Another week, another Wednesday! Sorry for the lack of progress the past few weeks, hopefully you can understand we've got just a few others things going on. ;)
Hopefully I can keep this all straight. It feels like it's been so long since I've done a real update, and everything is becoming hard to keep track of, so sorting out what I actually did this week seems tough for some reason.
Started: The July project for the Style Stitches Sew along, the Key Keeper Coin Purse. I won't be sharing the completed project until next month, but I used the same fabric as I did for the Teardrop Bag.
I'm excited for cutting instructions for the Kaleidoscope quilt along this week so I can get started on that.
Still thinking about what I want to do for my bag. Would you believe I'm actually considering making another patchwork Mabel?!
I've started brainstorming what I want to make for my June block in the String Me Along bee. N.Ramirez has requested a Flying Geese block, which will be my first. Of course, since I enjoy making things difficult for myself, I decided now would be a good time to try out paper piecing for the first time as well. Might as well jump in with both feet, right?! I found this Circular Geese block & gave it a try with some scrap fabric I have for this sort of thing. Other than not knowing how to count (who knew 8 doesn't come right after 5?!), I'm really happy with how it turned out (yes, I added a border since I was just doing the one block instead of all four), and actually really enjoyed the paper piecing process. I'm not certain I have enough fabric to make the full circle, so I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate one or two of the pieces.
A question to those of you who have done paper piecing before - how do you do it without wasting a bunch of fabric? Because I was working with cheap-o fabric that I really don't care about (I got a "bolt" of 5 yards from Wal-Mart when they were clearancing it out, and it's definitely not quality fabric, so I don't care much about waste. And also, pretty ugly!), I was just lopping off chunks, sewing them into place, then trimming off the excess. Because I want to waste as little as possible (and only have a set amount to work with), I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I did print out another copy of the pattern & cut out the individual pieces & figure I can use those to cut the specific pieces (with a seam allowance, of course), but is that the best way?
In progress: Still plugging away on Goose's quilt. Not really any new progress, but the blocks for the last two rows have been pulled off the mattress "design board," and are waiting to be sewn together. Then I just need to sew the rows together, quilt it, and bind it! It feels like I'm heading into the homestretch on it, but I also have so many other things I want to work on, it keeps getting pushed aside. At this point, I'm feeling like it probably won't get done before Goose gets here, although that's still by goal. Only 8 weeks until he's due, and 10 at the max before he gets here. Yikes!
Crochet blanket - no progress. I'm avoiding it since I know I need to start over on it since I screwed it up. That's what I get for ignoring the pattern & doing things my own way. ;)
The Christmas gift. I hope to have this done by mid-July at the latest. Hopefully.
Completed: I managed to finish up both the Teardrop Bag and the Key Keeper Coin Purse this week! Thankfully the coin purse was super quick & easy - about an hour start to finish - which is exactly the kind of project I needed.
Make sure you head over to Freshly Pieced to see what everybody else has been up to this week.
Until next time...
Oooh, circle of geese - good for you!! That is a tricky block. I did one for my bee a few months back, and it was my first flying geese block as well. As for minimizing waste, I used the paper template to try to guide my cutting - still trying to cut larger pieces than I needed (in case I somehow managed to foul it up), but I agree, there's no rhyme or reason to the cutting and it's anything but tidy. I think your practice attempt looks great though!!! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThat coin purse is going to be so darling and I've had my eye on making one also. I really don't like paper piecing for that reason and I also have a hard time figuring it all out. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately with paper piecing there is just going to be waste. But I think you're doing the right things for minimizing it. Your flying geese look good!
ReplyDeleteOh I love that paper pieced circle of geese block! And yes, unfortunately there is just alot of scrap. I always find it hard to be precise, and when I cut things smaller, I end up with not enough and its a waste anyways...sorry to not be much help, but I'll be listening in if anyone has a genius ideas!!
ReplyDeleteI still say that the weeks you say you're not making much progress you're accomplishing much more than you think. Wish I could help you with the quilting issue but that is something I know absolutely nothing about.
ReplyDeleteNope, no advice on not wasting fabric - I found it doesn't really work for me to make a template piece and try to cut seam allowances... well, maybe it would if I used a very generous .5"-.75" allowance all the way around. Maybe one of these days, it will click, but until then, I'm expecting waste when paper-piecing triangle shapes (well, non-square/non-rectangle pieces)... :-/
ReplyDeleteI've never done paper piecing so I can't help you out there, sorry! Everything else looks great though!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the paper piecing waste! I made a circle of geese block a few months ago. At first, I cut my pieces very conservatively, but I messed up a few times and ended up with pieces that weren't quite big enough. So they I cut them really big and trimmed them down. Maybe with practice we'll get better at eyeballing the seam allowances.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the paper piecing! I have no experience with it, so I'm no help at all!
ReplyDeleteYour paper piecing looks great, I have done a little and I think the results are so much fun, nice pointy points and all, so I want to do a lot more.
ReplyDeleteOooh, love the Circle of Geese! As far as doing it without the fabric waste, I would say - you DON'T. I'm far from a paper-piecing expert, but I think wasting fabric is just part of it. I think if you want to do a pattern that requires paper piecing, you just have to accept that you'll need a lot more fabric. I think it's a price worth paying for more complex designs and increased accuracy. But it is a totally different mindset than traditional piecing - you really can't compare the two, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up to WIP Wednesday. : )