Machine Down (sounds like a movie title) And Steps of La Passacaglia Processes

This weekend I made marvelous quilting progress on my Jelly Roll Wrong quilt.  And then it happened.

I noticed the last time I moved to a different area on the quilt after feathering, I lowered the foot and brought my bobbin thread up, and the foot seemed to be loose.  I tightened the thumb screw.  It was already tight.  Why was my clear, see-thru, hopping foot at a funny angle where my needle wasn’t centered?  I took the darn (no pun intended) thing off to find out it had cracked and broken and was still together but causing it to look askew.  So, I will be visiting my LAQS to order/purchase another.  So the Jelly Roll Wrong has been stalled.

The machine is down and my hands want to do something (other than be bored and find food I do not need to eat).  I sat down last night and started stitching on my La Passacaglia block again.  My pieces for this block are not quite accurate as I traced them from a copy from the book Millefiori.  So a copy of a copy looses accuracy.  And I do not want to go to all that work and throw accuracy out the window.

First you must copy your page from the book.  Without removing it from the book it would be hard to get it without the roll or hump of the page that could affect your pattern.  The tools needed for your template making are as seen below, plus template plastic.  I used plastic with a grid.  Next cut out the shapes you have copied.  It feels kind of naughty to cut paper with my good scissors.

Next, trace your paper copies onto your template plastic.

When cutting out the plastic, you have to trim all your ink lines to get the most accurate shape.

Using your book page lay your template plastic on top of the shape and see if it overhangs.  You want the shape to fit INSIDE the outline in the book.  Once this success is achieved, you are ready to trace onto freezer paper.

I trimmed the pentagon on two sides.  Look at the slop the pencil lead created while tracing at the various point on the pencil and the angle while tracing.  A quilting tip for this tracing process, a sharp pencil will get you the best accuracy.  Once you have your freezer paper cut out, align it with the template plastic and trim any overhangs of paper to again get the best accuracy.

Creating the papers for this block is a tedious process full of inclusions of inaccuracy.  I wish they sold papers for this and they were reasonably priced.  Perhaps I will make a special die for this and send it off to Accuquilt.  So my hands are making up for no machine.  What is your superpower?