Friday Finish!

It's been awhile since I have been able to post a Friday Finish.  I actually finished this about a week and a half ago but I didn't get a chance to write a post last week.  My kids started school this week so we had one last really fun weekend to end the summer.  This wall hanging is done with a pattern by Cynthia England.  It was 18" x 18".  If you have never done one of her patterns you should give it a try.  Initially, it looked super hard and overwhelming but she breaks her patterns down into small sections that aren't so bad when you only worry about them one at a time.  This pattern is probably not for someone new to paper piecing though.  Some of the pieces were really small and it really mattered where you placed directional fabric.  I love paper piecing and I still needed to take breaks from it after every few sections.  There were more than a few times where I said I wouldn't make another piece that was so intricate.  But after seeing it done and being so happy that it came out so well makes me rethink that.  This one was a gift and I hated giving it away.  It looked so good on my wall.

Here are some close ups.  See his cute little feet? I I didn't do very much quilting on this.  I just quilted around the squirrel and the leaves with Mono Poly Superior Thread Clear.  I loved this thread.  I have had problems with invisible thread before but I didn't have any with this one.  

The detail work was done with hand embroidery.  I used 2 strands of black DMC thread.  I love the little acorn in his paws.  

I am linking up to Finished it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  I can't wait to see what everyone else is up to.  Its been awhile since I have been able to keep up on my blog reading!

A return to WIP Wednesdays!

Wow, the past few weeks have been crazy!  If you follow my blog you know that I just recently moved.  We are still getting settled in and there are still random boxes around.  I have my own sewing room now which is amazing!  I have it semi set up.  I need to get some storage units though.  Until now I always kept everything in totes and I want some shelves to display all my fabric.  This way I might actually know what I have and don't have.  Life will be so much easier. 

I did get time to get in a little sewing.  I have been working on the above pieced for a few months now.  A lot longer than I should have been.  I needed to keep taking breaks from it.  It is a commission piece for a friend.  Thankfully a very patient friend.  However my absolute deadline is in a week from now so in between unpacking I have been finishing this guy up.  He is going to be a gift for a birthday.  I only have one small section to do for the lower right hand corner and I am done the top.  Then I need to embroider some detail to his face and hands.  All I have planned for quilting is some stitch in the ditch around him and the leaves.  There are so many seams in this that I couldn't imagine doing any free motion.  There are a few random pieces of paper I need to pick out of a few of the seams.  Hopefully I can find my tweezers soon.  But I think I am well on my way to finishing him in time.

This week I am linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for the first time in quite a few weeks!  

Paper Piecing My Way

Dear Jane, B-6

I finished another Dear Jane block last night.  I thought while I was doing it I would snap a few pictures and describe my way of paper piecing.  This isn't meant to be completely in depth because it was last minute but if people want me to I can do a more in depth description with a simpler block.

To start, I use freezer paper. (I like this kind, Quilter's Freezer Paper Sheets) And I don't stitch through the paper, ever.  Can you imagine cleaning paper out of all those seams in that block above.  Keep in mind, that block is only 5".  Each of those white pieces in the middle are only a 1/4" wide.  I find the method I do to be particularly helpful with small pieces.  Another helpful hint when doing this method is that you DO NOT have to reverse or mirror image your design.  

The first thing I do is trim my sections down so that they are in standard sections you use in paper piecing.  You can see that in the picture above.  I didn't take a picture with them all cut out.  I cut off the seams too and you will see why in a bit.  The four pieces above are the corner pieces.  To speed things up I like to find pieces that are the same and piece them all at one.  Here I am working on pieces 1 and 2 in these sections.  I pieced together long strips and then ironed my freezer papers on the strip.  It saves me from doing four separate seams.  I am only worried about having enough room for pieces 1 and 2.  I take this piece to my cutting board and trim them down.

These are the pieces after I trim them down.  When you trim you need to make sure you have a 1/4" seam all around the sections you are working on.  It just happened that sections 3 and 4 are 1/4" wide so I trimmed to the edges.  The paper is on the top of my pieces instead of the back like it normally is with traditional paper piecing.  The piece on the right hand side is the back.  If you look closely you can see my seam.  

The next piece we need to put on is section 3.  I use a ruler and fold that section back.  Sometimes I find it helpful to run a needle lightly along the line to perforate it. I then use my ruler and rotary cutter to make sure that the visible edge of fabric is a quarter inch.  So the aqua fabric under the three is exactly a 1/4" away from the fold line.

The next piece, section 3, is white so I take a piece of white and lay it right side down over my section lining up the edges and keeping the fold down.  You can see the paper folded up.  I bring this to the sewing machine and sew a 1/4" seam where the edges line up.  You should not hit the paper here if you trimmed correctly and can sew an accurate 1/4" seam.  With lighter fabrics you can actually see the paper under so you know where the fold is.

After sewing the seam I take the piece to my ironing board and iron it down.  We now have section 3 right where it belongs.  Now I fold back section 4, trim to 1/4", place another fabric and sew the seam.

 

Here is this section all done.  Remember to leave a seam allowance around your block because its not included in the paper piece.

This is how I sew the sections together.  I pull back one of the seams and line up the paper.  If you look closely you can see the two pieces of paper next to each other.  (Please ignore my chipped manicure)  They are not quite lined up here.  The hardest part of this method is getting those lined up and to the sewing machine that way.  I do not like to pin as I feel like it distorts things with so many layers and the paper.  Sometimes I glue baste my seams with an elmer's glue stick if I am having a real hard time.  I very often start the seam and double check it as I am sewing by lifting up the top piece.

This is a section of my block all done.  You can see that there are little gaps.  You can choose to resew those if you want.  You don't need to unpick.  Just sew again a thread closer.  Sometimes, depending on the piece you can just pick the freezer paper off and move it closer and re-iron.  You might need to trim again if you do this.  I didn't do this because then my white strips in the diamond would not have lined up.

I know with this method of the freezer paper being on top it makes it hard to see if your seams line up.  But it's freezer paper.  You can take it off, check your work and iron it back on. The reason I like the paper on the front is because its not on the back in all the seam allowances.  This gets it out of the way.  I find it easier to be more accurate when there are small pieces.

 

This is the back of my block.  Look at all those seams!

Here it is again all done.  If you look closely you can see that its not perfect.  One of the aqua corner pieces came out too small.  I most likely didn't have a correct 1/4" seam somewhere there.  I am trying to decide if I should fix it but I probably won't.  In this quilt it won't be that noticeable when it is finished. 

I learned how to do this method by combining several different ways.  I learned to paper piece with the freezer paper on the back and that's how I originally did it.  You can see a great tutorial of that here. Then I started working on a Cynthia England design and she paper pieces with it on top but she cuts out each individual piece and then pieces them together instead of folding back the paper.  Kind of like just using the freezer paper as a template.  I find my method a bit faster.  Especially when you can strip piece and do several sections at once.  This block took me about 1 hour and 45 minutes to do.  And that was with taking pictures and tucking the kids into bed.  And bonus, I didn't have to sit there and unpick paper when I was done.  

I would like to hear what you think about this method.  There is possibly a tutorial out there doing this but I have not seen it completely this way.  I think you should give it a try.  If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me.  This was just a quick write up so I understand if something wasn't completely clear. I can describe any step of this more in depth in another blog post when I do my next paper piecing block.

Edited:  I forgot to add my links to Let's Connect Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts.

WIP Wednesday February 20th

When I went to write this post this morning I thought I wasn't really going to have much to write about.  Then I looked back on my photos and realized I had done so much more than I thought I had.  I started a new project this week.  (because apparently I didn't have enough to do already)  I decided to give english paper piecing a try.  I like it so far.  Its quick and easy to do on the go.  

I have this little case I got at Home Depot during Christmas time.  I bought it to organize all my little sewing notions but never used it.  It works ok to carry my EPP supplies but the hexagons don't quite fit right.  It will work for now.  

The picture below is a block I did of the Rainbow Dear Jane quilt I am working on.  I get it as a block of the month from Twiddletails.  I am really far behind on it.  She sends out 10 blocks a month.  I just received the packet for month 7 and I am only on month 2.  Ooops.  I need to get working on that.  

The block below is one of the block of the months I am following on the blog, One Piece at a Time.  I am actually keeping up so far on this one.  Then again its only the second block.  

I did have a finish I wanted to share.  I showed this quilt in yesterday's blog but I finished the binding last night.  My daughter pieced it and I quilted it.  She was thrilled with it.  We made it for her American Girl doll's bed.  Which, to be honest, is our kitten's bed now.  She sleeps there all the time.  

I used this quilt to practice my feathers some more.  Here are some close ups.  

I am linking up to Freshly Pieced this week.  I can't wait to see what everyone has done!