fried tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and beer fondue. He loved that beer fondue. We would have it every new year's eve when I was growing up. And sometimes other "special" occasions.

I don't know why I thought a fondue pot would be a good first go at designing my own paper pieced pattern. It took an embarrassingly long time to draw the pattern, then to figure out how to put it together, then to sew almost every piece incorrectly.

In the end, it's lumpy, some seams are a very scant 1/8", much of it is hodge-podged together because I couldn't make certain sections work the way I planned. And the wallpaper. Oh the wallpaper. I had to cut my idea of a set of matching fondue forks because I ran out of wallpaper.  The wallpaper was also a hard lesson in learning to think carefully about sewing order.

I showed the block to my engineer husband who said it's "nice" followed by "somehow this doesn't work, like it needs to be upright to make sense." while pointing to the obvious...

Clearly not a sewer.

Despite the imperfections, I am totally in love with the end result and want to make one for myself. Or maybe keep this one and make a better version, with cleaner lines for Lauree. I wouldn't want to bring down her quilt with my crooked wallpaper and haphazard seams but I so hope that she loves it anyway!