Paper Piecing, WedgeWorks and Classes!

Hi everyone!  Lots to update you on!  Today was so cold and it snowed quite a few inches, I have been frozen solid all day.

Alright, so I've been determined to really get down to brass tacks with paper piecing.  Last year I attempted a 4" block from Carol Doaks "300 Paper Pieced Quilt Blocks" book.  It wasn't anything special, not even a pattern just a crazy patch style block, very easy, 4 pieces.  At the time I was like ok, easy enough... until I volunteered to make a 12" block for a friend for a charity quilt she was putting together.  I decided on the "Star O'er Bethlehem" block from quilterscache.com.  It was a struggle, there were a lot of tears, a lot of cursing and more tears.  I had almost given up, it was tough and all of the piecing and ripping and repiecing was really getting to me.  I finally wound up with this end result: 

The blocks were also voted on, there were many, many very beautiful blocks and I actually won first place!  I was extremely honored and very humbled.  So it all paid off.  I tried to re-make the block a while later and i was not successful.  The end result was completely wonky and unable to be worked with.  

Fast forward to now, yesterday I decided to pick a block make it 8" and work on it.  It took an hour, jeez!  But I am satisfied with the end result:

Today, I worked on this one, love it!  The whole thing reminds me of my boyfriend's mom and her love for florals, coffee and shabby chic design.  I chose the fabric with her in mind.

My goal is to do at least one a month and by December make a nice little wall hanging.  I don't know if I can commit to more than one a month at this point, my time is very limited.

I started taking a class at my LQS today.  It is a 4 week class that is held every Thursday from 10am-12pm.  Those 2 hours fly by so fast!  The class is for Cheryl Phillip's book "WedgeWorks" it's an 'easy' Mariner's Compass with no paper piecing.  Here are 3 photos from the book *please note these are not my work:

Cover of the book:

"Persian Star"
"China Blue Sampler"

At first, I wanted to make the China Blue Sampler.  Then I started leaning towards the Persian Star.  When I got to class, almost everyone was doing the China Blue and it really made me want to deviate and since I wanted to do the Persian Star anyway... then I decided i'd make one Persian Star then mat and frame it and make the sampler.  I pretty much understood the directions for the sampler and since everyone wanted to make it the instructions were being talked about a lot.  Once I got home I was reading over the star instructions and while I don't feel like I can't do it... i'm like hmmm, I wish I had spent more time in class reviewing it.  At this point though, I feel like i'm beyond the technicality of the directions and i'm really faced with a challenge with choosing the fabrics.  I know contrast is everything with a Mariner's Compass and I am keeping that in mind.  I just also feel like I have a big opportunity to learn a lot from this class but with my given time constraints I really feel like I can't do the class justice.  It's a horrible feeling.  Hopefully my shopping trip to Joann tomorrow will relive me and i'll find some incredibly inspiring fabrics.  

This weekend I will be spending with my 8 year old son and we have my nephew's birthday party to go to on Saturday.  Tuesday I start teaching my Crazy Patch Heart class and I'll have my Thursday class going on, then next weekend I'll be in New York with my best friend.  Not to mention I will also have the next round of the CQ RR block to work on, it'll probably arrive tomorrow.  Oh!   And i'm hosting 2 buy ins: silk ribbon and perle 8 cotton.  

Over the past 3 days i've managed to needle tat up 7 or 8 baskets too.  I'll post a picture of them tomorrow.

I always manage to keep myself extremely busy!  I hope to post pictures of more progress on the paper piecing soon!

Cheers all!

CQ RR, Round 3!

This round i had the pleasure of working on huntres9's autumn themed block.  It proved to be a bit difficult and challenging at times because I was concerned about adding the wrong colors!  My work on the block is finished and it's off on its way to the next gal.  Here are the 2 peeks that I shared for the blocks owner.  

I traced this tree out onto tissue paper, basted it down and embroidered over it ripping the paper off after.  Added a couple SRE flowers at the base of the tree.  It has a small bird's nest with 2 blue eggs in it.

I needle tatted the "R" monogram and added a SRE rose and a little blue glass flower bead: 

Embroidered Pillowcases & an update on what I'm up to!

I made these pillowcases for a dear friend who was my "Secret Sister" last year.  I have been working on them since early December and I had really wanted to get them to her by Christmas but it just didn't work out that way.  So, I got them off in the mail to her on Tuesday.  Hey, at least they're done and they've arrived!  She was very good to me, extremely attentive - always right on top of my posts on the messageboard.  I always received a heartfelt letter in a box that was packed full of bows and ribbons with lots of care.  Hope she enjoys them!

I seem to be lacking here in blog land.  I have been extremely busy, honestly... seems I don't have too much to show for it though.  Ah!  I know, i'll have peeks to share with  you from this round of our CQ Round Robin and I also just finished the siggy wedding quilt I was hired to make!  I'll have photos of that for you soon!  

What's coming up for me?  Starting Tuesday, January 20th I'll be teaching four 2 hour classes at a LQS for a Crazy Quilt heart (i had blogged about this earlier this year.)  So that is very exciting!  I am prepping my kits for that, still have some work to be done but it's well on its way!  2 weeks after that I'll be starting my 8 week class on CQ.  I still have lots to do for that one.  I'm also taking a class for Cheryl Phillips "WedgeWorks" book.  (the first one)  That starts Thursday January 15th!  I am a little concerned that it's a time intensive class and I have so much going on I hope I can give it the attention it deserves because I also have the CQ RR going, 3 more rounds to go!  Oh!  Oh!  And i'll be visiting my very best friend of (eep!) 15 years in New York for the weekend of Jan 23-25!  Then i'll also be visiting her for my birthday on the weekend of Feb 20-22.  We're going to a comedy show and we'll hang out a little bit, i'm so looking forward to a nice weekend away, but you know i'll bring at least one needlework project ;)  probably my tatting since it's so space friendly and portable.  

Well, there's my update for the new year.  I hope this entry finds you healthy and well!  See you soon with some CQ peeks!  Stay tuned...