The Not A Finish Friday Post!

It may seem quiet around here but there has been lots going on in the background.  I've been working hard on so many things my head is starting to spin! So here's a quick recap!

I've been designing a little bit again and working on a block for a North, South, East and West project due on the 30th. I have a love/hate relationship with paper piecing.  I love the intricacy you can get and the sharp points but I always find a stage in the process where it's like there is no end in sight and I just have to grit my teeth and just get on with it!

 I really struggle getting the pieces to match up perfectly and then there's the paper ripping out bit...  Yes there are Twix wrappers in there.  Eating chocolate helps make the pieces line up! 

But at then end, there is a block you couldn't have made any other way!  I still have the middle to do yet but am relieved to have the biggest bit of the block done finally!  These are hand dyed fabrics I've had since a workshop three years ago on a gradient fabric by Vanessa Christenson.  The yellow seems a bit overwhelming in this amount but at least it will attract attention if it gets picked for exhibition!  This is the bottom of the quilt.  There is another block yet to be made!

I have also discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with EQ7.
 

It just doesn't suit my way of designing.   I appreciate that it's main strength is in blocks and layouts but I like a blank canvas and like to crop and copy and paste and play with scale.  I found trying to make the paper piecing template for this block so frustrating - no idea why it can't snap to things the way I want the lines to - probably me doing something wrong!   In the end I had to print it and re-mark the colours and hope it worked.  Thankfully it did, mostly!

I've also been working on finishing 2 quilts for the Modern Quilter's Ireland 2nd Exhibition, called Fun and am so glad its a long weekend to get time to get closer to getting them done.  I hope to have at least 1 to share next Friday as I am subbing in for Fiona on TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday) so come back next week to see all the link ups!

Crazy hearts by Claire Lynch

In the background, I have been working on tons of things for the Irish Patchwork Society and getting ready to teach the Eastern Branch my Ticker Tape Pictorial Quilts and the Rainbow Rose quilts in Dublin in 2 weeks time.  Very excited about it!

Especially as I got my Rainbow Rose quilt back from Tomomi  and can't stop looking at it. 

Please pop over to Slaney Handcraft to see the amazing quilting she has done, my words cannot do it justice and it is really worth reading Tomomi's thoughts on the quilting.  I cannot wait to share lots of photos when I get it blocked and bound but for the moment here's a close up of my favourite bit  - our puppy, Maggie, is quilted into it!

Speaking of the dogs we have had a rough month of it!  Charly swelled up after her evening walk with an allergic reaction (we think to a bite) and emergency phone call #1 to vet.  Thankfully with anti-histamines (mine from the cupboard) she recovered very quickly.

Wilbur ate a box of firelighters containing Kerosene and emergency phone call #2 to the vet!  I had to work from home last Friday to monitor him and get activated charcoal into him (10 times the amount of what he had eaten).  He was not a happy camper (frowny face above) and all I could smell for days was firelighters!  Still both are grand now and Maggie has her play pals back!  The vet must think we are the worst owners ever!

Feels like as soon as April is over, I'm going to take May off and enjoy the exhibitions and catch up with the new blogger blog hop, that is going on at Quilting Jet Girl, She Can Quilt and Cooking up Quilts!

More Fussy Cut Squares

Amanda @ What the Bobbin has been hosting a swap of 4.5" paper pieced squares with fussy cut centres.  Round 3 is Christmas themed so I made some squares using Joy by Kate Spain, Santa's Little Helpers by Riley Blake and some Nancy Halvorsen charms from Nancy's Favourites Holiday Collection.  

 

I received 12 from Amanda for Round 1 which was not themed and open to anything we liked.   I made 4 more to go with the 12 and yesterday evening pieced them into a cushion top.  Aren't they gorgeous?  I just love them!

I hope to do the same with the 12 Christmas themed ones from this swap.  4 x 4 gives 16.5" so I think they will make fantastic cushions.  I think they would be really cool with a 4.5" square in between as well and double your mileage!

My 12 are winging their way across the Atlantic.  If you want to try them Amanda has the paper piecing pattern on her blog here.  It's really not hard to do and they are quite addictive!

My First Swap - Fussy Square Swap Block

I joined a swap on flickr to make 12 of these fussy cut squares measuring 4.5" each.  How could I resist - they are so cute!  Being in Ireland I made mine this weekend as quick as I could to make sure they get to Amanda in Texas in time.  Not sure if the stripey ones on the bottom work with asymmetric lines - should I remake them to have the lines radiating out from centre?

It was a little difficult finding novelty prints for the centre square that fit nicely and didn't get cut off like this one.  My Halloween prints were far too big and Christmas fabric is already allocated.

So I stuck to Puppies from Puppy Park by Riley Blake.  I'll keep this one and make 3 more to add to the 12 I get. I hope to make a 4 x 4 cushion cover out of them.  This was fun and the cute factor is massive.  If you want to try them Amanda has the paper piecing pattern on her blog here.  They are quite addictive!

Linking up to

Doctor Who-A-Long update

Now that my machine is talking to me again I made some progress on my paper pieced blocks for the Doctor Who-A-Long hosted by Whims and Fancies and Trillium Design on flickr here.  I struggled with this spaceship block.  There are a lot of tiny seams in centre but I do love how the colours turned out in this one.

This wolf along with K-9 are my favourites so far.  Those teeeth are cool - I love how Soma's design made them so pointy! That's 5 out of 6 released blocks completed so far.  If it wasn't absolutely pouring out of the heavens outside I'd take a photo of all 5.

I'm loving this project.  It is challenging and my paper piecing skills are getting better, slowly but surely!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday (a late finish I know but I really feel a sense of achievement on this block after my sewing meltdown and all!) and

Sew-A-Long Catch up's

There are a couple of sew-a-longs I joined in on this year and this weekend I had a marathon sewing session and managed to catch up with my two favourites.  First I completed my K-9 block for the Doctor Who-A-Long.  I just love this design and the doggy themed fabric "Puppy Park" by Riley Blake really suits him.  I love Puppy Park.  I bought a FQB and 2 layer cakes of this collection and have made one quilt with designs for two more (plus I was able to spare a little for K-9).

The City Sampler sew-a-long over at Sew Sweetness started last month.  These mini blocks are really tons of fun.  I can't believe how quickly they come together.  I was way behind and caught up in no time really so join in if you can.  There are 100 blocks from Tula Pink's book "100 Modern Quilt Blocks".

A lot of people are using Tula Pink fabrics.  I must confess I doon't have any so I'm using Boho by Annete  Tatum and so far so good.  (I do have 2 Tula Pink Books so I think I'm forgiven!).  Mixing in a few solids from my stash and following the colour guidelines from Tula's book not exactly but as close as I can as in the picture gives really nice results. 

I have yet to see a block that doesn't look good and some of these would look great a little larger on a pillow or cushion or even stick to the 6.5" mini size and make mug rugs!  I'm  so happy with this project and I'm all caught up at block 15!

Linking up to

Paper Piecing

For some reason I find paper piecing really hard - It's headwrecking.  I constantly seem to have pieces too small even though I check flipping them back and forward, over and back and it is so wasteful of material.  But I figured out why I find it so difficult.  I'm using ordinary printing paper that is thick and hard to see through.  So when I place my piece of fabric on the back I'm not stitching where I thought I'd be and then when I fold the fabric back to cover my shape its too small.  So in lieu of having any purpose made foundation paper I'm cutting bigger fabric pieces!  If anyone has a favourite way of doing this or a favourite paper they use please let me know - I am open to all suggestions. 

Anyhoo practice makes perfect so here's a few photos of how I got on this weekend making Doctor Who blocks for the Doctor Who A Long over at Trillium Design and Whims andFancies.  Over 200 of us have signed up so far.  Here's a link to the Flickr page if you want to follow along.   The first block was the Tardis.

Isn't it cool?  Hard to see how you would make this any other way and I love the result.  Sorry I have no in progress shots of this one I was concentrating so hard I forgot to take photos. 

The other thing about paper piecing for me is it takes so long.  I started on Friday evening just after dinner and didn't finish until well into Saturday.  I had hoped to get both blocks done but not a chance! I was more diligent on the second block and took some photos.  I hope to finish it this week as block 2 is due out next Tuesday. 

I use a pin to keep the first piece of material to the paper - note to self:  must by fabric glue. 

Once sewn trim excess - even doing this I got a lot of bulk in some areas with such tiny pieces sewn so close together to give a curved shape.

Looks kinda funky from the right side until all excess trimmed away at 1/4" seam.

 And voila - unit G completed.

 Had to fudge the ends a bit to cover up shortfall in fabric!  Oh well.   It looks ok next to the remaining pieces.

Now to sew them all together.   Just as well I love Doctor Who.   I keep telling myself it'll all be worth it in the end!

Linking up to

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