A "little" paper piecing

More random sewing to show!  A couple of weeks ago I purchased a book called Little Gems by Connie Kaufman. There are patterns for 15 paper pieced miniature quilts. Just what I needed, right? A new project.

I immediately picked out a miniature to work on and pulled some batik scraps from my stash. The center 6" square went together pretty quickly along with one 3" corner square. I need to get back to work on this next weekend. The finished mini is only 12" square so it is achievable.

More paper piecing

I had about an hour to play in my sewing room yesterday after work. And this little paper pieced paper doll is the result. Fun design from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine - issue #10 - the most recent one. It's called BFF (Best Friends Forever).  HMMMM - I maybe needed a more fun print for her dress. And she needs a face doesn't she?

Shazam! - finish #2

This binding is perfect - and was a last minute change of plans. But I love it both from the front and from the back.  Isn't that backing fabric just perfect for this crazy round quilt?

I stopped in my favorite local quilt shop yesterday to buy some binding. Cindy helped me find a great black with some wavy lines.  She mentioned that they used to have a black with multi-colored little dots that would have been perfect but they didn't have any left.  But guess what?  I went to put away a fat quarter in my "FQ drawer" when I got home and what was peaking out of the stack? - ONE fat quarter of the black with dots that I didn't remember having.  And I was able to cut enough bias strips from it to bind my Shazam quilt.  Yay!!! It was meant to be!

So here is my Shazam quilt all done. For right now it is on my round kitchen table where I can enjoy it every day.

Quilting with decorative stitching

I tried (and picked out) a couple of variations for quilting this round quilt. First I tried hand quilting in a blending color thread. It just looked so BLAH.  Then I tried machine quilting about a 1/4" from the seams - and that just looked awful.  So next I tried a decorative stitch-in-the-ditch with black thread. And now the colored lightning bolts just pop.  Yay!!!  This is all quilted and just needs some binding.

Design Wall Monday - Ring 5

The final ring of my Shazam quilt is ready to stitch on.  This is ring 5, and is the one I put together with a backwards rotation of the colors.  I fixed it Sunday and now I'm working on attaching it just like the others - by hand stitching the sections with matching thread. 9 colors - just sayin'.

I think it needs to be hand quilted using thread that blends with each color to outline the "lightning bolt" - which is what I've decided these look like.  But I have to finish attaching this last ring first. And I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Shazam Ring 2

Hand stitching these rings is another challenge for my skills. They are hard to hold onto.  And changing thread colors every couple of inches makes for slow going. But ring #2 is being added. Then 3 more rings to go.

Design Wall Monday

The center and ring 1 are basted together on my Shazam project, lining up the colors.  One third of ring 2 is done as well.  This paper piecing project is pushing me which was half the purpose of choosing this project. Of course the other half of the purpose was that I absolutely love the look of this round quilt. 

I'm going to link up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  

Paper piecing challenge

I am rewarding myself with a new project to work on, but I wanted to challenge myself to do something outside of my comfort zone.  I've chosen a challenging paper pieced project.

I've done plenty of paper piecing, but only in small projects and never in a project that will end up round - I hope.  This round quilt is called Shazam, and I'm using bright batiks with a black background.  The center and the 1st ring of 5 are pieced and ready to join together.

Circle of Geese

I can check off another small UFO from my list - this Circle of Geese. Originally I thought I would just turn the paper-pieced block into a little doll quilt. But then I found the pretty spring floral in my stash.  So now it is hand quilted, bound and ready to grace my kitchen counter top or kitchen table for spring.  I just love the color!

Circle of Geese

I've had some questions about the pattern for the paper pieced Circle of Geese block that I used in this little project.

Well, I must admit that I just "Googled it" and found this easy to follow pattern:  http://piecebynumber.com/CircleOfGeese-PieceByNumber.pdf   But there are lots of great tutorials and other patterns out there on the web.

I want to make this again, but make more than the original 4 sections and vary the directions they are going so the geese appear to be traveling in a wavy pattern. I've also seen this done with the geese getting progressively smaller or larger.  Lots of fun variations to this idea.

An AHA moment

I was refolding and putting away some fabrics on Sunday evening and came upon this pretty pink and green floral. As I was folding it up I happened to look up at my design wall - and had a sudden AHA!!  There was my paper pieced Circle of Geese block (only one) and the pinks were perfect together.

My plan a couple of weeks ago had been to use it to make a doll quilt. But after adding this floral border I think it is destined to be a spring table topper for my kitchen.  I'm in love with the colors!  The Circle of Geese are made from scraps from granddaughter Olivia's baby quilt.  

Paper piecing

I've been paper piecing but I can't show you (yet) exactly what I've done.  We are in the final month of our guild's Row Robin project and needed to add a 4.5" row of 12 blocks to the quilt we received.

I've paper pieced this row and here is just a tiny hint of what the owner will find on the first Saturday of September.

Personally - the anticipation is really building and I get really excited thinking about what my quilt will look like once I get it back at that guild meeting. So exciting to think it has passed through the talented hands of 6 other ladies!