Time To Stop Faffing....

 ....and get serious about sewing the goose border for my medallion quilt.  I had all of my focus fabric and most of my LV charms cut out last week.  I have my paper piecing templates printed and ready to roll.  I just needed a bit of time to dust off my reversed-piecing-guided-by-sunlight skills.   Time to settle in mentally.

This past weekend I dove in and pieced geese like a maniac.  I had a small bit of help...or distraction...or spot quality inspections.  It's good he's cute.

After a day and a half I had 19 of my templates finished and five remaining.  Now that's real progress - enough to keep me motivated to finish off those last few in no time at all.

I am 100% jazzed about they are coming together.  Paper piecing makes those points extra pointy, which I love.  The color in this photo doesn't do the focus fabric justice - stinkin' winter sun.  They are bright, saturated and shine with the LV background.  De-lighted. 

Although I am not looking forward to pulling the paper out of the back, I can not wait to stitch these together into rows.   Do you think we'll have a finished medallion top next week?  Here's hoping!

Medallion Corner Blocks

I have found my sewing mojo!  Woo hoo!  It took me a little while there to figure out what I was doing before the Christmas market mania, but now that I have dusted off my old projects and figured out where I left off (and where I need to go) I am back in the saddle.

This past weekend I focused mainly on the medallion quilt.  We had lots of visitors, so there was little time to sew with all of that sheet and towel washing between groups!  But I did find time to do a little foundation paper piecing to create the corner blocks for my flying geese border. 

I used a free downloadable template from Wombat Quilts to create these little stars.  She is my go-to girl for anything paper piecing with such an amazing variety of templates to choose from.  I originally wanted to do a scrappy orange center with navy shading on an LV background, but that would look a little funky with the rest of the medallion that is full on scrappy and in no way color coordinated.  I choose then to go with a warm center and cool shading.  I do not know if that idea carries through, but really I do not care one way or the other.

I have pieced all 16 sections now and just need to stitch them together and rip out the paper.  I find the stitching of sections together WAY more difficult than stitching the fabrics on the template.  It gets awfully bulky, so I need to take my time and be sure seams are aligned, etc.  It’s a job for a quiet night this week when I have some energy and an attention span.  

It is small progress, but progress none the less.  I will take it.

Finished Pinwheel Quilt Top!

Woo hoo!  I have finished the pinwheel baby quilt from my Craftsy class.  This quilt is made of nine blocks, each made with four strip pieced sub-units.  It finishes at about 36 x 36 inches, which is perfect for the little girl I have in mind.  

I found making these blocks entirely meditative as they are chain pieced units of straight lines on a slight diagonal.  Still, when pulled together they have impact.  This was great fun to make, a fab way to play around with Peggy Martin's method of piecing.  I can already see how her strip piecing can be used in my New York Beauty blocks, so I am delighted with how that Craftsy class keeps on giving.

It was a beautifully sunny day when I took these photos.  With the sun, though, comes shadows which make it hard to see the top.  I had to take the very non-artistic option and just toss it on the drive to avoid tree branches.  It is not as pretty of a background, but you can indeed see the top better.  Gotta do what you can, right?  I am surely not going to be the only person in all of Ireland complaining about this spectacular weather!

Can you see how some of the points of the yellow squares are lost in some blocks?  I am not entirely sure why that happened as I was only following the line on the template - there is no place to go wrong really.  It must have been how I trimmed the units?  Or maybe how I joined them together?  I think it will be lost in the quilting and washing so I am surely not going to bother ripping the blocks apart.

So, does it need a border or will I finish it off as it is?  If you are voting border, which fabric do you think I should use?  I was imagining the pink floral as it has bits of the yellow in the center of the flowers, but that is quite a small print and usually I go for larger prints in the border.  Any suggestions from here are totally welcome!

As usual, I had my photographic assistant next to me while taking these photos.  She has been so very happy to spend time rolling grass now that the warm sun is out.  She'd spend all day sunning her belly if I let her, the little cutie.

Quick Strip Paper Piecing: A Craftsy Class

I love paper piecing.  I love the crisp points and the amazing designs you can create that would be a nightmare with traditional piecing.  I do not dig the ridiculous waste of fabric.  This waste has put me off making a larger project using paper piecing.  

I decided to take a Craftsy class on paper piecing to learn a few tricks.  Just before Christmas their classes were on sale, so I figured it's my best time to try out my first one.  I registered for Quick Strip Paper Piecing taught by Peggy Martin.  She's a good teacher with complete instruction, easy to follow printouts and clear videos.  At time it's a bit too basic, but that would make the class quite accessible for a very early stage quilter.

The idea is to strip piece your blocks to both save time and reduce waste.  The patterns are included in the class and are pre labelled with measurements and arrows to dictate the direction of your sewing to make your life SO EASY.  I'm loving it.  

The pattern I'm using here is the easiest one in the class where you sew only straight lines.  The mindlessness makes super sewing after a day at work.  The class does include more complex compass blocks and a New York Beauty that I will tackle in the near future.  Her instructions on the video make it look do-able.

For fabric, I'm using the Mimosa line and Kona Ash from the shop.  I would normally have used a white/cream, but I didn't want the points of the yellow blocks to be lost if a piece of white flower randomly was pieced next to the Kona white/cream.  Ash it is, then.

As for waste, there still is some.  It's in no way the amount of waste that I would expect from making six blocks the traditional way.  This is all of it....  not bad, right? 

I have decided to make a quilt top of 9 blocks so that you can see the secondary pinwheels appearing between the primary yellow blocks.  For now it lives on the design wall in little 1/4 block pieces.   With any luck I'll have a finished top to show you within the week!

Modern Quilters of Ireland Christmas Swap

I should have told you about this finish a month ago, but just never got around to blogging about it.  Back in October I signed up for the Modern Quilters of Ireland Christmas swap.  We were each to make a 18 x 18 inch cushion cover and one tree decoration.  I hummed and hawed for quite some time, looking for inspiration.  I knew my partner, which helps a HUGE amount.  We also received a little description of our partner's likes and dislikes, too: "Love fresh modern designs, cute whimsical ideas and colours, playful characters for a house of young people".  I waited for inspiration to strike.  

Finally I found a tutorial on Fandom in Stitches with a free pattern to paper piece Rudolph!  Oh, the happiness!  After a bit of fabric shopping with my parents over Thanksgiving (I'll tell you about that later)  I started creating my child hood friend in fabric.

The pattern is easy to follow - just sew on the line.  However, it's the most involved, intricate pattern that I've ever tried.  I will say it came together without a hitch, thank goodness.  As the block finished at 10 inches, I added on two Kona white borders to lighten the cushion up a bit, followed by a red peppermint print to bring out his nose.  It's quilted in concentric squares - nothing earth shattering, but I thought the focus should really be on Rudolph himself, not my quilting.  

The back was made from a cute Riley Blake print of Rudolph and his lady friend.  It was perfect.

I feel like I should explain the setting of my photoshoot - I carried this cushion around for 2 days hoping to get a bit of sun to snap a photo or two.  It was dark before work, dark after work and rained during the day.  I had to bring it to work and photograph it on office furniture in the building's atrium.  You would not believe the weird looks passing in my direction.

And finally I used this tutorial to create my ornament. I really really really enjoyed the process of making this ornament and see myself making more in the future.  They'd be a great project for when travelling.

To see what others in the group created, check out this post.  Thank you, Fiona (my swap mama) for organizing - I enjoyed this swap so very much!  Thank you, too, to Louise.  I received the most beautiful scrappy wonky star cushion from her.  We all know I love scrappy stars!  It's a total hit, Louise.  

Medallion Square in a Square Border

I have already lost count of what border I am stitching.  Given the center block is on point, does that make the LV setting triangles a border?  And how will I fix my scrappy rectangular border after the LV triangles?  Maybe with another border....

In the end, who cares?  I will carry on.  As you can see, I still have not properly re-adjusted my scrappy border and instead have just started to piece my next border.  I have fallen in love with these little fussy cut square in a square blocks.  These finish at 4 inches and are paper pieced.  It takes me no time to whip one up, so I am sewing little blocks when walking by the sewing room, between dinner and the dishes, etc.  Having such a nice, quick, easy, rewarding block has been wonderful.

Do we like this?  Or no?  Too busy?  They can always go on the back....

And what do you think of the LV scrappy look?  I'm trying my hardest, but really stunk at it last time.  Is it working this time?

This is my first time fussy cutting fabric.  It is awfully wasteful and I am not entirely convinced it is worth it, but for these blocks its a necessity.  Want to see some of my favorites?

And, of course, a bit of Heather Ross.  These are the only two prints I have of hers.  Both are incredibly special to me as I'm a big camper and little frogs/tadpoles have a special place in my heart.  I nearly wish I made the entire border out of fussy cuts from these two prints, but it is too late now!

Is it just me, or do those little birds look hungry?!?!

I will keep stitching.  I generally do not have fabric in my stash that is prone to fussy cutting, so I am going to reach a wall pretty quickly.  I am determined to not buy additional fabric for this quilt, so I will have to dig deep!

It's Worth the Effort

I love foundation paper piecing.  I know it drives some of you mental, but for me there is nothing better.  It gives me an excuse to pull out my crayons.  The template tells you where to stitch, so you don't have to pay attention to that quarter inch seam, AND you get the pointiest of points in your final block.  Win win win.

Over the weekend I pulled out my trusty star templates and started stitching.  Much to my surprise they came together WAY easier than I thought they would.  Only once did I really really mess it up, but that was my own fault for sewing while tired.

I was very lucky to not run out of my chosen fabrics. I had forgotten how much wastage there is when paper piecing and I really wanted to have some left over to pull these colors/prints through to the borders.  I came quite close to the end of my red pin fabric, but squeezed out every last drop from the FQ I had.  Whew!

I have all 8 sections pieced now and I'm trying to put them together in quarters, halves and then into the final block.  Now here my system of simple sewing on the line is breaking down.  I am not getting the lovely matching seams and pointy points that I would like to have.  I think it's because I can not quite feel the seams to align them with the two pieces of paper on either side.  The four layers are also quite thick to sew through and a little slippy with the paper running along the faceplate.  I have started to rip out the paper from two of my sections to see if I have better luck stitching them together.  I will let you know how that goes.

With any luck, I will have a finished block tonight.  I have to start thinking now about borders and placement.  Will this block go on point? Or what borders will I add to bring it to 15 inches?  I'll probably mess with a few options and ask your thoughts on IG (@fluffysheepquilting) later this week.

The two quarters on the right have been joined together, so there's a bit gap
with the "used" seam allowance.

My, these look dingy in the dark evening light. They're really quite vibrant
and pretty....honest!

In other news, did you see that Rapture, by Pat Bravo, has arrived in the shop?  This line is just gorgeous and, as with all Art Gallery Fabric prints the texture of the fabric is just divine.  This was supposed to arrive at FSQ back in December, but was stuck in Korea for nearly 2 months!  I nearly cried when it finally arrived!

Modern Irish Medallion QAL Plans

Since the announcement of the Modern Irish Medallion QAL, I have been busily daydreaming of what fabric colorway I want to use and what my center block of the medallion will look like.  What a wonderful way to occupy my brain on the commute to and from work.

I know you are going to be shocked when I say that I want to use a star as my central block.  I searched high and low for a paper piecing template that I could download as I would like for this to be more complex than my usual 8 point stars.  There are apparently lots of really amazing paper pieced star pattern books, but I am not lucky to have one of those on hand.  Instead, I found myself browsing time and time again Wombat Quilt's free paper piecing downloads.

There, Cath had an example Kaleidoscope star block.  I was hooked.

From http://wombatquilts.com/free-paper-piecing-patterns/

I would like my central block to be more scrappy and random, though, as I want the majority of this quilt to be from my scrap bin and stash.  I pulled out my crayons and came up with a potential star design with a little help from my fuzzy buddy, Clarkson.  Does your cat immediately sit on any new-to-him piece of paper? Mine does.  Always.

I finally coaxed him off and finished my all so important coloring....

It seems a bit more "me".  This paper pieced star will finish at 12 inches square.  According to our QAL guidelines, I need to add a border to this block making it 15 inches OR turn it on point and add setting triangles.  I think I'll choose a path once I have the block in front of me.  These things tend to work themselves out.

But what fabrics will I use!?!?  How about these?

I just hope I have enough of the red pin fabric.  Fingers crossed!  You'll see a little white print with black dots on the bottom of the fabric pull.  Yes, I'm going to try once again to use an LV background.  Who knows if I can get the hang of it this time.  I will give it a try and you guys can tell me where/when I go wrong.

This week I will be piecing the central star.  Until then, I am linking up with the MQG Ireland.  If you want to see what others are planning for their medallion quilts, pop on over with me!  

Modern Irish Bee: January Blocks

At least I think this is still called a block?  This month in the Modern Irish Bee, the wonderful Fiona of Patchwork Delights sent to us an equilateral triangle template and a pile of her beautiful scraps.  Using this tutorial, we were to paper piece as many little scrappy triangles as we could!

I can not tell you how much I loved making these triangles!  In the end I did make 8 little triangles to send off to Fi. She's going to need a whole lot more if she's going to make a quilt.  With the whole bee chipping in she's well on her way.  Can't wait to see the finished top, Fiona! 

You guys were hilarious yesterday.  I'm so grateful for your help and suggestions.  Because I'm a science nerd, I graphed out your preferences and suggestions in a totally non-scientific way:

From left to right: pin/red, grass, butterscotch, aqua/teal/jade, essex and bone

What cracks me up is that the jade/aqua/teal suggestion was nearly the overall winner (down by 1 vote) and was not even one of the choices!  For the three choices presented (Grass, Butterscotch and Bone) butterscotch was a clear forerunner, but with you all screaming for blues/greens I did have another look at these FQs next to every Kona blue that is available in the shop.  Right now I'm playing with the idea of Kona   Turquoise, Lagoon or Caribbean.  I'm digging the Turquoise with possibly Butterscotch on the back.  We'll see!

Fat Quarterly Retreat Wrap Up (Pt 2)

Sunday at the Fat Quarterly Retreat was as chock-a-block as Saturday was!  The ladies were in full spirits all chatty and giggly and classes were packed full.  It was fantastic having two full-on days of Fat Quarterly goodness.  What did my Sunday look like?

First I had a freezer paper piecing class with Kerry.  If you have a chance to take a class with her, do it.  She is FILLED with energy and enthusiasm, so it makes the whole class fun.  Kerry gave us several different freezer paper piecing patterns to choose from depending on our comfort and experience level.  They ranged from basic triangles to those with Y-seams.  Each one would make a super cute little pin cushion.

Before we started, though, Kerry tossed out little bundles of Liberty prints for each of us to use/take.  You should have seen the scramble!  Who was in the middle of it all, but Miss Susan?  Couldn't keep that one away from the deliciousness!

Once the frenzy settled down a bit, we got to sewing.  This was my first time using freezer paper, so there was a little learning curve.  Still, it's easy enough to get the hang of it in a morning.  My only problem was that the freezer paper would not stick to my solids.  Argh!  Anyway, some of my seams are a little off as it kept falling off and I kept re-applying it...or at least that's my excuse for now.

There's Susan again, with Laura Jane, right in the front row...

And Fiona (above) and Karen (below) diligently working away....

In the end I made a little hexie pin cushion.  As it's my first time freezer paper piecing AND doing Y-seams I'm pretty pleased.  I do wish I had some rice or something more weighty to fill it with.  Next time.

Next to our class was an English paper piecing class with Tasha.  And who did we find there, but Kat the amazing, who was making hexies and...

Leanne who flew all the way over from Canada!  Goodness!  Leanne was my best "surprise" find as we did not really know one another before this retreat, but I really enjoyed her company.    

There were also impromptu classes throughout the weekend.  Here, Trudi was giving a demonstration on sketching/designing free motion quilting patterns.  To watch her draw was just amazing.  She's incredibly fluid with that little pencil and baking paper!  Later she did a hands on demo with her sewing machine so we could all see how "easy" it was to do!  She was amazing.

There was also a great buzz around the Siblings Together project as they were coming to collect any donated quilts over the weekend.  Here's our lovely Hadley stitching on her label...a little last minute for you, missus.  That's not your style at all!

Sunday afternoon I took a frame purse class with Katy, our tattooed quilter.

Once we cut out our patterns, we were allowed to play with glue!  You should have smelled the toxic fumes coming off of that stuff.  And with some stitching, gluing and scissor-shoving we made a gorgeous little purse.  I absolutely loved the process and can't wait to make a second one.

My class was, once again, filled with fabulous personalities.  Here we have Mary and Trudi distracting Terri, Hadley and Lucy from there stitching....

Lucy keeping her composure to the best of her ability...

Mary with that glue...again...

and Hadley telling us how it should be done.

Ta-Da!  We each made a gorgeous purse.  I love the Melody Miller prints used here.

I went with Echino and fussy cut a few little birds for the front and back.  They make me happy.  It's lined with a lime green solid that suits the flecks of green in the flowers and leaves.

There's my full Fat Quarterly experience.  I had a fantastic weekend with these spectacularly lovely, creative, funny, charming, supportive, encouraging, inspirational women.  I'm already counting down the days 'til next year!