Sunday, April 20, 2008

Paper piecing

Before today this is the only paper piecing I had ever done. I haven't gotten to putting binding on it but it is quilted, though it needs an iron from the look of the picture, which could just be from me just dropping it on the ground for the pic.

I took a class a few months ago because it is something I just could not for the life of me figure out. It really is the easiest thing, if somewhat time consumming and wasteful. The wasteful is just because I haven't learned any of the strip methods that are out there. A few women off one of the yahoo lists say they have a few methods to seriously reduce the waste, and Carol Doak has a method also. I hope to buy her books soon. I love the designs. I have another book I got for my birthday, 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks, by Linda Causee but it is more just patterns, some great ones too.
Paper piecing came up on my the Pickle Road list and some one mentioned Carol Doak has her own list. So off I went and joined. It is really neat. She has very generously added some patterns to the list. So I decided to jump in and made this.

There are 56 pieces in one 6" square! It took forever, more because Little Bit was wanting something every 5 minutes than because it was hard. Just time consuming, having to trim and press everytime you add a piece.
I used Fusions from Robert Kaufman fabrics. I love the fusions, but especially these ones, which I think are Fusion 11. I have about 20-25 FQs of them that I use in projects.
I'm really enjoying the intercacy and accuracy you can get with paper piecing but I don't think it will be my primary method still. I like the look and simplicity of regular piecing.

Working on that block meant I didn't finish the flimsy of Day in the Country which I had planned on finishing today but that's ok.

I should be studying for my exams later this week but really don't feel like it. I wrote two last week and am kinda crammed out but one of the exams I don't feel like I know a damn thing so I had better get cracking on it.
Bye for now!

2 comments:

Susan said...

Paper Piecing is so much fun. You are right about the waste.

Your Carol Doak block is lovely.

Fabricmom said...

Great job on the paper piecing. I want to learn but am hesitant. Some day i will jump in and get my feet wet.