I’ve started work on my first item for the For the Love of Solids Flickr swap. After spending some time studying my secret partner’s inspiration mosaic, I decided to embrace the improvisational, liberated sewing technique. I made these blocks using just my rotary cutter and no ruler. This photo shows the blues more accurately:

Part of the swap involves posting work in progress photos and getting feedback from your partner (without them knowing it’s their project). I’m now trying to decide on whether or not my partner would like blocks pieced directly together or maybe off centered in some sashing… We shall see!

Tagged as:  For the Love of Solids · improv quilt blocks · Improvisational Quilting · modern quilt block · Solids

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Welcome to week 2 of the Solstice Stars Series! Today we will be making the Whirling Star. This star is from Barbara Brackman’s book The Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns,page 310 and the original source of the design is attributed to Nancy Cabot.

This block will be our first paper pieced block of the series. Some of you may now need to take a few deep calming breaths. I promise you, YOU can do it! I have taken lots of photos for the tutorial and we will be going through every step.

If you are completely new to paper piecing, I recommend reading through this tutorial and even making the sample block. It will really give you a basic understanding. And hopefully put your mind at ease. Second, I recommend reading through the entire tutorial for today’s block before starting. And finally, take your time making this one. We will be paper piecing 6 small blocks and then piecing those together.

Paper Piecing Templates
Print 2 of Template A below and print 4 of Template B below. Be sure to print them at 100% and check the scale icon with a ruler before starting.

Prepare the templates. Cut out the templates around the seam allowance line. Here is a visual of what we are going to make with our templates:

Note: I updated the templates a bit after taking the photos. Your templates specify “A” and “B” on them, which will help you out during the directions.

Step 1. Cut your fabric. When cutting fabric for paper piecing, you will be cutting rectangles that will be larger than needed.

I recommend cutting 1 of each piece below, making a block, and ensuring it is enough fabric for your sewing style. Then you can make adjustments later for the rest of your blocks. These are the fabric sizes I used for my paper piecing.

Tip: I like to write the fabric color name on the template pieces so I don’t get confused as I’m sewing. Yes, I’m easily confused.

Step 2: Let’s start with Template A. Take your fabric cut for Piece 1A and place it right side out on the back of your template, making sure to cover the entire template space 1A. Pin into place.

Step 3: Take your fabric cut for Piece 2A. Place it right side together to Piece 1A which you pinned into place in Step 2. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 2A. This will probably feel backwards and wrong the first few times you do it. Pin into place.

Step 4: Sew along the seam line on the template between pieces 1A and 2A. Be sure to also sew into the grey seam allowance. Remove your pins.

Step 5: Flip your block over. This is what your seam will look like.

Trim your seam allowance to 1/4″.

Your block should now look like this:

Press your fabric open.

Step 6: Take your fabric cut for Piece 3A. Place it right side together to Piece 1A and 2A which you have sewn into place. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 3A. Pin into place.

Step 7: Sew along the seam line on the template.

Step 8: Trim along seam allowance:

And press:

Step 9: Using the same technique, continue and sew on pieces 4A, 5A, 6A, in that order. Your paper piecing template should now look like this:

Step 10: Turn your block over and trim the excess fabric from around the template.

Before:

After:

You can see that some of my fabric was a bit too short. Ideally your fabric will cover the entire template.

Congratulations! You’ve made your first paper pieced block!

Step 11: Now repeat these steps for the second Template A.

Step 12: Let’s move on to Template B. I will do a quick walk through to get you started. Take your fabric cut for Piece 1B and place it right side out on the back of your template, making sure to cover the entire template space 1B. Pin into place.

Step 13: Take your fabric cut for Piece 2B. Place it right side together to Piece 1B which you pinned into place in Step 12. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 2B. Again, this will probably feel backwards and wrong the first few times you do it. Pin into place.

Step 14: Sew along the seam line on the template between pieces 1B and 2B. Be sure to sew a bit into the seam allowance. Remove your pins.

Step 15: Press your fabric open. Continue paper piecing piece 3B.

Step 16: Press your fabric open. Trim your template, just as you did with Template A.

Step 17: Repeat and create the other 3 Template B’s.

Step 18: You now have all 6 templates pieced you need to create the star! Here’s the layout:

Remove the paper from the back. This should perforate easily as long as you remembered to shorten your stitch length before sewing.

Step 19: Sew your 2 Template A’s together. Align the middle seam to ensure the center points align when you sew the block together.

Resulting Block:

Step 20: Now we will sew the 4 Template B’s to the corners to finish the block. Line up your seams again.

After sewing all the corners to the center block, you’re done! You should have a beautiful Whirling Star!

Tagged as:  modern quilt block · quilt block · Solstice Star Series · star · Tutorial

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Last week I finished my Modern Whimsy quilt, and I am very pleased with how it turned out! When choosing a design this time, I turned to my collection of quilt books and ended up using a pattern (sort of) in the book Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design, and Inspirationby Malka Dubrawsky. This is the quilt from the pattern. I say I “sort of” followed the pattern because rather than using the actual measurements, I just made up my own based on the width of the solid fabrics I had and also the size of one of my quilting rulers. {Lazy much?} This meant the solid fabrics I used were cut 2.5″ x 17″ and the printed fabrics were cut to 6″ x 17″.

There were a couple things that drew me to Malka’s pattern. First was the fact that the resulting quilt appeared random and scrappy, but if you look at the solid fabrics, they are actually a pattern. In each column, the top 3 solid strips are the same color, the next 2 are the same color, and then the bottom 4 are the same color.

When I was laying out the Modern Whimsy prints, I made sure not to place a print with a non-white background between 2 solids that matched. For example, if the printed fabric had a blue background, I did not place it between blue solids. This ensured the fabric would really pop and not get lost in the quilt.

This quilt went together extremely quickly. I cut it in one evening and assembled the top the next morning. I think it has a pretty nice “wow” factor for a short timeframe.

For the back, I used some leftover prints and solids and made a strip through the top of the quilt. I quilted in a meandering free motion style. The binding is scrappy, using all of the colors of the Modern Whimsy circles. I really love how that part turned out, especially from the back. It measures 62″ x 49″.

I’m very excited about the destination for this quilt. I have a group of friends that started in an online message group 6 years ago. We met when we were all pregnant with our now 5 year olds. Over the last 6 years, the group has become a little smaller and moved locations, but there are still quite a few of us together. A lot of us have met each other in real life through vacations or just the fact that we happen to live in the same cities. It would be impossible to tell you how special this group is to me. We have been through a lot together – from siblings being born, to losing children, love, divorce, career changes, illness…even losing two of our own to cancer.

I tell you all this so you know how important this group of women and their families are to me, and how lucky I am to have the chance to help one of these moms and her son with a quilt. One of our moms (a fellow Chicagoan) has a little boy who was born 5 years ago extremely premature. He has cerebral palsy and receives therapy at Center for Independence, Through Conductive Education. It is an intense therapy program for children with Cerebral Palsy. The center has made unbelievable progress with my friend’s son – he has even started a bit of walking with a reverse walker, something they were told he would never be able to do. And the best part is that they do not turn anyone down because if an inability to pay.

This quilt is being donated to the Center for Independence for an annual auction fundraiser on March 2nd. I hope it helps raise a bit of money for an organization that has given so much hope to someone I love.

Tagged as:  Free Motion quilting · Laurie Wisbrun · Modern Quilts · Robert Kaufman

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Charlotte over at Lawson and Lotti asked me if she could peek into my sewing space for her Sunday Sewing Spaces series. I had to say yes, I love when other crafty people post pictures of their spaces! Head on over to her blog for lots of photos and a little interview with me about where I work relax!

Tagged as:  Sewing Room

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