A modern baby quilt…

Posted in Finished Quilts by wombatquilts

This week I finished the binding on my Paper Piecing Monday baby quilt. I am so thrilled with how this quilt turned out…and how easy it was to make.

As you can see the quilt used just four of my paper piecing Snowball patterns, and they really are the stars of the show. My favorite block is definitely this one…

But you can find the free paper piecing pattern for all the blocks under the “Free Paper Piecing Patterns” tab if you want to make your own version.

To build out the quilt I cut a bunch of 6 1/2 square blocks from my black and white stash. The blocks were just the perfect size so I could play with layout and see how I wanted the quilt to flow.

I originally started with the pink blocks running down the side of the quilt, but after some procrastination went for the layout I have now – one row below the paper pieced blocks and 5 above.

I had some serious fun fussy cutting… this block in particular seemed so appropriate for a baby quilt…

The quilt could easily have been made longer by adding another row or two of black and white blocks but I liked the square format.

For the quilting I ran straight lines down the quilt and then sewed intersecting vertical lines thru the paper pieced squares.

For the back I used some fun pink number fabric and some black and white dots. Nothing too fancy. The binding was of course scrappy pink solids!

This quilt is destined for an exciting life when my friends baby is born. They are an amazing couple that lead a slightly unconventional life. A traditional baby quilt was not going to do…

Quilt Details:

Technique: Paper piecing and simple patchwork.
Block size: 12 inches
Quilt Size: 48 x 48 inches

11May2015

A simpler green star…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Today’s paper piecing Monday I decided to keep it a little simpler – only a four-part pattern!

With this pattern you can decide to not do the pieced center part (just use one piece of fabric to cover the center triangle). This give you a different looking star with less bulk in the center.

You can find the free paper piecing pattern for this 8 inch block here…Stripey Star pattern. Only a few more green blocks to go and then I can star putting this top together.

4May2015

Dealing with bulky seams….PP Monday style

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

After making my green star for this week I ummed and ahhed about whether to share it on the blog. I love the star, but it suffers from the problem that a lot of paper piecing stars suffer from… a bulky center.

It is a fun star but the center is where 16 points of fabric meet, and as the star is only 8 inches square it makes for a lumpy middle. Now this is a problem that I came across when I first started making paper pieced stars and there are a couple of tricks for minimizing the bulk.

1. Iron seams open… ALL the seams are ironed open on my stars… and when the paper is removed I starch the seams so that all they want to do is stay open.

2. Remove the paper pattern in the corners BEFORE I sew all the pieces of the star together.

This step means you are less likely to get paper stuck in the center joins… and so less bulk.

3. Use tweezers to remove any excess paper that does get stuck….

The only other trick is I have found that quilting through the bulk helps soften it, and with time, washing also softens it too.

Now there is only so much of the bulkiness you can effect… at the end of the day the bulk is there because so many seams are meeting at the same point. I personally think the visual effect of the stars are worth the extra bulk…

Now, if I have not turned you off this pattern, you can find the PDF here….turning star pattern.

Enjoy.

28Apr2015

Paper Piecing Tuesday

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Hello and welcome to Paper Piecing Tuesday…. yesterday got away from me so this week we are paper piecing a day late.

This week we are back to green stars. I have 5 blocks to go before I have enough to finish my quilt top… So to start this final green wave we have the Alternating Star…

I had fun making this one, alternating light and dark stripes. The PDF pattern for this 8 inch star can be found here…Alternating star pattern. See you next week for another star!

13Apr2015

Ellen’s Snowball…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by wombatquilts

Last week I posted the last pink block I was using for the baby quilt I am making….it was not my last pink snowball though. While posting on Instagram a friend requested I send the quilt to her…I could not oblige but as a compromise I said I would make her a pillow.

So this weekend I sat down and designed Ellen a snowball block. I must admit I was a little influenced by the New York Beauty blocks I have been making…and I came up with this.

It is a little more complex than some of the snowball blocks but I love how it turned out. The block consists of 56 pieces but came together really quickly. I of course had to throw in some dinosaurs and my beloved Aussie kangaroo print.

Now the block you are looking at is 16 inches big. I enlarged the pattern for the cushion and will add a black and white border around the block to have finished size of 18 inches. So this weeks pattern comes in two sizes… the original 12 inch block for those that want it as an option to go with the other blocks…Ellens Snowball 12 Inch pattern. And just in case you are interested in doing a pillow version like me the 16 inch pattern (which comes in two pieces/pdfs)…Ellens Snowball Pattern A and Ellens Snowball Pattern B.