March BBA Challenge - Pt 1

My Etsy blog team, Blogging Business Artisans, have a challenge every month, to stretch us!  Stretch our thinking, our skills, and our creativity!  When the March challenge was released, I didn't think that I wanted to try it.   I wasn't even sure that I liked the color combo that was suggested.  Here is the challenge:

"Your challenge is to create any item with turquoise and red as the primary colors.  You can incorporate other colors, too, but turquoise and red must key components."

I came across an idea for Easter that involved a technique that I have not tried very often.  Since I am a quilter, I usually sew straight lines, but this idea involved curved lines.  So I decided to try my idea in red and turquoise for the challenge!  Two challenges in one--my own and the BBA challenge!  Today's post is about piecing with curved lines.  Tomorrow I will show the finished challenge item.

For the curved lines, I used a small plate to cut around, then . . . . decided the placing of the pieces . . .

Sewing curved seams can be tricky, since you are easing a concave and a convex curved piece together.  Clipping halfway into the seam allowance of the concave (U-shaped piece) first at about 1/2 inch intervals helps the alignment to the convex (rainbow shaped) piece.    Pinning or basting can help.

Otherwise, your two pieces will look like this and not lie flat.  Then, the final curved patchwork looks like this:

Turquoise and Red EGG!



Part 2 and the finished product tomorrow!

Turquoise Swirl Silver Foil Necklace

A little while ago, I purchased some beautiful beads from an etsy seller, BeadsYouNeed. I loved them! Beautiful glass beads that have a silvery foil swirl in the middle! Wasn't sure what I would do with them, but I knew something would present itself!

So, here it is. The glass beads are offset by turquoise rounds that are stacked between long silver spacer beads. Some turquoise should be in every jewelry box! The sparkle of the necklace is not seen well in the photographs, you have to see it to appreciate it! It can be worn as a choker, or longer. It was lots of fun to create and see what would finally emerge! Now showing in my shop.