Here I go.. making adjustments to Joseph's Coat

I spent most of Sunday doing the prep work for Joseph's Coat but not without a few problems.

My first problem was my compass. It would only open to a maximum size of just over 4.5 inches and the instructions call for a compass set to 5.5 inches. I decided to just go with the 4.5 inches which should make my blocks for this quilt finish about 9 inches which I think (hope) will be ok.

When I began drawing the circles, I discovered that it made a difference in how I held my cheapo compass. The difference in the circles could be as much as 1/8 inch off. I used some tape to secure the shaft of my pencil to the arm of the compass to keep it from wiggling and managed to draw my basic pattern.

I created the template and drew some petal shapes onto freezer paper as I have plenty of it on hand. I did do a trick to make lots of petals at once. I layered more sheets of freezer paper underneath the top one with the drawn petals. Then, I put a staple into each petal to secure all the layers.

I also used my Clover mini iron to heat bond the layers together BETWEEN the petals. You have to be sure not to get the petals bonded or they won't come apart. (Lesson learned) I then rough cut rows of petal shapes and continued to staple the next rows until all were cut. I took these to my comfy chair and spent an hour watching quilt shows on video while I cut all the petals out.
Once all the petals were cut precisely, I removed the staples and separated them. (This is when I discovered that some of my stacks were accidentally welded together when I did the iron tacking trick.. so I lost a few.)I've decided to just use scraps for this project so I got out all my strips and ironed the freezer paper petal shapes onto the wrong sides. I cut out enough to make one block and proceeded to glue the edges. This is when I discovered that glue sticks can get old and become useless. The edges would not stick down. I went digging and found another glue stick and it worked better although those pointy ends are VERY fiddly and difficult to get precise. I found that it was a bit easier if I also used the Clover mini iron to heat set the glue especially on the points.  (I may experiment using spray starch to prep my petals to see if it works better for me.) I had 12 petals prepared and the whole day was gone. Next, I need to decide just how big I am going to make this so I can find some background fabric to use. Right now, I am thinking perhaps crib or lap size....