A Mini Quilt for Home

A few days ago Kristy @ 

Quiet Play

 was looking for pattern testers for her latest design. I've been so busy, but I couldn't help myself  and jumped at the opportunity. Kristy's designs are fantastic and this one is not the exception. The pattern is called Teeny Houses and consists of  9 different 6" blocks. Every little house is a bit different from the other and they are adorable. I had the pleasure of testing one the blocks. My experience with paper piecing is still limited, but the pattern is very well written and easy to follow. It comes together very quickly.  

Anyway, after I finished testing the pattern I decided to make my little block into a wall hanging to decorate my sewing room.  The words on the mini quilt are embroidered with DMC embroidery floss on natural linen (linen is my absolute favorite fabric).  The quilting is free motion quilting  with single loops all over. Yes you heard it right, free motion quilting! I finally tried free motion quilting for the first time and I am so pleased with the results. I still need to practice a lot more, but thank goodness the linen is very forgiving and it doesn't show much my mistakes.

XX

Martha.

Pretty Little Pouch II

For the second time I entered the Pretty Little Pouch Swap over on Flickr. This round I wanted to do something a bit different for my partner. She mentioned that she likes hexies and patchwork, so I decided to combine both and made her this wallet using scrappy hexies. I spent about a week piecing the hexies (mostly during my commute to work). It actually felt really good having a little project to do while on the go, and paper piecing is great for that. The basic pattern for the wallet is from one of my favorite books Bags: The Modern Classics. The pattern is lovely and very easy to understand as the other patterns from the book.
 I mailed the wallet to my partner this week and I'm anxiously waiting to hear from her how she likes it. I hope she does:) . I think I want to make one for myself.

XX
Martha.

Pattern Review

Paper piecing... that is how I spent a big part of my Sunday. And oh boy did I have fun! Diane From Blank Pages asked me to test one of her new patterns. I'm utterly delighted to have tested another pattern for her. Diane is extremely talented and all of her designs are incredible. (You might recall of when I reviewed her pattern Illusion here and the mini quilt I made with the block here). This pattern is the latest one on her series My ABCs an alphabet paper piecing pattern. This pattern contains the numbers 0-9 and 19 common punctuation marks and it is to be used along with her previously released alphabet patterns. 

I made the exclamation point, the question mark and the number 5.  Each block finishes off at 3" tall. So I enlarged the punctuation marks to 150%. I wanted them to be a bit larger because I'm going to use the blocks to make a cushion. The number I made it exactly as it is in the pattern and it is so cute! This is a great pattern and all the instructions provided are very concise and even gives instructions for enlarging the pattern. All in all, a great pattern. I can see myself using it over and over again.

Please visit Diane's blog to check out the release date for this pattern  and the link to her store for the rest of her patterns. 

Martha.

Sunday Sewing: Hand Quilting

You might remember this... back in December I tested a paper piecing pattern for Diane @ From Blank Pages. And the block had been hanging on my inspiration board, unfinished all this time; mainly because I couldn't decide on how to quilt it. I knew I wanted to make it into a mini quilt to decorate my sewing room (I love looking at it every time I come into the room), but I had my doubts about the quilting. I wanted something soft that wouldn't overpower the design. Thus, hand quilting was my final choice. To contrast the straight lines and at the same time complement the geometric design of the block I hand quilted circles all over. I really like the texture the hand quilting gives to this quilt. Hand quilting takes a bit more time than machine quilting, but is totally worth it. I'm looking forward to creating another project using this technique. 

Have a wonderful week!

Martha.

Paper Piecing {Pattern Review}

This past weekend I tried paper piecing for the first time. Ever since I started sewing I had been intrigued by paper piecing. I admire so much the beautiful and intricate designs that people are able to create using the method, but I had been so intimidated to try it..; Well this Sunday it all changed. Diane @ From Blank Pages was so kind to send me a pattern she designed to test. The pattern is called Illusion. I couldn't be more surprised at how easy it all came together to create this beautiful block. I think Diane is a very talented pattern designer. The instructions on the pattern were so clear and easy to understand and it even came with instructions and templates on how to cut the fabric including seam allowance! I thought that was perfect, specially for a newbie like me. Of course, I couldn't had done it without first reading Diane's  Paper Piecing Tutorial. 
Now the question is: what to do with my beautiful block?  Any suggestions.

Martha.