The Last Piece

Website Update!

I have finally, FINALLY updated my website so you can now buy ALL of my fabrics online! From Little Things AND St Ives. 

And of course all my perspex ruler sets, patterns, books and applique sets are all still available too. Yippee!

Bloggers BOM - Lucky Last

Hi everybody! If you've been following along with Jackie's Bloggers Block of the Month, you will know that this is the last block! And if you haven't - hurry and catch up, there are some lovely blocks in the series and Jackie has been collecting them up all year. The next post will be by Jackie, telling you all how to put them together.

OK! On to my block, a star in a star. Stars of any kind are my all time favourite patchwork block, so when Jackie asked me to play along in the BOM, they were the first thing I thought of!

To make my block you will need 4 contrasting fabrics. 

From the yellow (centre square) fabric, cut one square 2 1/2"

From the purple (small star points) fabric, cut four squares, 1 7/8". Cross cut these squares on one diagonal to form 8 half square triangles

From the dark purple (large star points) fabric, cut four squares, 2 7/8". Cross cut these squares on one diagonal to form 8 half square triangles

From the background (bangle dot) fabric, cut:

* four squares, 1 1/2"

* four squares, 1 7/8". Cross cut these squares on one diagonal to form 8 half square triangles

* four squares, 2 1/2"

* four squares, 2 7/8". Cross cut these squares on one diagonal to form 8 half square triangles

OK, ready to go!

Sew each of the small half square purple triangles to a small half square background triangle. and each of the large half square purple triangles to a large half square background triangle along the diagonal edge. Press the seams towards the purple fabrics.

Trim the "ears" off the triangles. This might seem like a small step, but it will make your triangles go together so much more neatly!

Sew all of the pairs of small triangles together along the background fabric edge to form a purple "V" as shown:

Make four like this. Press the centre ceam to one side.

Sew two of the star points to either side of the yellow centre square. Press the seams toward the centre square.

Sew a background 1 1/2" square to either end of the remaining two star points. Press the seams towards the purple fabric.

Sew these two star point units to the top and bottom of the centre square, taking care to match the corners of the squares. Press the seams towards the centre square.

Repeat this process with the 2 7/8" triangle star points and sew them to the smaller star as above, treating the small star as the centre block.

Block done, yay you!

Make sure and check out the flickr group so you can see all the amazing blocks people have been making, they sure have been busy.

If you haven't been following the BOM, here are all the links so you can go and check out what the other wonderous designers have been up to. 

September - Sherri McConnell – A Quilting Life

October - Vicki Welsh – Field Trips in Fiber

November - Stephanie Dunphy – Loft Creations

December - Pat Sloan – The Voice Of Quilting

January - John Adams – Quilt Dad

February - Amy Smart – Diary of a Quilter

March - Allison Harris – Cluck, Cluck, Sew

April - Amy Lobsiger – Mrs. Schmenkmen Quilts

May - Cathy Underhill – Cabbage Quilts

June - Pam Vieira-McGinnis – Pam Kitty Morning

July - Victoria Findlay Wolfe – Bumble Beans Inc.

August - Amy Ellis – Amy’s Creative Side :)

September - Sarah Fielke – The Last Piece

October - Jackie Kunkel – Canton Village Quilt Works

Really Really Sneaky Peeks

I have a secret.....

I have strike offs of my new range.... I'm probably not allowed to show you... and I can't tell you who it's with yet.... and if I show you any more, I'll have to kill you.... just look at them really really quickly and pretend you didn't see them, ok? 

There, you didn't see anything, did you. Sneak peek? What sneek peek?

Hexa Go-Go Blog Tour

When I met Tacha as a member of the Fat Quarterly team in Houston last year, I had no idea she was percolating this little beauty for publication! 

If you've been swept up in the current re-love for Engligh paper piecing, you will LOVE this book. And if you haven't - get swept up! Paper piecing doesn't have to to be like that bag of newspaper hexagons you still have in your sewing box from that awful project at school when you were 12. 

Tach gives you a great overview of how to stitch your bits together and what you need to do it. EPP is only as limited as your imagination, and Tach gives you some fantastic projects from small to large to try out your skills. You know me - never one for a small project, I think this one is my favourite.

Maybe it's triggered by the flag quilt I'm working at the moment (which isn't hexagons), but I think more likely it's that fab colour combo! 

As I'm writing this from my recovery bed, I will keep it short and sweet, but I thought you might like to see some EPP I've been working on. This is a pic of a star quilt I've been working on for a long time. It's actually a lot bigger than this now but this is the pic I have on the computer!!

Those little hexies have 1/2" sides :) Most of this quilt I made waiting for kids - outside football practise, violin practise, at the train station. And thats the beauty of paper piecing. You can carry it around with you and do it in between, for all those times when you don't have time to be in front of the sewing machine. So grab Tacha's fab book and give it a go! Check out what all these lovely people have had to say, and hop over to Katy's blog and Sew Mama Sew as they are giving a copy of Hexa Go-Go away. 

Have fun!

August 20th – Katy Jones from I’m a Ginger Monkey

August 22nd – Beth Wilson from Sew Mama Sew

August 24th – Cathy Underhill from Cabbage Quilts

August 27th – Lynne Goldsworthy from Lily’s Quilts

August 29th – Jennifer Mathis from Ellison Lane

August 31st – Angela Pingel from Cut to Pieces

September 3rd – Jeni Baker from In Color Order

September 5th – Nettie from A Quilt is Nice

September 7th – Lissa Alexander from Moda Lissa

September 10th – Sarah Fielke from The Last Piece

September 12th – Michele Pacy from Michele Made Me

September 14th – Kimberly Jolly from The Jolly Jabber

September 17th – Aneela Hoey from Comfort Stitching

September 19th – John Adams from Quilt Dad

September 21st – Elizabeth Hartman from Oh Fransson!

 

A Walk in Deventer

Karen made this version of my quilt, A Walk in Deventer. Didn't she do a great job?

The pattern for A Walk in Deventer is available from my website, and you can even get a DVD that tells you all about my method of hand applique. Here's my quilt:

Isn't it funny how some quilts just hit a buzzer with people? And it's never the one you think. For example, this is one of my favourite quilts:

And I don't think I've ever sold a pattern for it, other than to students in class. It's a funny old world :)