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!

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Beyond the block

I think I'm addicted to Craftsy!  I've signed up for a few free and a few paid courses on their website and Designing Modern Quilts by Weeks Ringle is one of my favourites.  One of the concepts of this course is Beyond the block.  It involves looking at a design concept as a whole first and then breaking it into smaller units to construct rather than repeating blocks to make a pattern . 

One of the thoughts I had in my head the whole time I was watching this specific lesson was "stars".  Weeks had a quilt with very specific curved shapes in it called Tankini and I guess it inspired the giant red star in the foreground.  I had an idea of the colours I wanted, rich oranges, yellows and reds against a navy blue background so I started playing with shapes and graduated colours in this Photo and came up with the the design in the image above.

I have no idea how to make this, no clue at all.  Week's suggestion is to make a mini version first to test the design.  I know I want insert circles rather than applique and probably should use graduated dyed fabric and I know the curves, dimensions and placement are super important or the design won't work the way I want it.  I know quite a bit but not how to start so I'm winging it!

In order to make my mini version I ordered this beautiful Kona solids fabric bundle from Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting (it's called sunrise!) and I'm going to print my design 1:1 A2 size and get out the ruler and calculator.  Wish me luck!

WIP Wednesday: Crochet Rug

Have you seen Zpagetti?  It's a T-shirt yarn that comes in a ginormous roll for about 10Euro.  I saw it in a new monthly magazine "Simply Crochet".  It's from the same publishers as "Simply Knitting" and one of my favourite monthly mags.  The 4th issue has this lovley rug and footstool crocheted with Zpagetti using a number 12 hook.

Having had a sick dog with Pneumonia, who had to be kept in and was only allowed out for 10 mins at a time, meant the rugs in our living room got wrecked really quickly.  I've been looking for something to brighten up the floor space and be washable so when I saw this project in Simply Crochet I had to give it a try.  So I bought the recommended number of rolls in two colour options (thinking I'd make one identical to the magazine for the bedroom too!)  

I received the orange, beige and camel colours a few days before a work trip and tried very hard to get the rug done before I left but didn't quite make it.  I did more than the rows in the pattern to increase the size as I had oodles of yarn left.  So with one more row to go to finish this is where I got to.

 I hope to finish by the weekend and then start on these colours - aren't they gorgeous?

I know this post probably has too many photos for an UFO.  Wilbur thinks so too. Enough with the photos.  Time for crafting.  Though I think he's thinking time for food!  He has no patience, this dog.  I'm like a broken record.  I must say off, off, off ..... 2,000 times a day.  He just can't seem to keep all four paws on the ground!  At least he can't make off with the Zpagetti rolls.  Just a tad too big for him to run away with!

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Bounce Basted

I don't know about you guys but I always feel as if the quilt is close to done when I've got it basted and all three layers put together.  It really starts to feel like a proper quilt at this stage.  I have to psych myself up to baste as it usually involves washing the floor until its spotless.  So on Saturday morning I felt motivated to just get on with it.  I popped into my LQS and bought the most beautiful orange backing fabric.  

Now I normally pull up my multi-coloured Ikea rug in the only downstairs room that's a dog free zone but Gordon has taken over this space to sort out things to go in the attic and it’s a real mess.  I did take a picture but Gordon was horrified I'd show the world how messy he is so I deleted it.  Maybe now he'll get a move on and give me my basting room back!

So I had to use the living room instead and move sofas, coffee tables, dog beds and then hoover like crazy and wash the floor twice to make sure all floating dust devils were gone.   I had just enough room.

2 hours later and movie watched (Life of Pi) I had the basting done.   I've never made anything this big before and very nearly ran out of safety pins.  Charly managed to sneak in at the end of the process and I nearly had a fit  getting her off the quilt.  In the end I gave up and grabbed the camera to take a photo.  

Wilbur on the other hand opened an eye to see what was going on but really didn't care enough to bother getting up from his warm sunny spot in the garden.

Now onto quilting - this is going to take a while!

Bounce Bordered Finally!

From this...                                                     To this.









 And this...

To this.

So happy to finally have this quilt top done.  I absolutely love it.  It was tons of piecing work.  Over 560 squares not including the border.  This design by Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt company is just gorgeous and the scrappy border is perfect for it.  I'll be remembering this border for future use.  This was a labour of love and I can't wait to get it quilted up!

FAL Goals

So beginning a new quarter, just the time to set some sewing goals.  I'm linking up to FAL at She Can Quilt.  Nothing like a deadline to push those unfinished objects to the finish line! 

My UFO's that I really want to finish are:

1.  Bounce - present for Gordon's Aunt: at the stage where I'm adding borders.

2.  A Dog's Life - Applique quilt project (present for me from myself!)

3.  Karavan Cushions - just love these elephants!

4.  Mini Scrappy trip around the world lap quilt - strips ready to sew

 
5.  Strip & Flip baby quilt present for friends expecting in the summer.  There seems to be a baby boom at the moment!

WIP Wednesday : Bounce

Yes I am still working on my quilt top made to the pattern "Bounce" by Miss Rosies Quilt Co.  I made great progress last week and then came to a grinding halt over the weekend.  So much so I worked on a quick baby quilt instead of working on completing this project which is intended for Gordon's Auntie Maura.  I read that procrastination happens when you are unsure how to proceed or unsure how to complete a task.  I really think this is true.  After laying out all my pieced stars the pattern calls for trimming them down off-centre or  wonky to make them bounce.  This required being brave and cutting into my beautiful blocks so naturally I avoided it!

So yesterday I plucked up the courage and stared cutting and sewing the blocks into rows so I could chose the best placement (up, down, to the left, to the right).  Took a while but I got there eventually.   Look at all that background fabric I cut away!

Rows all neatly placed over the chair waiting to be sewn together and then onto pieced scrappy borders which I've never made before.  Looking forward to this bit!

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