Tag Archives: Paper Piecing

Multi-tasking into the New Year

Posted on by
Reply

For the last few days I’ve been working on a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  I feel like a ping pong ball bouncing from one thing to the next!  Along with all the wonderful time spent with family and friends, putting all the Christmas decorations away and hitting the gym a few times since Christmas to work off all those treats, I’ve also worked on various quilt projects.

Post Card Cuties for Winter (by Bunny Hill Designs) – two more blocks are complete and one ready for hand work.  Here are the two completed cuties:

Post-Card-Cuties-Block--7

Post Card Cutie Block 7

Post Card Cutie Block 8

Post Card Cutie Block 8

Grandmother’s Choice – Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice blog continues to be a very favorite.  Each Saturday morning the first thing I do is check her blog to see what the next block will be and to read a bit more about the history of women’s rights. And I love the bright, springy, happy fabric I’m using: Good Fortune by Kate Spain.Here is this week’s block called Cheyenne:

18. Cheyenne

And last but not least - Carol Doak’s Mystery Block of the Month.  Carol has already given us the January block called Arrow Star:

Arrow Star

The Carol Doak Mystery Block of the Month is available for free through her Yahoo Group.

Resolutions! I have two New Year’s resolutions related to quilting.  One is to practice free motion quilting weekly.  I’ve taken the class, have practice material and I have all the right tools but I never seem to find the time to practice.  The second resolution is to only buy new fabric if it has a specific project.  No more buying because I think it is simply beautiful.  If it is that pretty, I’d better have a well thought out plan to use it!  I’d like to make really good use of all the gorgeous stash I have in boxes, bins and bags throughout my studio!

So do you have any quilting New Year’s resolutions?  If so, please share!

And Happy New Year, y’all!

Bee Same Fabric Challenge

Posted on by
1

Our Bee has really challenged us this year.  Yesterday we saw the Brown Bag Challenge and today is the Same Fabric Challenge.  I think next year we may need scale back the challenges a bit… ;-)

Same Fabric Challenge

With the Same Fabric Challenge everyone in the Bee who wanted to participate got a yard of the same fabric in January and we all used it in some form or fashion.  The fabric we all got is this pretty Batik:

Same-Fabric-Challenge-Fabri

I decided to use it in my Desert Sky quilt.

This is a Judy Neimeyer pattern.  So I’ve been working on lots of points and curves over the last month or so!

Desert-Sky-First-Few-blocksCurvesThe pattern layout for the blocks didn’t seem to work for me.  It took several days on the design wall!

Playing-with-LayoutLayout-2nd-tryFinally came up with something balanced and not quite so WILD!

Desert-Sky-Completed-Quilt-I’m actually loving how this turned out and can’t wait to have it quilted!

I bet you’d like to see what some of the other Bee gals came up with.

Here Suz used her fabric as a doo rag!

SuzJudy made this pretty little quilt:

JudyMadeline went to town on this beauty!

MadelineAnd Davene used the fabric in a pretty pillow case:

DaveneThat was just some of what all these talented ladies came up with. Next year we are talking about a block exchange challenge – not sure of the details but I know for sure that it will be fun and challenging!

 

November Radiance

Posted on by
2

Carol Doak released  her November Block of the Month pattern last night ahead of the Superstorm Sandy just in case Sandy took out her power.  Hope she is weathering the storm safe and sound!

This is probably my most favorite of the seven blocks in this Block of the Month – so far.  It is called Radiance:

Love how it came out.  Here are all seven:

I think I’m going to love this quilt!

I wanted to share with you a bit about the tools I use when I paper piece – so I took a picture:

  • Sticky Notes – I use these to label the fabric pieces with their corresponding positions on the block.
  • Add-A-Quarter Ruler - I use both a 6″ and a 12″ ruler depending on the size of the block I’m working on.
  • Paper Scissors – to cut the foundation paper (or freezer paper).  Never cut paper with your good fabric scissors!

I set my cutting board to the left of my sewing machine and lower my ironing board to desk height to the right, so I can just move left to center to right as I go. Save lots of time!

In addition to Carol’s Yahoo Group (where you can find the Block of the Month patterns), be sure to check her web site for other patterns and products!

Have a great week y’all!

At Peace with Grandmother’s Choice

Posted on by
5

Does quilting help you through a tough spot?  Or do you wait until life calms down before you can happily stitch again?  Recently we’ve had some rough times with a death in the family and when I found a few minutes to be alone, working on a simple block or two has helped a lot.  Picking out fabric, being creative and, as long as the pattern isn’t too difficult or frustrating, my soul has healed a bit with each block.

Here are my recent Grandmother’s Choice blocks from Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice Block of the Week, which recalls women’s fight for rights.

Week 5 was New Jersey:

My junior high and high school years were spent in New Jersey, so in a way I’m a Jersey girl (but only second to being a Texas girl – born in Texas and got back as soon as I could ;-) ).

Week 6 was Aunt Eliza’s Star:

I love fabric I can fussy cut!

And, finally, this week’s block is Alice’s Flag:

I hand pieced the star and hand appliqued it onto the wavy flag fabric.

I hope you find that quilting brings you as much peace as it has recently for me.  Have a great week, y’all!

Carol Doak’s October Mystery BOM

Posted on by
1

Carol Doak has a wonderful Mystery Block of the Month on her Yahoo Group web site.  The October block is called Posey Ring and it was “easy peasy” to put together this afternoon while I watched Ellen.  (Doesn’t Ellen say silly things like “easy peasy”?)

Here’s my “easy peasy” Posey Ring: ;-)

I can’t believe we are six months into this project already!  A very enjoyable, low pressure project and I’ll have a scrumptious blue and cream quilt when it’s done!  Many thanks to Carol Doak and if you are interested, you can still join the Mystery BOM fun – all the information for previous months is still available.  Just join the Carol Doak Quilting Yahoo Group and look under Files, Block Designs for our Group, 2012 Mystery BOM.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...