The WRONG way to Mod Mosaic...

Ok....so the whole thing with the Mod Mosaic block is that it is free-form, improv, uses up your scraps, etc.  So I decide that I might make a Mod Mosaic panel quilt (about 15" by 50") for my classroom--but not from scraps.  I recently bought a bunch of Meadowsweet fat quarters and I wanted to use those--but not waste any (I'm allergic to fabric waste).  This lead me to the Freezer Paper Technique that completely goes against the improv-y Mod Mosaic theme (please don't let Oh, Fransson see this post!!  LOL)....

I ripped off about 50" of freezer paper and began breaking it up into smaller chucks by marking wonky lines on the paper side (using pencil and a 24" acrylic ruler).  It looked sort of like a big puzzle when I was done...After breaking it into several small chunks, I further broke the chunks down into little pieces. 

I cut the chunks apart and made little notes/numberings on each piece so I could re-assemble this mess.  I even wrote down what fabric I wanted on each piece....

Then I cut the pieces out and pressed the waxy side to the right side of my fabric (taking care not to waste any fabric).... I cut the pieces 1/4" away from the freezer paper.

And then re-assembled the pieces on the table.  Definitely take pictures as you go or you will spend forever trying to figure out how it all fits together.

 Then I began sewing the white strips in between the colored pieces.  As I picked up a colored piece, I left behind the freezer paper in the right spot so I could put it back together again.  You can obviously tell I had some early problems with this step and spent a few hours looking at the hot mess on the table wondering how the shizzle it would all would fit back into the chunk...

As I got a chunk done, I put it back together to form my quilt top.  See the blue lines....those define my "chunks"....It does end up a bit larger than the original piece of freezer paper (each white strips adds an extra 1/2" ).  Hmmm....A bit time consuming, but it did turn out OK.



I'll try the improv method this week at the MQG meeting...I think if I use actual scraps it might make the random cutting less painful :-D  Happy Quilting!!