Guild Project: paper-pieced skyline, #4

For this skyline project, the finished size is 72″ long by 14″ tall.  I am using freezer paper and have transferred the pattern on to the dull size of the paper (printing on it with my computer printer, though I could just have well drawn the lines with pencil.) Compare this with the project photo…  Although there are awnings at both end of the project, the green awning, above, ends up at the right end:  the freezer paper, in the folded technique I like, is ironed to the backside of the material.

It was my choice to make all the strips finish at 2″ wide so the whole pattern has 36 strips.  And each strip is actually divided horizontally into 2″ squares.  I tried to make the seams fall on those lines whenever possible.    There are 20 colors in this project.  I’ve colored this freezer paper so you can see the distinctions, but in reality, I’m too stingy with my printer ink to do that all the time.  I gave each color a number and numbered my fabrics with those numbers…  much easier than looking for a tan-brown or a medium-brown, or a latte…  In fact, before numbering all my browns, I lined them up light to dark, knowing it is more important to have the contrasts correct than the actual hue.  I did the same with the greys, since in some places they can be used interchangeably.

Because the pattern is just all 2″ squares, with some squares needing to be seamed from two or three fabrics, no fabric piece anywhere is larger than 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″.  Therefore I could stockpile 2-1/2″ squares of all my colors.   I gnashed my teeth at some spots where it would have been much easier to have longer, say 3″ pieces, or where I only needed 1/4″, but this way let me do all my cutting simply.