Roberta Zollner wrote:
I might be in the minority here, and usually would vote for the wild side,
but in this case it really will be an awesome quilt with 18 of those! So IMO
buckle down and finish them. Maybe you could do all the remaining compasses
at once? Sew each step for all the blocks before moving to the next step?
They'll be done in no time if you stop counting how many more you have left
to do!

This is what I'm leaning toward. Honestly, I'm pretty sure it'll be
striking as originally planned. I'm gonna break up the monotony a bit
by going out to my LQS today to get the background fabric. And maybe
some interfacing -- I think I'll use interfacing to make sure the
compasses stay round (the technique where you sew the interfacing to the
*right* side of the fabric, then slit the interfacing and turn the
fabric right side out -- voila, perfect circle, then applique it to the
background and trim out the interfacing).

I forgot to mention that the compasses are paper-pieced, from Judy
Mathieson's book _Mariner's Compass Quilts: New Directions_ (if you have
the book, you can see the compass I'm doing on pp.68-69). The compasses
have such nice points because they're paper-pieced, so I can't really
take any credit for it -- after all, all it takes to sew along the line
on the paper is a bit of concentration! I have a paper-piecing foot for
my Bernina, too; that makes it *much* easier to stay on the line. And I
took the book to Kinko's to have it spiral bound so it'll lie flat.
Every little trick helps. :-)

Now, if I could only find a paper that's thin enough to easily trace
through but that doesn't curl when ironed. :-/

This is quilting we're talking about. We're not talking major trauma
here. If I weren't sewing a seam on a compass, I'd be sewing a seam on
some other kind of block; there's no *real* difference except in my own
imagination. It's just boredom, not some major life-threatening stress.

So I think I'll just keep slogging along with the compasses, and
entertain myself with ideas on settings, sashings, borders, backgrounds
and backings. There's always the History Channel. And Nat Geo Channel,
and Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet. *grin*

--
the black rose, wench with a wrench
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts