Hourglass-II.jpg, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.
Here is the second block of the Hourglass.
You can see I did a better job of appliquing the teardrops. With this block, I did the needle-turning first and basted the seam allowances down before appliquing the patches. The first version, I attempted to perform the needle-turning as I appliqued the patches.
Needle-turning the seam allowances down first allowed me to get smoother curves and sharper points. I still am not 100% happy with the sharpness of the points in these teardrops, however. Part of this is due to the loose weave of the fabric used for the teardrops. If I had chosen the fabric (instead of using the fabric as provided in the kit) I would have chosen a fabric with a higher thread-count and a tighter weave.
Because of the lesser quality of this fabric, I don’t think it is physically possible to get the sharp points desired for the teardrops.
