A New Project - Day 2

I had a very productive day today - got several small jobs finished, worked on a large one and made some good headway, then worked on my new project for a while this afternoon. I wanted to make 6 1/2 inch fan blocks for the corners. I printed up some paper piecing templates using my Electric Quilt program and cut some strips for the fan blades. I laid the strips out and decided on the arrangement I wanted, and brought my fabric and paper piecing templates to the sewing machine.

I haven't done any paper piecing for a while, so was off to a slow start, but after getting into the upside down and backwards mode I made short work of sewing the fans. I realized that I made two going one way, and two the other, but decided that would work for my design. At least I didn't have one odd ball, with two you can just say that you meant to do it that way! I trimmed them up, then was ready for the next step.

I wanted to add piping to the curved edges of the fan, so tried out my handy piping foot for this - it worked brilliantly! Now the best thing about this technique - you press the seam allowance on the piping under and are ready to machine applique your fan to your background. To do this you stitch in the ditch of the seam between the piping and the fan. I tried the piping foot for this, but wasn't thrilled with the results. I also tried my regular straight stitch foot, and though it was better, still not very easy. I finally tried my adjustable zipper foot and it was the best for this step. It's pretty tricky to stitch right in that ditch so the visibility of the zipper foot made all the difference.

I think they came out really pretty! My quilt is coming together well and I think it will be wonderful when it is finished!

I also did some quilting this evening. I've got 4 quilts basted and really need to get them going, but seem to be stuck on ideas for how to quilt them. So I started one, just doing some basic outlining, then stitching some curves in the checkerboard border. I then tackled the largest one, more outlining - it's a has a cross stitched center and so far is looking good! Still not sure what I'm going to do in all the borders, which are not cross stitch, but I figure by the time I get there I will have an idea (hopefully!) It felt good to make such good progress on my pile of things to do, I hope I can keep up the good work.

A New Project

I was hard at work tonight, creating something new! Fun!

For my project I made some narrow piping for an accent. Out of pretty sky blue Fairy Frost (I don't think it's really sky blue, but I forgot what the actual name of the color was - I'll try to remember to check when I go in to the shop to teach tomorrow night).

Making this piping is really easy - there are several great piping books available by Susan K Cleveland. The one I learned with was Piping Hot Curves. I actually bought the book and ruler set, and love the ruler - it has a groove in it so you can trim your finished piping to have a perfect 1/4 inch seam allowance.

First things first. You start off with a 1 1/4 inch strip of bias (for my project I cut 6 of these out a half-yard of fabric). Sew them together end to end with a diagonal seam. You then sew the narrow poly cord into the fold of the fabric to create the cording. You can use your zipper foot for this, but I purchased a cording foot and it makes it even easier to sew because it has a groove for the cord and a perfect 1/4 seam allowance! As you can tell, I am all about the tools - I firmly believe that if there is a tool to make a technique easier it's well worth investing in it! Especially if it involves getting a perfect seam allowance!

After you sew your long strip, you trim it up so it has that 1/4 seam allowance, then it's ready to sew to your quilt.

Of course, it helps to have a good assistant to help with those trimmed edges!

After making my piping, I added it to the edges of an Emporer's Collection panel. I am still playing with the borders, but it's looking good so far! I want to do something a little different in the corners, but as it is late, it's time to wrap it up for the night. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to finish the borders!

Complete Joy!

Nothing like finishing a project to put a smile on my face. Especially one that has languished in a pile for far too long a time. Many months ago I took an oriental panel and some coordinating fat quartes intending to create a small wall hanging to showcase the panel. I also purchased a ruler and a book on Piping hot Binding to go with this project. I got the fan blocks for the corners paper pieced some time ago, but since then it's just been sitting.

I was asked to do a demonstration on piping at the quilt show, so I decided to use this project as my demonstration piece (since I have never actually made a quilt with piping on it!). I used narrow piping around the panel, and the edges of the fans. I finished the top last week, and as I have a sample at the shop that's ready to go home, decided to quilt this one and bring it in so I can have the other one! I just did some stitch in the ditch in the seams, and did some free-motion to outline the details in the panel. I think I'm going to add a few gold beads for stars in the sky tonight, and I will take it in tomorrow.

So, in celebration of finishing a project I've been working on the quilt I am making for my bed. Some of those Midas touch fabrics are pretty wild, so we'll have to see how this one comes out! I've change my idea of how I want to put the stars together several times, and have returned to my original scrappy star idea! Some quilts just have a mind of their own (and some quilters are loosing theirs!).