SnapShots & WhatNots

Working on the heart quilt

Progress on the heart quilt has been pretty slow lately but mostly that's been due to the fact that I haven't really had the time to sit down and sew. Funnily enough I've had the time to sit and knit but in my book sewing is a "focus on the task" kind of thing that means I shut myself away with the sewing machine - whereas knitting is done from the comfort of the couch, in company while watching TV. It's the less anti-social of my two favourite hobbies so it wins out more often than not. 

Even so, I have still managed to slowly build up the heart blocks piece by piece. I shared a few details before about how I made the blocks but after that I was a little stumped for a while as to the best way of putting them all together. I finally settled on expanded the white area about the blocks to make them 10" rather than 6" and then I sewed them together with a 1" strip of purple in between them. 

Overall I really like the effect. I found the perfect backing fabric online and have just starting the quilting process. I can't wait to share the finished quilt with you once it's done. That is of course if Boomer will allow me to work on it.....if you put it on the floor he'll "test" it for comfort!

How I paper piece

So I’m pretty sure that the last time I posted about the heart quilt that I’m working on I managed to confuse a lot of people because I said I was paper piecing it. I hadn’t heard of paper piecing until I started looking up how people managed to make all those tiny intricate designs on quilts that I see all over pinterest. I read a few blog posts and watched a bunch of youtube videos (all of which showed slightly different methods with ever more complex instructions) eventually I decided to just download a template (I found mine here) and give it a go.

I figured if I gave a little overview of how I go about it then it’ll make a bit more sense! Firstly I printed off the template and cut pieces of fabric for each section making sure that there was well over ¼ inch border on every side – I tend to be cautious and go with more than ½ inch to be sure I don’t mess up.

Getting the first piece started is the trickiest. For this this was a small triangle of white fabric that would be sewn to the first printed fabric. First up the template gets folded along the line between section 1 and 2. Then the white fabric (wrong side against the paper) is placed behind the paper making sure the entire section 1 is covered. Line up a ruler against the fold between section 1 and 2 and cut a 1/4 inch seam allowance. 

Place the fabric for section 2 (right sides together) behind the white fabric and paper piece - being careful not to shift the white fabric. (This is the tricky bit - some people pin it or glue it but my pieces were small enough that I could just hold them in place)

Now holding the paper, white fabric and pink fabric in place, lift them up together, open the paper template back up and sew along the line between sections 1 and 2 using the smallest stitch width on the machine. 

Cut the threads and press the seams to one side. 

Fold the template along the lines between section 2 and 3. Place the ruler along the fold and cut a 1/4 inch seam allowance on the pink fabric. Take the fabric for section three and lay it right sides together behind the pink fabric with the edges matching. 

Hold in place and open the template. Sew along the line between section 2 and 3. Press the fabric open. 

Continue folding the sections, cutting the seam allowance and adding the next section of fabric in the order specified on the template. 

As you add more pieces the heart begins to take shape, and then finally when all the pieces have been added you end up with something like this....

Once all the sections have been added I trimmed along the edges of the block leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance and then slowly peeled off the paper backing. The tiny stitches make this a lot easier!

I've currently got all the hearts finished for the quilt top and I'm now sashing the blocks together and trying to figure out what backing fabric I want to use....always tricky! I'm hoping to get it finished up over the long weekend just in time for some cooler autumn weather to enjoy it in. 

[Linking up at Freshly Pieced and Frontier Dreams]

 

Working on the heart quilt

I haven’t done any updates on sewing projects in a long time – a few months now at this stage. But that isn’t because I’ve stopped sewing it’s because I have another huge project on the go. I paper pieced a heart shaped quilt block and absolutely loved the process. Like I said at the time it was slow and tedious but in a thoroughly absorbing way. I decided right away that even though it would take forever I would paper pieced an entire quilt top.

Each of the blocks takes me about an hour and half to complete and I don’t even notice the time slipping by. Usually though I only have time to tackle the paper piecing at the weekend and I think I’ve averaging about 1-2 blocks a week…..that’s really slow progress!

Since this quilt is for me though I don’t have any sort of deadlines on when I have to complete it. If I don’t feel like sewing one weekend then I just don’t – simple! I’m sure I’ll eventually get back to sewing some other smaller items – preferably some tops and skirts etc but right now I’m perfectly happy just slowly plugging away at my heart quilt.

Linking up with Frontier Dreams and Small Things (even though it isn't knitting sorry!)

WIP: A paper pieced heart quilt

My love affair with paper piecing continues. I tried one heart block a few weeks ago and I was instantly hooked and decided there and then to make a paper pieced quilt top. I immediately went off and printed a ton more pages – sorted out my piles of scrap fabric and picked a colour scheme. Purple was an easy choice, it being my favourite colour but I actually don’t have very many purple scraps. I do have a bunch of pink, red and a few black fabrics left over from previous projects.

So I headed to Joanns and picked up some black and purple fabric quarters and got started straight away. The first day I made three heart each one taking about 30-45 minutes. I’ve been trying to vary the fabrics so that the blocks are all different but I’m not allowing myself to over think the design just pull the fabric, cut, sew, press repeat.

Since then I’ve been averaging a block every other night. Some evenings are too busy to pull out the sewing machine and then other nights I manage 2 blocks. I haven’t fully decided how many blocks I need – nor have I decided how best to sew them together and whether or not I should attempt to add sashing.

I’m loving the process so much though and it feels great to be back at the sewing machine again. 

[Linking up with Freshly Pieced]

I had an awesome idea

I found a paper piecing template for this heart online weeks ago…I think it was back in February when everything with a heart in it was trending on pinterest….and I couldn’t get the idea of attempting paper piecing out of my mind.

Then I found a ¼ inch piecing foot in a charity shop and suddenly the paper template was cast aside while I played with my new toy making a tote bag for my Mam (which she loved by the way). Well I stumbled upon the paper template again last weekend while I was tidying up and immediately dropped everything plugged in the sewing machine and grabbed the scrap fabric box and gave it a go.

I’ll admit I thought this would be really hard and stupidly tedious to do but it wasn’t at all. I found the "fold, trim, sew, press repeat" action really absorbing and dare I say it fun! I imagine that many people would hate it but the perfectionist in me, that hated seeing all my mismatched points in my previous sewing attempts, was ecstatic at the perfect little points that paper piecing gave me.

I spent about 2 hours making this little 6 inch block and right now I have no idea what I’m going to do with it but during those two hours I did discover what my next project will be…..yep call me crazy but I’m going to do a paper pieced quilt! Can't wait to get started!