WIP Wednesday ~ Making progress!

I just realized I haven't posted since July 8 ~ how does that happen?  Part of the reason is being up in Michigan for a month with the family ~ the other part is being buried in paper.  :)

Oh Happy Day ~ I finally finished paper-piecing my granddaughter's Sea Swept quilt top!  It's been quite a journey ~ the only other paper-piecing I've done is a mini - but I'm really happy with the result!

Ready to sew the last seam.

I love the simple blue and white color scheme that my granddaughter picked out.  Lots of movement in this pattern!

Now the tedious part ~ picking all that paper off the back.  Hope there's a good movie on tonight!

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social!

But first - an intermission

So I was making good progress on my Puddle Jumping quilt when I got an invitation to test a paper-piecing pattern by Alyce Blythe of Blossom Heart Quilts.  Even though I haven't done much paper-piecing, I decided to take a break from my 2015 Finish-Along list and jumped right in!

The mini quilt pattern is called Happy Star and you can find it in her pattern shop here.  

Here are a few pics of my process.

Fabrics - mainly Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry

1st four sections ~ the two pieces on the left should have been on the right

All pieced and sewn together!

Top's finished ~ yay!

 Here's a peek at the back and binding ~ 
it's Folklore Paisley Pumpkin Orange by Lily Ashbury

Happy to say that it's now hanging in my sewing space!

Just wanted to say Thanks to Alyce for letting me test this lovely pattern ~ check out her post to see all the different Happy Stars made by the other testers!

OK ~ now back to Puddle Jumping!  

Linking up with Lorna and Kelly!

Random Sunday

Yesterday, I met up with a group from the Naples Quilters Guild for a get-together called Gathering Stitches.  It happens once a month and is basically a "sit and sew."  I'm happy to say I learned a couple of things!  Fern, one of the members there, is in charge of  organizing the Raffle Quilt for 2015, so she has put together baggies (lots and lots) of pieces to be paper-pieced and put into the quilt blocks.  She held a mini-class for those of us who are really new to paper-piecing (like me!).  

This is the piecing I finished along with the other half that I still need to do.  Not too bad!  I brought home another baggie of pieces to do as well.  See that little yellow ruler?  It's called an Add-A-Quarter ruler and it's used for trimming the 1/4" while you're piecing.  It just butts up against the paper and makes the trimming so much quicker!

Speaking of Raffle Quilts, next year's quilt  (to be raffled off at the Quilt Show in March) is absolutely gorgeous!  It's 110" x 110" so it's great for a king-size bed (like mine!).  Anyway ~ I'm buying a few lots of tickets and keeping my fingers crossed!  Here's a pic ~

Also on Saturday, I made 24 hourglass blocks for Christmas tree skirt #3.

I'm always debating on which way to press my seams ~ right?  left?  open?  Luckily, Judy (another member) showed me a neat trick to use when pressing the blocks ~ it's called "swirling your seams" ~ and it's absolutely magic!  The seams are all pressed in the same direction and the center where all the seams come together opens up to form a little square and it lays REALLY flat!  Who knew?!  It's one of those little tips that make me happy.  :)  

Finally, I've been looking for a good protein bar to help keep me going with all these projects and found one at Costco that was perfect!  20 grams of protein ~ and only 18 grams of carbs (which is partially offset by the protein) and they're chocolate!  Yummy!

  

So today was just a visit to Englewood to see my mom & stepdad (always a treat) ~ and now I'm lost in blogland being inspired.  All in all ~ a productive weekend!