Paper Piecing with Penny

I have not been sewing much the past few weeks.  Lots of summer interruptions, and truth be told, my sewing room is a mess of rearranging in process and accumulation of stuff!

This weekend I had an opportunity to sew without tidying up first.  Penny Layman of Sewtakeahike was our speaker at guild on Thursday and she offered three classes while she was in town! 

On Friday, she taught foundation paper piecing in the morning at a cute quilt shop in a small town nearby.  I had never been there, so it was fun to explore a new shop. We used her super cute jelly jar pattern and it was so fun seeing it made up in all the different fabric combinations. 

We used this pitcher patter to practice freezer paper piecing in the afternoon. 

I started with a picture from a vintage coloring book, but I forgot that the image would turn out reversed!

Saturday, we learned how to design our own patterns for foundation paper piecing.  

Penny is a great inspiration and a wonderful teacher and it is always fun to sew with friends!  

I am not sure I will dive right into designing my own patterns, but I definitely feel more comfortable using the technique!

Another thing that has been keeping me busy is restocking my Etsy shop, "AtomicSisters".

If you are interested in some vintage fabric, trim, hankies, or 'miscellany'  check it out. I have set a goal to list at least 3 things every day.  

I should have it done by this time next year...

Ringing In

So, I am late to the 'goals for 2013' party, but let's just call it fashionably late, because I have been making lots of plans and lists!

I don't have a collage to show the things I got accomplished in 2012, but a good many of last year's starts will be finished in 2013, so I show them later. 

(One goal is to implement a better organization system for photos and more regular posting!)

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have resolved to sew from my stash in 2013.   It has not been easy to get out of the habit of shopping the sales, but after six weeks of sticking to the plan I am feeling better than ever about it.  And, I have lots of fabric, so it is really not a deprivation. 

High level goals:

Quilt at least one of the backlog of tops that are hanging in the closet each month.

I have 3 or 4 that I have made and a couple that I picked up at estate sales.

Make at least 6 quilts for charity - probably Project Linus (I have lots of flannel that I want to use!) 

Finish embroidering the vintage Story Time blocks to pass off to Dearest Sister to put into a quilt for her grandbebe girl #5. This is actually a high priority, as she is on track to finish up quilt number four pretty soon.  

Skill building activities:

Finish the Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month that I enrolled in 12 months ago and started two weeks ago.

Progress, so far.  New skills:  Dresden Plate, English paper pieced hexagons, and the slashed blocks - wonky pound sign and the asterisk.  I am also getting fairly consistent with my quarter inch seam. 

Craftsy 2013 Block of the month 

Possible fabrics...

Skill Builder Block of the Month at Pile o Fabric

Still auditioning fabric for this one.  I tried to pick a palette from Dropseed, but I am not confident of my choices.  

Lucky Stars paper piecing Block of the Month at Don't Call Me Betsy

I am going to try to mirror her fabric choices, as best I can.  I might use solids. 

Other Craftsy classes:

Machine Quilting Negative Space with Angela Walters

Inspired Modern Quilts and

Creative Quilt Backs with Elizabeth Hartman

Color Play for Quilters with Joen Wolfrom 

Knit sock Workshop with Donna Druchunas

As you can see i went a little bit nuts during the Xmas sale at Craftsy.  It seems shopping for on-line classes may have taken the place of shopping on line for fabric, but I am excited to learn some new things and continue sharpening skills.  

I hope you all had a good holiday season and that getting back into routine goes smoothly!