Tag Archives: foundation paper piecing

Quilt in Progress: Arabesque

Arabesque – 4 wedges combined

I have 4 sets of these completed. There are only 3 more seams but my goodness they take a long time to put together. The most challenging part of this project is putting each piece together. It requires a ton of pinning and even then it doesn’t line up right. On my final set I remembered one instructor recommended basting paper pieces projects first to check how it lines up. i hope to try this on my next seam to see if it will work better and allow me some wiggle room to smooch and mosh things to line up right.

just so you can see by what I mean by all those pins.
I do love how it’s coming together

Just a reminder how this is going to be. It keeps me motivated to push forward while I grumble over all the pins.

Here’s project #2 I’m working on. Just a sneak peak while I figure out some design choices. I finished the workshop project and I could just end it here. While I look at it and ponder it didn’t feel finished and I continue to work on it.

Happy quilting

Melanie

Quilt in Progress: Arabesque

I finished all the wedges and now I have to put them together. But I’m setting this aside while I work on my disappearing 9 patch. I think 3 quilts in progress – at the piecing stage at least – is the most I can do. I can rotate through them, not get bored, and make progress weekly as long as I have quilty time to work on them. Because of my busy schedule I haven’t gone to yoga in two weeks and I’ve had more quilty time than normal. I’ve been having a blast and really need to figure out how to keep the quilty time on my schedule. and still go to yoga.

I need to place these on my design floor and figure out my layout. Then I can sew my top together. Once that is done, I need to make a decision on whether or not to add borders. I brought my blocks to the guild meeting to get my raffle tickets. We get 1 ticket per block. and one of my guild sisters loved how my main fabric (the one with the flowers) really did all the work in making the block. I agree with her. In fact I picked that fabric first and worked on getting the other fabric that worked with it. These all came from stash and I love that.

Happy quilting

Melanie

Quilt in Progress: Arabesque

SFVQA workshop with Dora Carey of Orange Dot Quilts

I do spend some time quilting every week but my progress is slow and I do not want to keep showing pictures of fabric under my sewing machine. But I actually got some great pictures to share. A couple of weeks ago my guild hosted a workshop with Dora Carey of Orange Dot Quilts and we started Arabesque. My first of many starts coming up.

This is a paper piece project and I’ve done paper piecing before so I was familiar with the process. Her method is a little different than the methods I have done before but it’s not significantly different. The only thing I found difficult was the big strips of fabric and managing all the excess around the part needed. I also accidentally sewed paper from further down the strip on the back of the part I was sewing. Three times!!! Rather than rip I tore the paper off. And then taped the paper where I tore so I could still use it.

During the workshop we worked on a section at a time and we used a lot of fabric. The strips were as big as the widest part and as you move towards the end it gets much smaller. I was wasting a lot of fabric. At home, I work on multiple sections so I can group steps together. I also have two strips for each fabric. One strip is the widest part and the second strip is about half that. That way I can use the wide strip for the wide section and the narrower strip in the smaller parts. I feel like I’m using the fabric more efficiently.

The quilt has 16 pieces and I finished 2 in the workshop. I have 6 pieces that I haven’t started. That means I have 8 sections all in process. A handful look like the one pictured above where I’m almost done. I am about halfway done on a few more. And I’ve got a couple that I have just started.

I’m enjoying this project.

Happy quilting

Melanie

This cushion class, update #3

I really thought this would be done by now. Last I wrote about this was a couple of weeks ago, here. I had just started on the pineapple blocks.

Finished Pineapple blocks

Then I had to do my big stitch quilting. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not but I always try things at least once (sometimes multiple times, but at least once!) So I tried it on the flying gees.

And I loved it. I decided to big stitch all the blocks. With that decision, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to get all the pieces done before the next class on 3/28. So I took my time and enjoyed the process. I figured I could watch the class, do the moving of the screens (I am the zoom person my guild looks to in these situations), and stitch. This would also take the stress out of having to try to keep up with the class as it felt like a race. And so that’s what I did.

I finished the big stitch quilting on all the pieces the Monday night after the class, 3/29.

If you read my Monday to do post, you’ll know that last week was a difficult week to get anything done. So here’s the little bit I got done after that.

I attached the welting/cording to both sides.

Friday night I put the zipper together. The instructor said this is the technique she was taught during home ec. I do not know how old the instructor was but I never took home ec. It was the easiest zipper technique I learned and I hope I remember to use this method the next time I put a zipper on.

Then I covered the handle with my fabric choice, which was the background fabric of the pieces.

Then I put the zipper (at the bottom), the handle and the side piece (flying geese) together. I loved the look but quickly realized that I had put the handle wrong side up. I ripped and redid.

So hear is where I’m at. I hope to get this finished this week. There is not much more left to do. I have to attach the side to the top piece and then the bottom to that, and that’s it. Hopefully it fits.

Happy Crafting!

Melanie

This cushion class, Saturday update

Just a recap on the week and how it has gone. I’m not a monogamous crafter or even monogamous within the craft. I always have several projects going on at a time. And this is the first time in a long time, I have been working on a single project straight. I did have some knitting in there since Thursday is knit night but other than that, I’ve been working on this cushion. And to be honest, I’m not enjoying it. I absolutely hate not having the time to cross stitch or work on other quilty projects and being on a deadline. But I still want to have everything ready to put the cushion together so I’m putting my big girl panties on and moving forward. I am liking how things are turning out. I just don’t like rushing.

As you know from Tuesday’s evening post, I completed the Star of Jasmine.

Becky McDaniel Cushion Class Star of Jasmine step 1 3/15/2021

And on Tuesday, I was halfway through the flying geese.

Becky McDaniel Cushion Class Flying Geese step 2 3/16/2021

I finished the flying geese on Wednesday evening.

Step 2 – Flying Geese blocks Finished 3/17/2021

Thursday was knit night so did no quilting. On Friday, I finished putting the Flying Geese blocks together to make a long string of them.

Flying Geese String 3/19/2021

I finished the evening by starting the pineapple blocks.

Pineapple Blocks Just started 3/19/2021

I know. They don’t look anything like pineapple blocks yet. I have to do 4 and they were going pretty quickly when I was working on them.

I did make it TomatoMania (which I mistakenly called Tomatania) Friday and picked up several tomato plants, a couple of peppers, an eggplant, basil, and strawberry plants.

I also (as planned) spent a lot of the day today (Saturday) out in the garden as it was a nice 70 degrees here in Southern California. It’s been in the 40’s at night the past few weeks so I haven’t wanted to plant anything but I think it’s starting to warm up. A little bit. I did as much as I could until I ran out of soil. I totally misjudged how much soil I would need. Rookie mistake. So now, tomorrow, I’ll need to run over to the nursery to pick up more soil for my containers.

Planter #1 black cherry tomato in the middle, basil, marigolds, and parsley (seeds) 3/20/2021

And I got the batting prepped for the orange quilt top.

So tonight I will continue to work on my pineapple blocks. The plan is to finish them by tomorrow, Sunday and to create a new plan for next week. 🙂

Happy Crafting!

Melanie

Moon Glow – Block 8: Sea of Clouds

Moon Glow Block 8 - Sea of Clouds  FINISHED August 16, 2014

Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds
FINISHED
August 16, 2014

My goal is to get Moon Glow caught up this weekend.  After this one I’ve got 1 left to do.  I haven’t looked at it yet so depending on how complex it looks I may jump on it after this post or do something different and possibly get back to it tomorrow.  I’m really happy with how things are going.  It does save time to get these done at once rather than move to something else and come back to this in a few weeks.  The Bernina is already set up with the black thread (not that it takes too long to switch, but is one less step to do).  I’ve already got the process in my head so I do not have to think about what step comes next.  All in all, it was a quick turn around to get this block done.

Now, the process I detailed during Block 7 basically matched up until about this point… This is where all the foundation piecing was complete and I had to finish it with some other method.

Moon Glow Foundation Piecing  Completed

Moon Glow
Foundation Piecing
Completed

The pattern had instructions to do the center star first.  From previous blocks, I opted not to do this.  Doing the center star first caused me to have to do Y-Seams and resulted in major puckering in the middle.  I’m not as proficient doing Y-Seams so I opted to do something different.

First, I opted to create plastic templates for the individual pieces.  I had a big piece of plastic for templates that I purchased from Joann’s awhile ago that I would normally have used.  But in getting my template paper out earlier I found some smaller pieces of plastic that I thought I should use up before cutting into the larger plastic piece.  This smaller piece was purchased at a LQS a couple of years ago and I was amazed at the difference between the larger piece and the smaller piece.  It reminded me of why I should purchase items at my LQS – the quality was that much better.  The smaller piece was thicker and sturdier than the larger piece.  It reminded me of when I first learned how to quilt traditionally.  I know it sounds cumbersome, but I basically created each plastic template, traced and cut the fabric by hand, and then pieced everything by hand.  You can see the end result at My Hand Quilt.  I enjoyed the process of piecing the hand quilt.  And I enjoyed this process despite having to create all the templates by hand.  I can really see the benefit of doing this for ONE block.

First, I put the pattern on a light box and placed my plastic piece on it. I traced the pattern onto the plastic.  In this case, all the lines were straight so I used a ruler to keep everything straight. I used a regular sharpie so the lines are thick.  If I wanted to be more accurate, I would have used a fine point sharpie.  Today, it seems, I wasn’t in the mood to look for my fine point sharpie.

Creating Templates Step 1 -  Copy the template onto the plastic

Creating Templates
Step 1 –
Copy the template onto the plastic

Then, I cut the plastic with my ruler and my rotary blade.  When I’m in the mood, I try to right the quilt name, the block #, and the piece letter or number on the plastic template.  I don’t know if I’ll ever create this block again, but if I do – it’s nice to know I don’t have to create the template again.

Creating Templates Step 2 - Cutting the plastic

Creating Templates
Step 2 – Cutting the plastic

Then I traced the plastic template onto the back of the fabric with my frixion pen.  (I love these pens!)

Trace the plastic template onto the back of the fabric

Trace the plastic template
onto the back of the fabric

I cut and pieced everything together.

Moon Glow Block 8 putting the pieces together

Moon Glow
Block 8
putting the pieces together

 

Moon Glow Block 8 putting the pieces together

Moon Glow
Block 8
putting the pieces together

Moon Glow Block 8 - Sea of Clouds without the borders

Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds without the borders

 

Moon Glow Block 8 - Sea of Clouds  FINISHED August 16, 2014

Moon Glow
Block 8 – Sea of Clouds
FINISHED
August 16, 2014

TaDa! – Hardly any puckers!

~Melanie

Moon Glow – Month 7: Sea of Vapor

I love Month 7 of Moon Glow.  It’s my favorite so far.  I did pretty well with the exception of one part where I trimmed too much.  My points lined up pretty well.  I’m really happy with how this is coming along.

Moon Glow Block 7 - Sea of Vapors FINISHED August 15, 2014

Moon Glow
Block 7 – Sea of Vapors FINISHED
August 15, 2014

Step 1: Change the thread on the machine

Moon Glow,  Step 1 Change the thread on the machine

Moon Glow,
Step 1
Change the thread on the machine

I like to use black thread because it hides better in the dark fabric.  I periodically forget to do this when I work on different months so I’m sure when I put the blocks all together it will be noticeable.  This is one of those things that I learned as I went.

Step 2: Print the templates

I use Carol Doak’s Foundation Paper to print the templates on.  I’ve had these forever and I’m not sure what project I had originally bought them for.  I’m sure there is probably something cheaper I can find and use so if you have any ideas, please let me know.

Step 3: Sort the fabric, Press and Cut

I have a ton of little pieces from previous months so I like to use up what I can before I cut into the new fabric that came with the kit for this month.  For some fabrics I have enough pieces from the previous month where I do not even use the piece that came this month.

Moon Glow Step 2 Sort the fabric

Moon Glow
Step 3
Sort the fabric

Step 4: 1st and 2nd Piece

I have Carol Doak’s class, “Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing”, on Craftsy.  And I use the method she teaches in the class with one minor exception.  Instead of using pins, I glue the first fabric to the paper template with restickable glue.  I used restickable glue when I worked on the Iris Cameo at my guild’s workshop with Laurel Anderson.  This is the first time I used it when foundation piecing and it was the best method I’ve used for that first piece of fabric.  Pins tend to shift.  Then I trimmed the fabric between 1 and 2, placed fabric 2 down and sewed.

 

Step 5: Press

When I press, I have to be careful because the markings on the template transfers onto my ironing board.  So I put a piece of dark fabric on the ironing board.  That way if the template transfers to the fabric – you can’t tell and my ironing board is safe.  It’s not a big deal but I’m afraid that if the markings are on my board, it might transfer onto lighter fabric later for different projects.  That’s a big deal for me if it should ever happen.

 

Moon Glow,  Step  Sew, Press, Trim

Moon Glow,
Step 4-5
Sew, Press, Trim

 

Moon Glow Step  Press

Moon Glow
Step 5
Press

Step 6: Repeat for all fabric – Trim, Sew, Press

Moon Glow,  Step  Trim

Moon Glow,
Step 6
Trim

 

Moon Glow Step  Sew

Moon Glow
Step 6
Sew

Step 7: Once all the fabric is sewed on, trim all the sides of the templates

I messed up on one of the pieces where I trimmed too much of one of the sides.  It caused me problems later when I sewed all the pieces together and later, it didn’t lie flat on this side without causing puckering.  Luckily it’s the black part so it’s not very noticeable.

Moon Glow,  Step

Moon Glow,
Step 7 – Trim

Step 8: Sew all the foundation pieces together

The olive green looks brown in this picture….

Moon Glow  Step  Pieced Star without borders and center

Moon Glow
Step
Pieced Star without borders and center

Step 9: Applique the center and piece the borders on

This month asked me to applique the center.  It isn’t always this way but I find I have more control in making sure the block lies flat better in the middle when I applique the center.

Moon Glow Block 7 - Sea of Vapors FINISHED August 15, 2014

Moon Glow
Block 7 – Sea of Vapors FINISHED
August 15, 2014

Hopefully you enjoyed my step by step process.  It’s different enough from Month 6 where I felt that I wasn’t repeating everything all over again.

On a personal note: the kids started school last week and the girl caught something. 🙁  She stayed home sick yesterday and we’re not leaving the house this weekend so guess what?  I get to stay home and play in my sewing room! 🙂

~Happy Quilting!

Melanie

 

Design Wall – September 9, 2013

Raining Cats and Dogs Block 9 Still need to baste 7 items

Raining Cats and Dogs
Block 9
Still need to baste 7 items

Design board #1 – Is the current status of Block 9.  My goal for last week was to get these all basted down but I wasn’t able to do it.  So I will try to get these done this week.  Here’s a secret – this is right by my work desk so when I’m on a long conference call that doesn’t require a whole lot of work other than me listening – well, I take this baby down and work on this a little.  Don’t tell anyone, okay? It’s just between you and me. 😉

Foundation Paper Piecing  Test Samples

Foundation Paper Piecing
Test Samples

Design Board #2 – I haven’t posted this board in a while mainly because it hadn’t changed until now.  The last (and first) time I posted this board was when I made it.  I pinned an old block that I did years ago when I tried foundation paper piecing.  Until this past weekend I didn’t do anymore with foundation paper piecing.  The bottom block is my second attempt ever with foundation paper piecing and is the practice block from the Lucky Stars BOM. You can see info on the Lucky Stars BOM page to get all the details of it.  But here’s my first attempt with the Practice Block.  This is the 6 1/2″ block.  I had some trouble with it… It was much easier this time around with Elizabeth’s detailed instructions than the first attempt with Foundation Piecing.  I’ll discuss my issues at another post as I’m simply taking a break from work to join the Design Wall linky today. 🙂

See more design walls at Patchwork Times.

Wish I was quilting!

Melanie