Now Christmas is over I can get down to the important things in life – quilting! As much as I enjoy Christmas and seeing the family (a lot!) it does get in the way of everything else quilty going on. Since starting my quilting journey, I have tried several techniques and quilting related arty things. Some were more successful than others, making thread bowls with soluble stabiliser worked quite well but it didn’t really rock my boat. I have decided that dyeing my own fabric and foundation paper piecing are definitely my favourites. Some people retire from work and take Open University courses, I scour You Tube and online videos and courses 😊.

I loved Peggy Martin’s strip paper piecing. OMG what a brilliant way to FPP, you can make a New York Beauty block in about 30/45 minutes as you sew the pieces in a chain method. She also shows you a brilliant way to sew curved seams using freezer paper, glue basting and then machining. I am sure that lots of people do it this way but having learnt it from her course I call it ‘Peggy’s method’. I am working on putting notes and pictures together showing how to do this but I keep getting sidelined by life !!

I think most people make a quilt and then make cushions to match it but I never do things the right way around! I probably enjoy FPP as much as I do because I am a control freak and with FPP I feel as though I am in complete control of what I am doing! I loved this Bird of Paradise pattern (Debra Clutter Designs) and I am hooked.

This month I have been making another quilt based on the New York Beauty block but this one is my own design. As you can see below I have now tackled curved flying geese although I am not sure I want to do another one with such small pieces. As I couldn’t use ‘Peggy’s method’ I put my big girl’s knickers on and went for the traditional pinning method to attach the flying geese to the points and whilst it is not perfect I am really happy with my first attempt. Will I ever produce a perfect quilt – probably not but I am happy with my progress. However, I have learnt an important lesson with this quilt – always use good quality cotton fabric when dyeing, I usually buy from my ‘localish’ fabric shop but I couldn’t get there so I bought it online and it was not as good quality as I thought it would be. In fact, I don’t believe it was 100% cotton as the saturation of colour was very pale.

When I started this quilt, I intended it to be about 36” square and considering I am such a control freak it is really strange that I just go with the flow when designing my quilts, this one finished up 52” square! I started with the centre block and worked my way outward. Just before Christmas I made the decision to treat myself to Electric Quilt 8 software (a pressie to myself!) to control my quilt designing and to ensure I stay within the size I first intended. Will let you know how I have got on with it.

If you are thinking of having a go at FPP please do you may find you get to love it as much as me. We have a great UKQU Foundation Paper Piecing Group on Facebook, come and join us!!

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Nicola Manton
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Responses

  1. Karin Pope

    Hello Nicola,FPP. Is my first love too and for almost the same reason-the precise nature of it and those lovely sharp points! My DH bought EQ7 for me 2years ago and I upgraded last year to EQ8. Such a fantastic product,although I will need to live to at least 150 to make all the quilts I have designed. If you haven’t already found her,check out the On Point Quilter,Kari Schell.She is a really good teacher.