Playful Little Paper-Pieced Projects

I got a surprise delivery today that I thought wouldn't arrive till the new year, Playful Little Paper-Pieced Projects: 37 Graphic Designs & Tips from Top Modern Quilters.  (check out the look inside feature on Amazon for pics/text previews).

I had an email to submit a design for this ages ago- such is the way of publishing, and at the time everyone is sworn to secrecy and you don't know who else is in it.  As time has passed you start to find out and in the end if tells like it is a book full of friends, people I have worked with, written with, met in person, Flickr Bees, Instagram- amazing company to be a little part of and congratulations to Tacha Bruecher who complied and edited the book, came up with such a great concept and managed to get a CD with all the templates/patterns in as part of the publication.  This book is an introduction to different methods of paper piecing and has the best 'how to' section that I have read on the subject.  There are 12 monthly themed blocks which can be sewn individually, together to make a calendar quilt hanging and each comes with its own project ranging from aprons to bicycle baskets.  My blocks are October and December.

And my projects for these were a banner and a gift basket.

Take a look at some of the others…

Penny's of course, July block and project.  A beautiful photo too with a perfect chair to showcase a chair!

In addition to the calendar blocks, there is a further section of small projects with different block designs.  This is Ayumi's Mail Organiser- cuteness overload!  

Chase's Nutcracker and ribbon pillow- ear marked to make for next Christmas.  I fancy the ribbon as a border all around the nutcracker.

Laura Jane's ingenious indexed book bag, pockets for different sections, so, so clever!

Megan's tea themed tea towel- the milk jug is my particular favourite here, love the shaping around the handle!

And there is so much more- Lynne, Amy Friend, Leila, Joanna, Daniel, Amy L, Angela, Kylie, Charise, Caroline, Tacha, Sonja, Cheryl, Tamiko, Julianna- you can see all the contributor profiles in this link- look at the inside feature,  Playful Little Paper-Pieced Projects: 37 Graphic Designs & Tips from Top Modern Quilters.   

I have been sent a stack of copies so I have some available for sale- bargain price for UK peeps, £14 including postage.  If you are in Europe, cost is £19 including postage.  If you would like a copy email me either using the link on the right of the blog or leave a comment with contact details here.  I will need to know your paypal email address so I can invoice you.  Anyone local who wants to collect a copy gets a no postage discount so only £12!  ***edited to add only 2 copies left! ***

I may be a little biased but it is a truly lovely book and I am thrilled to be a little part of it. 

Favourite things

Leila chose 'Favourite Things' for her 'Ringo Pie' queen bee month.  There was a lot of freedom in this theme, the block needed to reflect something about us.  I recently bought this inspirational book, 163 Patchwork Blocks and Quilts.  There is a Flickr group about this book and you can find out more about it there.  You just know looking at the cover that this book is fantastic- sorry to be such a temptress.  It is hard to find- The Workroom stock it when they can and are great at mail order.  Pomadour24 on ebay and etsy sometimes has copies.  Warning: it is expensive!   You need to be prepared to draft with this book, it is all in diagrams in the usual Japanese style and many of the blocks use intersecting Y seams- just saying...

 As soon as I saw this spools block I just knew this was the one.   I love spools block, conquering the Y intersection seams in my first Ringo Pie block was part of my quilting journey and my love of paper piecing.

I knew I wanted my favourite Kumiko Fujita ruler print, ( you can find some here).  I have it in 4 colour ways- one for each spool and I wanted vintage prints for the spool centres- many of these came from swaps with the lovely Chase.

Leila wanted 6" finished blocks for a sampler quilt she is planning so this block is small but it was intricate with 16 Y seams!  I drew the block on freezer paper- you can see the book diagram which gives block proportions and also a picture of the assembled block reverse side which is most helpful.

I am using the same book to inspire me for Pillow talk 9 swap.  I have an amazing partner, and I am hoping that this block will do the trick.  I plan for 9 of these and you can see, Y seams again so I need to get on with it!

Belated Blocks

I got  behind with Bee Blocks over the summer so I am trying to do a little catch up.  First for Leila, her theme in Cocorico was 'A woman's Work'.  I had a lovely pattern by Kumiko Fujita that came from a Japanese magazine- possibly Patchwork Tsuchin.  The stove and the casserole seemed a good fit for her theme.

Leila asked for either blocks 6 1/2" square or any size- this is a bit of both, 6 1/2 x 7 1/2".  I slightly misjudged the right side of the black strip but by the time I realised it was already cut and sewn. 

In Ringo Pie, many months ago, Tamiko asked for blocks on a Magnum PI theme, an imaginative idea and one that is producing some great work and a strong sense of humour.

This block started off with a free paper piecing Hawaiian Shirt pattern by Linda Worland at Paper Panache.  I did a little tweaking- added the back collar, added a Y seam and used freezer paper template method rather than sewing through paper.  I made the pocket as I would a real one and the same with the collar pieces. The trunks owe a debt to Penny and the pants/undies she made for Monica in the Travelling Quilts bee.   I drew out the shape, the stripes were pieced first, then the shape was cut out and the strips are bias pieces of white fabric.  After extensive research of Tom Selleck in trunks, these seemed to be the most distinctive for Magnum PI.  This block cracks me up.  If I could have pieced a tiny moustache and sunnies, I would have! 

Best in Show

This block was for Megan in Cocorico bee. Her theme was 'Country Fair'.  I dallied with the idea of pigs but they started to look more like dogs in my sketches so I chose rabbits.  I had to do two, I think of rabbits in multiples, it must be their breeding habits!  And the "Best in Show" idea was rattling around my overcooked imagination from the start.  The sitting rabbit as from 318 Patchwork, Kumiko Fujita-(you know already that it is, of course, out of print).  I played around with that pattern for the standing rabbit and pushed myself to fit a  total of 5 inset Y seams just into that one rabbit- that was fun!  Both bunnies are freezer paper pieced and the ribbon was foundation pieced. The ribbon was adapted from  Carol Doak's free Pink Ribbon pattern.

The tails were needle turn appliqued on with the straight edge sewn into the seam.  The noses and eyes were wool felt cut with a paper hole puncher and hand stitched on.  For the stamping, I always use Versacraft ink.  I like to live life on the edge, the stamping was added at the very end of the block.
Fabrics
Green- Sweet on NYC for Timeless Treasures
Ripple Ribbon-Anna Griffin
Pink large polkas-Lecien
Pink tiny dot-my stash
Yellow prints- Picnics and Fairgrounds, Denyse Schmidt
Aurifil thread for piecing and Superior needles- my new favourite piecing needle, love them!

Happy House, Happy Two Years

So tomorrow is the official date for my second blog birthday, I am jumping a gun the little today but hey, who is going to stop me?  Blogging has bought me such great friendships and opportunities, I could not love it more!  So to celebrate, as many of you guessed, a little house block for anyone who wants to make one!

I made mine as little gifts to a couple of kind people.   The block is 4.5" unfinished, 4"finished, perfect size for lavender bags (as below) or pincushions or a for sewing on a bigger scale to make quilt block houses.

All the pieces are a perfect size for scraps so I went for a mix of vintage and modern and used some of my tiniest pieces.  The tiniest of all was the little ducky- it was an umbrella rather than a noose, no ducks were harmed in the making of this lavender bag.

For both houses  I used the freezer paper template method for piecing and Y seams for the roof chimney area.  The square blocks were rounded off and I added a light woven interfacing to make the blocks suitable for lavender bags.  

Now I know some of you fear the Yseams or prefer to foundation rather than freezer paper piece, so I have a multi option pattern for you.  If you want more details on how to paper piece, check out my paper piecing page for lots of online resources, and if you want to learn the very basics of foundation paper piecing where you stitch through a paper pattern, visit Katy's Foundation Paper Piecing for the Terrified Quilt-a-long

 Click on your choice below for your piecing preference! Both freezer paper pattens could be hand sewn- a great way to learn a Y seam- as well as machine sewn.  And when you have made your creation, please add to my Flickr group so I can see it!  I fancy nine little happy houses sewn together to make the centre of a cushion!

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Freezer Paper {no Y seams} PDF
Freezer Paper {with Y seams} PDF
Foundation Paper PDF

 

To build a house you need good tools

This little house block is from the Kumiko Fujita Bonjour quilt- you can see her videos for it here.  The images come from a Japanese magazine, Patchwork Tsushin (sorry not easily available though I have seen copies on ebay) but you can get the idea from the youtube clip.

I wanted to try the hand piecing that Kumiko shows in one of the blocks.  I bought a few tools to test- a clover finger presser and clover black gold needles.  Do you notice the big reel of Aurifil?  Sometimes you need to splash out on the apparently humdrum- good thread is worth the spend- ask any sewing engineer and Alice at  Eternal Maker is stocking a huge range of colours in the mako 50wt.  I bought 2310 neutral cream and 2615 grey- each have 1300 metres on so they will keep me going.  I might have talked my local machine and sewing shop into stocking it.  As they service and mend machines they are interested in its non lint making properties.  Mr Aurifil has sent them some testers, I hope they buy it in.

Do those things make a difference- boy yes!  The needles are very fine and sharp, they are going to make the next binding I finish a lot easier.  The finger presser is fantastic, there are many times when I piece when a little marker of where the seam is would just help and this gives the perfect line without burning my fingers handling a tiny piece of fabric and an iron.  It also means you can hand piece without an iron so piecing work could be portable, nice to know for the future.  The reverse shows the inset seam where the background joins the roof, all hand sewn.  I am not up to Kumiko's standard but it was an interesting exercise.

It does take ages though so I machined the rest of the house

This is a slow burn project which I return to once a month or so and it is always a pleasure.  I have a loose red, white and blue theme going on but otherwise I just go where the fabric mood takes me.

It has been a messy weekend- we have no cooker due to problems connecting a new one (my new kitchen is nearly all done), so toast based meals and a camping gas ring have featured heavily this weekend.  I have a heavy cold, being self employed I am grateful for this coming at the weekend but it does make me feel crappy and Damian is going under too so we have been taking it in turns to go back to bed.  Better now then in the Christmas holiday but achey heads, bodies and sore noses are never good.  Cooker comes Tuesday so I hope to show you my revitalised kitchen- you know how I love kitchens.  Back tommorow witha little giveaway courtesy of Nova