Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Progress is a Beautiful Thing!

I spent my Sunday afternoon and Monday night with a bunch of drunks... Ha! Drunken geese that is. Remember this little gem?
She's been waiting so patiently on the design wall to get her borders.
This was my first attempt at paper piecing. I drew out all of the drunk wonky geese on freezer paper and got to work.
 
One of the largest lessons learned was to keep 'clean' seam allowances. I the beginning, I would just snip the excess fabric in the seam allowance with scissors... leaving a messy seam allowance. It wasn't until I was half way through the geese, that I started to fold my paper back:
Measure out my 1/4" seam:
And cut a nice clean seam allowance:
Not only did everything look nice and neat on the back, but it helped immensely with determining the size of the next piece that I would add.
Paper Piecing these geese turned out to be amazingly easy and left me with clean, crisp points that butted up to the next triangle so nicely!
Although, this method is not completely foolproof, I still needed my BFF seam ripper from time to time:
I've decided not to show you the finished top until after I have it quilted... because I love surprises!
But I do have a few tidbits:
 
 
I Cannot wait to get this on my machine and get it quilted! There is alot of negative space on this quilt - a new challenge for me. I've been doodling my little heart out, trying to get the free motion design just right.
 
I also received a few goodies this weekend! My mom (and quilting BFF) went out to Pennsylvania this weekend and brought me back an adorable FQ bundle:
This is "Socky" by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics.
We are planning a trip out there together this fall, the LQS's out there are very reasonably priced (like Moda's for $5.50/yd...gasp!).
Also, I re-gifted one of my husband's Christmas gifts to myself
 (he did give me permission to steal re-gift it):
Does anyone else have one of these?
This is fabulous for all of the periphinalea that builds up around my sewing machine:
I truly think my husband let me take this because he is tired of picking up pins around my sewing table ;)
What can I say? These things happen...
 
Have a wonderful afternoon everyone!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. It looks like it is going to be a real stunner when it's done. An Add-A-Quarter ruler is what I use for trimming paper piecing and it is a GREAT tool to have on hand. Can't wait to see the finished product :)

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  2. Hello, I just saw your finished quilt on Flickr and it looks great! I wondered how you did those geese...I'm also not into paper piecing, but I'd be willing to give it a try to get the look you did. Great job! You also might want to post in the Rainbow Patchwork group on flickr--they'd love it!

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