Paper pieced Sampler Blocks 2, 3, and 4

I've been working my way through the stack of paper pieced templates I printed out a few weeks ago.  So far, I have quite a few done.  Some go together really fast, others take some patience.  This block is called Kaleidoscope and is by Quilting on the Square.  I found the template on Wombat quilts. I tried to do dark and light shading with the points.  I love the scrappy quality of these quilt blocks.

 

These two blocks are Wheel of Fortune by Quilting on the Square and Holiday Compass by Quilting on the Square.  I love how both of these look like wheels to a large pirate ship.  I'll post more pictures later when I have some down time from a one year old! 

What?! A Sampler?

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to try paper piecing.  I don't remember why I decided that I wanted to try this, but now I can't stop.  I watched this video to learn how.  I really like that paper piecing can make really exact blocks.  I get irritated when my corners don't match up exactly. 

So I found a really awesome blog called Wombat Quilts.  She has a list of free paper piecing patterns.  I printed out a like million and decided I was going to make a sampler.  Btw, I didn't think I would ever make a sampler. I'm not sure why I haven't ever entertained the idea of a sampler, maybe because I don't see many that I like. Anyway, I'm really excited to start making a paper pieced star sampler.

This template is called Bowie and is by 627Handworks.  There is a whole list of templates named after rock and roll stars.  I'm working my way through the list.

The Quilt That Started It All

Christmas 2010. I didn't want to get my husband another video game because that is what I always get him.  He is hard to shop for.  One day I was looking in our closet when I had a great idea. My husband's sister was in a fatal car accident when she was 17.  Since then, my husband has been hanging on to her old comforter.  It had lived in his closet for 5 years.  I decided that if he was going to insist on keeping it, we would celebrate it instead of leaving it to take up closet space. 

I enlisted my mom's help because I had never made a quilt before.  In fact, the last time I sewed anything was in middle school. I should point out though, that I didn't actually sew anything on this quilt.  I merely cut out the pieces.  I'm getting side tracked.  I used the black and gray dragon/ Chinese writing comforter and a black and white fat quarter bundle to make this quilt. 

The pattern is called Crazy Circles.  It requires a special ruler set.  But, it went together really fast.  My mom and I were able to make this quilt in one weekend. Darn right! A whole quilt in one weekend. It was also blizzarding outside that weekend, so we weren't able to go to the fabric store to get any backing fabric.  We ended up using a black top sheet.  It totally worked so I'm not even sorry about leaving her with just a random black fitted sheet floating around her house.

It turned out pretty sweet.  Now we actually use the odd dragon comforter instead of having it just take up the top shelf of our closet.  It is also kind of fun that the first quilt I ever made is very sentimental for my husband. 

Technicolor Giraffe Quilt

I finally did it.  I decided that enough was enough, and I made myself a blog.  Here is a brief snapshot of my life:  My husband Brad and I have a beautiful (nearly) 11 month old son named Simon.  We live in our 150 year old home with our two cats (Ollie and Walter) and puppy (Henry).  I'm a children's counselor at a local mental health agency.  In middle school, everyone had to take Home Ec.  There was a sewing unit, and I HATED it.  Fast forward 10 years to Christmas of 2010.  I decided I wanted to make my husband a quilt as a Christmas gift because unless I am buying him electronics, he is super hard to shop for.  My mom helped me put the quilt together, and I haven't stopped quilting since.

I know lots of pregnant people at the moment.  I'm not really a "buy you a gift off your registry" type of person.  Maybe that makes me a pain in the butt to invite to any type of showers, but I say tough noogies to that.  Anyway, I decided I wanted to make a quilt for one of the momma's to be I know.  I have been on a string quilting kick and decided a giraffe would make an exceptionally cute baby quilt. 

I started by drawing out a simple giraffe silhouette on regular computer paper.  Once I was satisfied with the drawing, I transferred it onto a stabilizer I found at my local fabric store.  I found it easier to roughly cut out the shape of the giraffe so I didn't end up sewing a lot more than I needed to...normally I over sew and have tons of left over to trim off.

Now came the fun part.  If you aren't familiar with string quilting, it is super fast and easy.  You can go ahead and put your ruler and rotary cutter away when string quilting.  There is no need to measure or have even strips or be consistent in any way.  I, like many quilters, have a big box of scraps that I save for just in case.  Just in case what? Um, string quilting, duh! I got out my big box and got started. 

I started at the top; however, if you start in the middle, you can sew two strings on before running to the iron.  Anyway, string quilting is a lot of trips to the iron, but it does go fast.  I suppose if you aren't fussy about things laying flat, you could finger press.  You sew the strings onto the stabilizer and press as you go.  Lines do not need to be straight. There is no need to trim back the excess fabric.

Once I covered my whole giraffe image, I cut it out and appliqued it onto a solid gray fabric. This was my first ever applique project.  I have to say it was easier than I expected.  The only tricky part was the sharp corners.

Normally the back of my quilts are pieced because I don't think the back of a quilt needs to be boring.  However, with the small size of this quilt, I went with a plain black back.  I used a simple all over stipple for the quilting. 

Not too shabby for the first quilt I have ever designed.  More Katy Lakes' originals to come.  Also, check out my Pinterest for more pictures of my projects.