Wednesday WIP {A Lot of Secrecy}

I feel like I have a lot of secrets going on right now... can't wait to show it all to you!

--IN PROGRESS--

Forms of a Dress -- due 14 February

This is my first guild challenge!  I am finding myself sketching and re-sketching, and I have my final design ready.  Next step is to begin layering fabric!  Starting this one on Sunday!

Spinning Starlets {English Paper Piecing} -- a.k.a. I've reached a new level of crazy!

Following along with the Block Party at Selfsewn; creating Rose Stars.  I finished my second one and you can also see my post about my overall experience with English Paper Piecing!

Private Swap with Megan from Silver Threads of Happiness

I am starting the second part of the surprise.  Closer to shipping my box!   

Name Game Swap -- due by 15 March

We are swapping a mini quilt that uses the name of our swap partner in the quilt.  Cool, no?  I have gotten my partner's information, snooped around for ideas and inspirations, pulled a bunch of fabrics, adjusted my stack, finished my sketch and I am ready to begin putting fabric to batting.  My only hint will be that it's going to start with some ticker tape quilting!

Wish Upon A Star -- star quilt-a-long by Melissa at Happy Quilting and Sparkle Punch quilt-a-long by Oh, Frannson!

Great progress on this over the the last week... and you may notice that I added a new type of star.  I kept seeing the Sparkle Punch quilt-a-long by Elizabeth at Oh, Frannson and couldn't resist.  Besides mixing star types got my mojo going and helped me figure out what I want to do. 

I am working at a frantic pace to finish by Saturday and will reserve further photos (to keep this a surprise) until it's done!  And did you know that this is the first time I've done anything (purposely) wonky... what fun!! 

--ON PAUSE-- 

Laughing Leaves with Frieda Anderson

More of the project can be seen here.  Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and dig back in!  You can also check out what I learned about using fusible in an art quilt!

{Your're My Sunshine}: Bottled Rainbows {ticker tape quilt-along}

Still no deadline for this one.  The way things are going, maybe I pick this up once my show pieces are done?

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 7
New Projects: 0 (might add one next week)

Finished Projects: 0
Total WiP's: 7

And a dose of Katie and Sammy antics --a typical scene straight from my sewing room....

If I were to narrate it would go something like this...

Sammy, "Trying to catch my tail... gotta get that tail"

Katie, "Hahaha, wouldn't it be funny if I stuck my nose in the shot.  I'm so funny"

Sammy, "Hey... get your nose outta my shot.  This is a video about meeeee!"

My Experience with English Paper Piecing

I'm ready to dish on my my English Paper Piecing experience to date and will either push you over the edge into trying it or send you running for the hills. 

Please note, this isn't a tutorial.  There are lots of good tuts already written.  My favorites are by Selfsewn and Sunshine's Creations; they're great to get you going!  Or feel free to leave your own favorite tutorial in the comments.  What I'd really like to do is de-mystify this technique and let you in that it's not as terrifying as it sounds. 

Paper piecing breaks down into about five steps:

1.  Cutting out your paper template

I originally thought, oh ya right, like I'm going to take the time to cut out paper and then fabric.  I mean that's twice the work, right?  But seriously... cutting out the paper is so darn fast and really reminded me how much I enjoy other crafty stuff. 

My Tips: remember to use paper scissors on the paper... not your good fabric scissors and I used a zipper top plastic baggy to catch my cutout pieces as I'm cutting to keep them safe.

2.  Auditioning and cutting out fabrics for each template piece.

You cut your fabric with an extra 1/4 seam beyond the paper template.  Did I mention you can use scraps?  It so cool to think that you can make something so pretty from so little fabric with this particular pattern.  Really makes me feel like I am giving those little scraps an amazing home!!

*Confession... I iron as little as possible with any of my quilting projects, so for my first starlet I skipped ironing the fabric scraps and went straight to cutting, but... don't do that.

My Tips: it's so much easier to cut and baste the pieces if the fabric is ironed first!  Lesson learned... the hard way!

3. Basting your fabric to the templates

My original thought was that this step was felt like sewing the fabric twice, but after some practice this goes so fast!  And I understand now that this is really just to help the pieces keep their shape before you start to join them.

So fun to see a rowdy stack of fabric bits transform into a groomed stack of shapes waiting for assembly!  This is when I can really begin to visualize how great it's going to be.

4. Sewing your pieces together

I know.. hand sewing?  Feels so 1900's.  But, I had an unexpected connection to the history behind all this and it's thrilling to know that this is how quilting was done back then.  

Very deep!  And it made me think about all the time that went into this craft.

5.  Admiring the precision of your joints and your completed work!  And repeat.

Reasons Paper Piecing is So Cool!

• It's a great way to use scraps!
• It's portable -- and here is a look at the kit I carry with me.  That is a leather-like envelope type pouch, with little scissors, a needle and piece of batting to hold it, and I use bobbins to carry a bit of my basting and sewing thread.  Easy to throw it in whatever bag I am carrying.

• It gets a lot more natural and quick with a little practice.  By the time I was through my first starlet I had stopped poking myself with the needle and my speed is way more than triple
• The accuracy of the seams and joint is really stunning to behold
• Finger pressing the folds (using the heat of your fingers as an iron) while basting is one of my favorite parts

And there you have it.  So, by now you've guessed that I like it enough to do two of them and I have my eyes set out on a third.  How many am I going to make?  No clue yet.  Might go for a table runner... may go for a wall hanging.  I'll let the pieces tell me when they are done.

Now, go to the Rose Star Block Party Flickr group and get yourself started!!

I'm going to share this with Quilt Story at Fabric Tuesday, From the Blue Chair for Slash the Stash, and other weekly parties on my sidebar too!

Wednesday WIP {Seeing Stars}

Managed quite a bit of sewing time this week and it feels good to get back in the groove!!

--IN PROGRESS--

Forms of a Dress -- due 14 February

This is my first guild challenge!  I am finding myself sketching and re-sketching, but can feel myself getting closer to the One!

Spinning Starlets {English Paper Piecing} -- a.k.a. I've reached a new level of crazy!

Following along with the Block Party at Selfsewn; creating Rose Stars.  And.... drum roll please.... I finished my first one!!  Whohohoooo!!!
On the ironing board waiting for a nice press (and in terrible yellow closet light)

Pressed and happy!  I need to grab a better daylight picture, but really liking how it came out!

Private Swap with Megan from Silver Threads of Happiness

I have mostly finished up the pincushion I made for Megan and getting to work on her surprise surprise.  Yup, I'm having a fun time with this one. 

Name Game Swap -- due by 15 March

We are swapping a mini quilt that uses the name of our swap partner in the quilt.  Cool, no?  I have gotten my partner's information and am starting to snoop around for ideas and inspirations.  I did pull a bunch of fabrics, but want to make sure they are her style/colors -- this is going to be out my normal style and should be interesting!

Star Struck or Map to the Stars -- star quilt-a-long by Melissa at Happy Quilting. 

I am up to eight stars -- you can see more here!!  Feeling good about it.  Now, I just need to figure out how I want to lay out the design.  I was originally going to just lay them out next to each other, but it feels heavy and unbalanced.  Still trying to figure out what to do next.

A bunch of new stars.

All the stars together.  You know.  Looking at this picture again (and sorry for the low light) I'm thinking it's the blue check and bold bottom right star fabrics that are throwing the design off.  The softer colors are melting in to the brown instead of fighting it.  Hmmm....

Naughty Notions Challenge -- I've decided not to enter in this round due to everything else going on. 

--ON PAUSE-- 

Laughing Leaves with Frieda Anderson

More of the project can be seen here.  Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and dig back in!  You can also check out what I learned about using fusible in an art quilt!

{Your're My Sunshine}: Bottled Rainbows {ticker tape quilt-along}

Still no deadline for this one.  The way things are going, maybe I pick this up once my show pieces are done?

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 8
New Projects: 0

Finished Projects: 1 (backed out on Naughty Notions challenge)
Total WiP's: 7

And a dose of Katie (left) and Sammy (right) playing in the snow we got over the weekend!

Wednesday WIP {Three New Things!!}

I can feel the pace of the year starting to pick up as swaps are beginning and I am getting back into my rhythm to enter an art show in March and my guild quilt show in May. 

--NEW--

Spinning Starlets {English Paper Piecing} -- a.k.a. I've reached a new level of crazy!

A new blog friend of mine Kris from Duke Says Sew What has turned me on to the idea of English paper piecing.  Sounds so formal, right?  Well, you might remember that I had paper piecing on my list for 2012, so when I looked over the Block Party at Selfsewn and saw how cute the Rose Star was... I caved. 

So far, I've cut out the template from paper, cut my fabric scraps, based most of the pieces, and begun hand sewing them together.  I think I may do a seperate post on my experiences with this process so far.

Private Swap with Megan from Silver Threads of Happiness

Adding this here so I don't forget.  I have so many ideas to surprise Megan and I'm tickled that we have the same silly forest, mushroom, elephant, and button likes!  And have you see her Pink Granny Blanket?  It's totally sweet!  Makes me want to get started on a crochet blanket.

Name Game Swap -- due by 15 March

We are swapping a mini quilt that uses the name of our swap partner in the quilt.  Cool, no?  I haven't gotten my partner information yet, but am going to pull together an inspiration mosaic to help my partner stalk me!

--IN PROGRESS--

Star Struck or Map to the Stars -- star quilt-a-long by Melissa at Happy Quilting. 

I made zero progress on this last week.  Bad, bad, me.  I really need to just sit down and whip up a bunch of stars.  I'm feeling more inspired to sew after last night's guild meeting! 

Naughty Notions Challenge -- make a clutch using lots and lots of notions by the end of the month

(you can still join if you like)

I have a pretty good idea what I want to do now... just need to make the basic clutch and start embellishing!

 
--ON PAUSE-- 

Laughing Leaves with Frieda Anderson

More of the project can be seen here.  Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and dig back in!  You can also check out what I learned about using fusible in an art quilt!

{Your're My Sunshine}: Bottled Rainbows {ticker tape quilt-along}

Still no deadline for this one.  The way things are going, maybe I pick this up once my show pieces are done?

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 5
New Projects: 3

Finished Projects: 0
Total WiP's: 8 (creeping up as we get closer to quilt show time!)

And, how about a picture of Sammy and Katie?  That was a lot of rambling and not a lot of pictures.

Forms of a Dress -- due 14 February

This is my first guild challenge!  I have completed my sketch and am ready to pull fabrics to get going.