Bee blocks

For August in Cocorico Kylie asked us to make blocks with the theme 'Best of British'. With so many wonderful British icons to choose from I am sure her quilt will be fantastic! I chose to make a fox block.

I am always amazed just how many foxes roam an ordinary English street at night. Before I frequently visited the UK I had no idea there was such a thing as an urban fox. If someone had told me I would have never assumed they meant the actual animal ;)
But whenever I'm there I see foxes walking up and down the street every evening, they don't seem the least bit frightened of humans and quite comfortable living in town.

So that was my inspiration for this block. Of course there's also the matter of fox hunting and such...all very British but I can't imagine anyone would want to hunt this cutie!!
I used the Lil' Fox Pattern by Sonja Artisania

June was Tamiko's month in Ringo Pie, she chose Magnum PI as a theme for her month. It's a great theme, so original and funny but never having watched the show I struggled a bit.
As with most tv shows that revolve around the heroic male lead character there will be some helpless female supporting roles in need of rescuing. If they're scarcely clad so much the better -right ;)

So I made this bikini block. I am not at all convinced it's really in keeping with the Magnum PI theme but it's bright and beachy so I hope it will fit in with the quilt somehow.

For the first time since summer started I am all caught up on my bee blocks, it feels great!

x Leila

Green Tea ~ a paper piecing pattern

 Green Tea was supposed to be my first paper piecing pattern but it was stubborn and refused to go first ;) The block is inspired by a cast iron Japanese teapot my mother had when I was little. We never really used it but I loved to lift it up from the Aga and feel it's weight and nubby texture.

The block measures 6" square when finished but can easily be made larger or smaller if you so prefer.
If you have made a few paper pieced blocks before you should have no real trouble with this block. There aren't many small pieces and the construction is pretty straightforward. Matching up those diagonals can be a little tricky, I find basting sections together with a larger stitch length really helps. It makes it so much easier to unpick a seam when pieces do not align properly. I have also added tick marks to help you with this step.

The Green Tea paper piecing pattern is available for purchase in my Etsy shop and on Craftsy.

x Leila

Sugar

I've had a bit of quilters block since I got back from holiday. I started on my next bee block a few times with not much to show for it. I started on a few things for the shop, I have begun drafting a new pattern but my heart wasn't really in any of it. 
I want to sew, make something pretty, create something new but with lack of inspiration and zero determination to finish what I have started I am obviously not getting anywhere!

What do you do when you find yourself in a creative slump?

The thing that helps me is to finally make time to sew one of the many patterns I have been meaning to sew. It very much feels like a KitKat moment when I don't have to come up with a design and instead just play with my pretty fabrics.

So I started with one popsicle block and well, one blissful sewing marathon later (thank god for play dates!) I sat back to behold the sugary sweetness of my new pillow.


 

measures 16" x 24" Popsicles pattern by Ayumi

Just as I was wondering where to put such a girly pink pillow fit for a princess my little Mr. came home.
'is that for me?' 
-Do you like it? 
'uhm, yes' 
-Can you tell what it is? 
....
' ice cream!! will you put it in my room mum?'  
-But yes of course sweetheart! 

He ran back out to show it to his friend. 
'look my mum made this all by herself!' 
 
 Be still my heart.

x Leila

Ringo Pie May

I am done catching up on bee blocks- yay! Now the question remains if I can manage to make this month's blocks on time but best not dwell.

May was Kerry's month in Ringo Pie and she asked us to make a schoolhouse style block with spotty borders if needed, expressing creativity in our fabric choices.
It all sounded simple enough but leave it up to me to take a simple assignment and turn it into a complicated task, of course I started stressing over how uncreative\creative my fabric choices should be!

I seem incapable of choosing obvious fabric and colour combinations, I had to combine quilting cottons, vintage cottons a bit of voile with a bit of tana lawn and linen, no less.
I fussy cut a K and G for the chimneys, Kerry's initials and in case she missed those (she didn't) I fussy cut her surname over the entrance of the house.
There is a very stylish looking Suzuko Koseki lady peeking out of the doorway, no idea who she is ;)
  Perhaps Katy came over for a visit to inspect the quality of Kerry's Tana Lawn, lawn ( I love my own little jokes! feel free to ignore them)

It will be winding it's way to her as soon as I can find a minute to go to the post office.

Only two weeks of school left till summer holidays start, this is always such a busy but exciting time of year!

x Leila

Paper piecing tips & new pattern coming soon!

I have been working hard on turning my White Picket Fence bee block into a new paper piecing pattern. These things are always slow progress for me as I spend a lot of time working through all the little details trying to get them just right. Redrafting, sewing up samples, fine tuning, a healthy dose of self doubt- it all takes up a lot of time!

But I am pleased with the changes I have made especially to the fence, opening it up has really enhanced the illusion of depth and space.
Finishing at 10" square this block would make a lovely center for a cushion or tote bag as well as a substantial sized block for a quilt. I am hoping to wrap this one up and have it available in the shop soon!

Although there are no 'Y' seams or curves to this design aligning all the pieces can be a little challenging. I pin a lot and take it slow. I find there is no quick way to sew these blocks they really demand your full focus and time to get it right.

We have been discussing ways to improve our piecing skills in Cocorico lately and I thought I'd share three of the tips I found most helpful.

Pinning & marking
I mostly use pins to match up seams, I pin into my seam allowance and peek inside to see if the seams match up before I push the pin through. I insert my pins vertically so I can sew straight over them. The 1\4" guide gets in the way a bit sometimes, just go slow and lift the presser foot, with needle down, to help lift it over the pin if needed. I made some photo's to show you how I pin. They are just for show I had already finished my block and just needed to sew one final seam over my basting stitches -but you get the idea ;)

push pin in and check inside the seam

flip over and check if the pin hits the seam right

push pin through vertically

sew straight over the pin

 Another helpful trick to matching up pieces properly are tick marks. Kerry did a great tutorial on how to use them here She is such a clever bean using tick marks for paper piecing, I had never thought of them outside dress making! I find them especially helpful matching up sections.

Basting
After pinning and aligning my tick marks I sew a line of basting stitches. I use a very small stitch length for paper piecing (about 1.5) which makes ripping seams a nightmare.  I set my basting stitches to about 2.5-3 on my machine, but your settings may be a bit different. You want your stitches large enough so if you get it wrong ripping that seam will be easy without putting strain on the fabrics, but not so large your seam starts to gather.
When I am happy with the way things line up I just stitch over the basted seam with my regular small stitch length. Added bonus of basting when foundation paper piecing is you're perforating the paper at least twice which makes it very easy to peel off in the end.

Leave the paper on till the end!
This is something I don't do consequently enough. My freezer paper templates usually start flaking off after handling them for a while and rather than ironing them back on I just take them off. I don't enjoy digging under seams to peel off bits of paper when foundation piecing so generally I start ripping bits off half way through.
Leaving your templates on till the very end adds sturdiness to your block, it makes your fabric shift less which is a good thing. The templates are your guide for pinning and aligning sections and also show you exactly where the seams should hit. The Cocorico girls say, leave them on till the bitter end! I will let you know how I get on with that :)

Hope you found these tips helpful!

 x Leila

Ringo Pie - April

I am caught up with my bee blocks for April - hurrah! This was Amber's month in Ringo Pie and she asked us to make blocks with a sewing theme.
I have always wanted a vintage fold out sewing box, I just haven't come across the 'one' yet. To me they are a bit like a treasure chest full of pretty shiny things waiting to be found. I love the idea of pulling out a drawer, rummaging through buttons and tangled threads to find the buried treasure under it all.

I thought this block was going to be a breeze, no curves no Y seams it all seemed pretty straightforward to me when I designed it. But I had underestimated the trickiness of matching up those skinny diagonal strips. A lot of time was spent unsewing and in the end there is still one unruly strip. One can only unpick a seam so often before it becomes a complete mess so I had to accept and move on.

That's two down, one to go!

x Leila

One down two to go - Cocorico April

I am behind on my bee blocks - yuk! But best not dwell on that at least I caught up with one.
 April was Charise's month and she chose houses as her theme. Much to my delight, as it may be no secret that I love paper pieced house blocks! Here's what I came up with.


There's a fair bit of spring cleaning going on inside this white picket fenced house. I wish those lovely ladies would come round my home sometime.

One down, two more to go!

Have a lovely Sunday,

Leila x

Enamel Coffee Pot

When I first heard that Penny and Kerry had teamed up and formed Sew-Ichigo I got very excited. I just knew great things would come from them!
I had the pleasure of testing the Enamel Coffee Pot pattern from their first set of kitchen related paper piecing patterns.

The pattern instructions are very clear and helpful, and I just love this delightful vintage looking coffee pot!  I know many of you are scared by paper piecing, I was too at first, but really with Penny and Kerry's tips and advice you could not be in better hands. So if you are on the fence just go for it, I promise it is fiddly at times but not as difficult as it may seem.

As the block finishes 6" square it will be a lovely addition to my sampler quilt but you could also use the blocks in one of the tutorials on the Sew-Ichigo blog for a tote or a kitchen aid cover. 
You can buy the patterns here

x Leila

Sew Out Loud Quilt Along - Press On!

Today it is my turn to share my block design for Sew Out Loud!!
My block is called 'Press on!' and is all about the trusty old iron. I quite enjoy ironing as part of the sewing process but when it comes to ironing the laundry it is one of my least favourite chores. Funny how that works, I wonder if I had an iron like this it would change the way I feel ;)


 I have included templates for freezer paper piecing or foundation paper piecing. You can download the pattern here

I really enjoy being part of this sew along and seeing all the wonderful blocks you all have been making! You can add your blocks to our Flickr group here
And don't forget there will be a block design contest soon with some fab prizes, so get those thinking caps on ladies.
I am excited to see what you all will come up with!!

x Leila

Ringo Pie March ~ Lava lamp fish

It is the first month of a new round of Ringo Pie. Ayumi picked grocery store as her theme which is wonderful because there are so many fun things to make.
There are shelves full of wonderful packaging, tills and scales lovely jars of jam and bottles with labels, dairy, veggies, meat and fish.

I chose fish.

 

 

I am not sure what possessed me! I thought it would be cute I suppose, and at one point I did think it was going to work. But then I had a closer look and all I could see was rockets, or lava lamps! I tried embroidering the eyes and some gills hoping it would help.

But there is nothing that will disguise the true lava lamp nature of these fish. Lets just say they're whimsical ;)


x Leila

Fresh Sewing Day February

It is the first of the month and we all know what that means - it is fresh sewing day!
Here is what my February looked like:

•  redecorating the sewing room - you will most likely not see me do that again any time soon!
• lots of paper piecing - which I am bound to do more of this month ;)
• my first pattern - yay!
• dress making - something I really would like to get better at, I love my Tova!
• the beginning of a sampler quilt, a long term project.

This week I have been happily pottering about with my scrappy leaf pattern. First I sewed some small leaves with the intention of making a lovely necklace like Charise did. But I changed my mind and made these two reverse applique coasters instead.

I love how they turned out!

Next I enlarged the pattern by 150% to see what a larger leaf would look like. It measures about 7" tall which fits perfectly in my hand :)

So I added a layer of cotton batting and insulbright for it to be used as a potholder or hotpad but I also think this size makes a nice coaster or snackmat.

Now hop on over to Lynne's to see what everyone else has been up to!

x Leila

Scrappy Leaf Key Fob Pattern

Today is a rather exciting day for me because I have completed my very first pattern -eek!
These scrappy leaf key fobs are so much fun to sew and you get to use up some of your scraps in the process. I don't know about you, but to me that is always a bonus! They are fun and easy to sew up and make great last minute gifts for friends and family!

The pattern includes templates for paper piecing, but there is also the option to string piece the patchwork leaf and improvise with the shape and size. There are plenty of possibilities to put your own spin on them!

I am very grateful for the help I got from my wonderful pattern testers Penny, Nova and Charise, I owe you one girls!

We are in different time zones, but if you head on over to their blogs a little later today I am sure they are happy to show you the pretty leaves they have been sewing up. There might be a little something in it for you too...just sayin' ;)

And of course you can buy a copy of the pattern in my shop here.


x Leila

More Paper Piecing Practice

Thank you all for your comments and helpful tips on my post yesterday!
As with most new skills you need to stick with it for a while to get the hang of things. The more I sit with this paper piecing thing the more it's starting to all make sense and not seem so overly complicated anymore.
That said I thought I'd have a go at my own design!

I even threw in some tiny curved piecing! I don't know why I did that really because so far all my circle piecing attempts have failed {I never blogged about those attempts either it was too shameful!} This half circle went ok, it was tricky and I did get some puckers but I don't think I could have pieced it any better.
And since I have too many blocks lying around as it is I turned it into a little mugrug.


Well once you've done it once it's quite easy to duplicate..

I wanted to try a different way of piecing the rice this time so I did reverse applique. Works just as well but without the puckers - bonus! I added a layer of Insulbright and made myself a new potholder.

All in all a pretty productive weekend. Anyone fancy coming over to tidy up my sewing room? ;-)

x Leila

Practicing Paper Piecing

After following around the Ringo Pie girls like a puppy for months, I thought it was high time I'd start practicing paper piecing.
It so happened that for this month of Fresh Modern Bee we got to make whatever we wanted. So when my bee fabrics arrived I was quick to jump. It's always a bonus if you get someone else fabrics to experiment with....much easier to cut into right?! ;-)
I used Ayumi's tutorial for this coffee pot block, her work is such an inspiration and I'm so glad she was generous enough to share.

Here's my version.

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, not perfect but it was pretty much my first attempt so that's to be expected.

If you are like me and could do with some help and tips on how to go about designing your own paper pieced blocks, Melinda has done a very helpful post on her blog about numbering your pieces.  You can read it here

I'd love to hear your tips and tricks for paper piecing, do you have a book or site to recommend?
I need all the help I can get! If I get enough resources together to make some sort of list I'll do a follow up post to make it easier to find what you are looking for, sounds like a good deal right?

Have a happy Sunday,

x Leila