A special finish….

This week I managed to finish up the second quilt I am taking home to Australia…this one is for my mum.
So my Mum knows that this quilt is heading her way as a birthday present (yes she knows it is coming to her, because I am hopeless with surprises!)… her favorite colours are red and aqua so it is perfect for her…plus this quilt, with its beautiful stars and hours of work needed to go to someone special.

20 paper pieced stars, a couple of yards of Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen, spools and spools of thread and countless yards of red and aqua fabric and we are done.

I was smart enough to send this quilt out to be quilted and the fabulous Nancy Stovall did an amazing job. I actually left the quilting pattern decision up to Nancy and she choose a wonderful swirl that gives great movement to the stars. I love it.

For the back of the quilt I used a bunch of yard and half yard red and aqua prints from my stash. I also embraced the scrappy with the binding, using a variety of red prints to tie the quilt together.

As I was binding the quilt I got a chance to look at every star more closely, and reflect on what I have learnt.

My first couple of stars were a little rough….I did not use small enough stitch setting on some of them which means that some stitches at the seams are visible. I also was not as careful with the bulky joins in the some of the stars – I did not iron the seams open properly leaving a bulbous lump in the center of one or two stars. But 20+ stars in I was a pro – I had embraced scrappy, had finessed my process and was making kick butt stars.

This quilt really does represent a wonderful journey for me… and I am thrilled that my mum will get to keep it.

Quilt Details:

Technique: Paper piecing
Pattern: various stars by Carol Doak and Quilting on the Square
Quilting: Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting
Finish size: 65 x 80 inches

27Oct2014

Straight Star…paper piecing Monday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

This week’s paper piecing star is a easy, fun one…

The straight star is another relatively simple 8 inch star block…using just 28 pieces none of which are weirdly shaped or angled. A PDF copy of the pattern I used can be found here….straight star pattern.

I used a random selection of green stripes from my scrap bag… but I think you could get some interesting effects with this star by carefully placing the dark and light pieces. The effect of a whole quilt with this block would be fabulous I think, so it has been added to my “To Do” list.

Tune in next week for another fun 8 inch star….

20Oct2014

8 inch stars… a new paper piecing adventure

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Welcomes to the launch of another Paper Piecing Monday adventure. After a little break I found myself back making paper pieced stars… surprise! This time I am focusing on simpler 8 inch stars. First up is…

….a fun, simple fun 8 inch twisting star. I love the four piece structure for this block… it is easy to make and align the pieces and the pattern only uses 28 pieces of fabric!…

I will be revisiting this type of star again I am sure… but to start you can find the free pattern here (with numbered pieces I promise) …Twisting Star block.

Just for fun I also made one of my previous 8 inch stars…

I did this pattern as part of my Starry Night quilt and I thought it was good one to play with in this colour scheme too. The pattern can be found here…WQ Starry Night Block 1.

I am currently playing with a couple of new star designs and having a blast. More next week…

13Oct2014

Paper Piecing Monday and a winner….

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Okay first things first… using a random number generator on my phone comment (much easier than printing out all the comments and putting them in a hat like I did last time!), the winner of my copy of Sam’s Quilt Talk is

Right now my favorite color is yellow. All shades, from light to dark.

Thanks to everyone who played along, and thanks to Sam for (a) writing this cool book and (b) giving me a copy to give away.

Now onto today’s Paper Piecing Monday… in the continuing saga of the simple square I give you… the Rolling Square block…

This fabulous star is uses similar components as last week but has a very different feel. The components needed are…

and this week I was smart enough to put both patterns on one sheet. So all you need to do is print out four copies of the pattern….Rolling Square pattern.

As with all the other patterns there is a wonderful variety of ways this block can look…

…so to help you work out what you want to do with it I have included a Rolling Squares colouring sheet. Grab some pencils and have some fun.

6Oct2014

Rolling Chocolate block…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Today’s paper piecing Monday block has the best name EVER… yep today I present to you the Rolling Chocolate block…

This is one of my favorite blocks and not just because it has the word chocolate in the title (though that really does help). I love how the block double frames the fussy cut print.

So here is what you need:

Four WQ Simple square block and four chocolate block components. Then a center block, fussy cutting is, of course, optional!

The blocks layout with your 4 1/2 inch square in the middle. For this block you can easily remove the paper from the block components before you sew everything together, if you are so inclined.

And again there are so many variations that you can do with this block. I have an extra large version of this block underway, and will share the pattern and results when it is done.