My First Ever Independent Paper Piecing!

Did this without my bossy teacher Emilie looking over my shoulder! And I only had to rip out 2 times! I now feel like a real quilter! I love the precision of this.

WARNING: Philosophical ramblingn anead!

I know that modern quilting is not generally about precision, but I think that it can be. I do love to take the oldies and "modern them up" with modern fabric choices and colors. I don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Wonkiness is not my thing, but I still consider myself a modern quilter because of my fabric choices and colors I am drawn to. I know my style is very different than that of many ladies who consider themselves traditional quilters. I like the term that Faith from Fresh Lemons Quilts uses: Modern Tradirionalism. I think that is me!

Fabulous Fabric from Daisy Janie!
I just found this fabulous new fabric line from Daisy Janie. It is a organic fabric and this line is called New Leaf. You can see the complete line here:

http://www.daisyjanie.com/wholesale_newleaf.html

There is a blog hop of blocks made with this gorgeous fabric here:


http://daisyjanie.typepad.com/daisyjanie/2013/01/bee-block-blog-hop-with-new-leaf-fabrics.html

Go take a look! The blocks are truly astounding!
Nancy

Some blocks for our quilts for Cancer group

I started a Flickr group, Quilts for Cancer, and I am a very bad moderator. I am late with my blocks every month! I finally caught up last night - I had to make 3 small Bowtie partials and 2 large. One lady wanted bright prints, the other wanted 30s prints. (the pic with the 30s prints came out really faded, sorry)

I am really in love with these blocks! They go together easily and are fun to make. Of course, mine never come out perfectly. And I am starting to be OK with that, especially after reading this post by Weinerdog Tricks:

http://www.gingerhendrix.com/wiener_dog_tricks/2013/01/the-mediocre-quilter.html#comments

She is very funny and embraces her inner mediocrity!

Have a snowy day!

OK, this is a bit better

My very generous (and bossy) quilting teacher let me come torture her some more today because I had so much trouble with the paper piecing. (I brought a bribe - cheesecake, chocolate cake and chocolate cheesecake from the local bakery. I know how to keep Emilie happy!)

It went much better today! I was a little more used to her circa 1550 machine, and with Emilie's help, I was able to make a block. We may have a snow day Friday (fingers crossed!) and if we do, I am going to spend some time finishing up my sister's quilt and making some more of these blocks!

Pictures of Emilie's ancient sewing machine and the block I made with her help!

My first attempts at paper piecing. (warning: pics that may frighten children)

So my bossy mentor Emilie showed me how to paper piece. She is a talented quilter who has been sewing since she is 7, and although she is also an excellent teacher, she tells me that everything is "easy." Ha!

The first picture is my first attempt at a NY Beauty star with Emilie there.

The second picture is my attempt at home.

The next pictures are of me, after my attempt at home. Please, keep the children away.

I decided that rather than pull all of my hair out of my head, I would try an easier paper piecing project, so I tried the Blazing Star. Much easier and a better result.

Going to Learn Paper Piecing!!

Yes, I know that paper piecing is not traditionally modern quilting, but I am always looking to take traditional methods, such as stars, and make them look more modern with color and fabric choices. I am not really into wonky, such as wonky lines or wonky stars. I like things that are regular, and balanced, which a lot of modern quilting is not. So I make changes to make things more modern.

Here is a New York beauty star I like. I am going to work toward this with my quilting mentor (and bossy friend,) Emilie. We are going to go over paper piercing today, and if I make any progress, I will be sure to post pictures!!

Enjoy the warm spell if you are in the northeast. Cold weather will be back soon enough!

Nancy

Over 10,000 Page Views!

I just notice I have over 10,000 page views! Wow! That's a lot! I am going to do something special to celebrate. Stay tuned, I will decide in the next day or so!

One thing I am doing is donating the proceeds from the sale of this quilt to the Sarcoma Alliance. Sarcoma is a deadly, rare cancer which a family member has, and I want to help her fight this in some small way. Cost $125.