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

School is out for summer!

Today was the last day of school for us. Six heavenly weeks of no alarm clocks and hopefully some specks of sun in between the rain ;-)

Last days are bittersweet, my little boy is not so little anymore and going to the 'big' school next year. He's had an amazing teacher {aren't they THE best?!} so I wanted to make something nice for her.





She can use these two strings of bunting for the kids' birthdays or other school parties or just take them home with her of course.

Same as last year the summer holidays start with both me and the little monster ill! I guess it was high time for us to slow down and relax a bit.


Have a very happy summer {or winter if that's where you're at!}

x Leila

My Quilt has a Story..

...and you can read it at Quilt Story today!

x Leila

Six Farmer's down...

..105 to go!

I might be the most reluctant Farmer's Wife of them all. Some days I really hate my Farmer he's so arrogant and demanding {why is it always the bad boys eh?} He sniffed at my feeble attempts to piece one of the more advanced blocks.

But then he smiled and gently pushed me towards these 'easier' ones and I was smitten all over again.

I went in this for the learning experience and trying to push myself to become a better or I should say more accurate piecer. I love sitting behind my sewing machine slapping bits of fabric together and see what I can create organically, I'm not one to follow a pattern and this is tough for me at times.

But I love the feeling of accomplishment when I look at my finished blocks {1" triangles and all} so I'm still sticking it out. Who knows maybe one of these days my Farmer will make an honest woman out of me ;-)

x Leila