P is for Paper Piecing

Back at the beginning of the month when it was E I did a post on English Paper Piecing. This is to distinguish it from Paper Piecing which is a different form of quilting. It is one of those things quilters seem to love or hate with a passion.

Until very recently I had managed to avoid paper piecing. I had read instructions for it and whilst it seemed simple enough it didn't really appeal

In 2013 out middle son, known here on this blog as Kombi Boy, turned 21. He loved kombi vans, so much so that he had a giant one tattooed on his chest. I wasn't impressed but hey, I'm just the mum and at least it was pretty, in its own way

 

I found a pattern called Another Day in Paradise which featured kombi vans and they were partly paper pieced so I paper pieced him a queen bed quilt

So what is paper piecing, or foundation paper piecing to distinguish it from English paper piecing.

Angie on her web page , Angie's Bits and Pieces says of it

This technique involves sewing pieces of fabric to a paper foundation following a numerical sequence. Seam lines are traced on the foundation. The pieces of fabric are sewn onto the back side of this foundation (unmarked side - actually the right side of the block). This sewing technique on a foundation allows one to work with very small and uneven pieces with great accuracy, as all sewing takes place along straight lines.

At the beginning of 2015 I discovered a website, 

that had so many gorgeous paper pieced patterns covering the world of fandom and popular culture. The creator, Jennifer Ofenstein was starting a stitch along - a new pattern every week that would make up a Harry Potter Bookshelf. My daughter (Fangirl) is an avid Harry Potter fan and I knew she would just love it. Also in January of 2015 Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us encouraged us to come up with some quilty resolutions for the year focussing on techniques that we wanted to learn. Challenge accepted. I nominated paper piecing.

I had a Craftsy class by Carol Doak on paper piecing and I watched that to get some techniques under my belt. 

I also had a go at a couple of other paper piecing projects from the Fandom in Stitches website namely some Minions for our friend Bek for her birthday and a Tardis from Doctor Who just because. I was hooked. 

From mid January till August, for 40 weeks, I worked on my paper piecing blocks for this project. I kept up pretty well. After the last block was released it took me a few month to complete the extra blocks I wanted to go around the book case, and to get the back made and finally get it quilted but in February this year I was able to give the completed project to Fangirl for her birthday.

She has the quilt proudly displayed on her bed. I am sorry that I didn't make it a bit wider now that she is using it on a queen bed - it doesn't go over the sides enough. I wasn't really thinking of it as a bed quilt to be honest... actually wasn't really thinking much at all. Maybe I thought it would be a wall quilt but who has a wall big enough? In her old home maybe but not the current one.

These are some of my favourite blocks in the book case