I started my first pine bark pattern (Matsukawa - Bishi) quilt a year ago by having Ms. Melanie take the first day of a class and I took the second day the following weekend.
This quilting project has not been a pleasant experience. First, the person leading the class was a poor instructor. Second, this person wasted most of the class time doing common/basic quilting operations and didn't have any time to actually teach "the tricky bit" that make the pine bark pattern practically impossible to figure out.
The picture to the right is a photo I found on the web, it shows the pine bark "squares" nicely. My quilt that Ms. Melanie designed is so much more interesting and beautiful.
After sewing together all my squares I realized that we were not taught how to do that step and I did it completely wrong. The pieces would not go together. Sharon calmed me down and said that she would help rip it apart so that I could try it again.
After ripping out all the seams and sorting the puzzle pieces back into their original order (several hours) I was back to step two, cut up your squares into diamonds.
This is where I stalled. Well not quite. Before putting the project aside I took some paper and figured out how the bloody pine bark pattern worked. Once I understood how it worked I could see how to construct a quilt. Satisfied that I could now do the top I was able to let the frustration of the misguided instruction go and do my own thing. Basically, I figured out how to do a pine bark quilt myself, without taking a class.
When I get back into it I'll post some pictures. Perhaps even some notes on how it is done.
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