Paper-Piecing Magic

Mid-February found me taking a paper-piecing quilt class at the local quilt shop. This always looks waaayyy too precise for me but a friend was taking it so I went along for the fun of it. What a GREAT technique! I fell in love with paper piecing. It's absolute magic. All one has to do is follow step by step and TRUST. Ahhhh, maybe it's not so easy.

Here are the two blocks we completed in class…

Now here's the tricky part. Paper piecing is really easy BUT one must plan in advance. Carefully sketching out the fabric placement, cutting all the pieces and arranging them in order takes some concentration and time. But it is well worth it. Here's the first triangle for a piece I'm working on. I just cut out and sewed the fabric for one section to see if I could even do it all on my own! Yesterday I cut out the fabric for five more triangles and hopefully this will work for the design I sketched.

So … here's the problem. Time. I need more of it. This month I also spent a day working on masks for a mask-making party that is coming up in March. And then there's scrapbooking. And don't forget beading. And the list goes on and on, Oh…and then there's work!

10 Minute Challenge

I finished the Fall leaves mat at the end of January. It felt good to be hooking with a #3 fine cut again. It is much slower going but certainly more control in shading.

The next project I picked up was one with finches on a fence that had not been started.  I started hooking a couple of flowers but for some reason was just very unhappy with them and finally set it aside.  This is the point when I probablywould have tucked my hooking away and not get around to starting anything new.  But having taken the 10 minute challenge I begrudgingly forged ahead.

I pulled out a piece called Water Nymph which I started quite a few years ago- probably more than 10. I put it away because in dyeing the background, I kept trying to get it darker so dyed and redyed until the wool felted too much. It is very thick - almost blanket-weight -and somewhat difficult to work with. When I was at Cape May a couple of years ago, I picked up a primitive coarse Hartman hook with a wide shaft and that has made the job a bit easier. Here is how it looked when I picked it up February 9.  This is in a #6 cut and is moving along fairly quickly.  How exciting!

Spring

I just love that Spring arrives so early on the Oregon Coast. Last October I planted some bulbs in a planter – something I intend to do every here. This is one of the tulips that has bloomed over the past two weeks. Flinging her petals open to the sky and sun each day, and closing up at night, it is so lovely.