sewtakeahike

Paper Piecing Webinar

 

Today at 11 am Mountain time, I'm presenting a webinar on paper piecing! The webinar will go over basic technique and will give several tips on making paper piecing fun and easy.

Included with the webinar is the flag pattern set you see above for you to practice with.

So please come and join me! But don't worry, if 11 today doesn't fit in your schedule, a link to the webinar will be sent to you for download within a week of today's live event, along with the flag patterns.

You can sign up here, here and here!

 

xo,

Penny

Post QuiltCon Beachball

 

I don't even know what to say about QuiltCon except it was fantastic. I taught classes 3 days and the students were exceptional. Here's a shot from one of the classes for my sewing organizer project out of my book The Paper Pieced Home.

There were at least 3 students that took this class that had never paper pieced before. I was amazed!

 

Now that I'm home, I'm taking a bit of time to work on a couple of quilts that I want to make just because. First up, a Beachball quilt (one of my patterns out of Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making)

 

Since I designed this quilt almost 2 years ago, I've wanted to make it. I'm thrilled the time is now!

Happy Monday to you!

xo, Penny

 

 

Benartex Manly quilt tutorial

 

 

I am most definitely a child of the 70's. I love the clothing styles from then, and the quilts from that time frame were so charming! Thick, lofty(polyester) batting and acrylic ties were the thing. Or if the quilt wasn't tied, it was loosely quilted so the quilt was still mega puffy. And heck, even the quilt top might have been polyester or a poly blend. Do you remember those double knit polys?! I have a pillow made from some squares of it my dad sent me several years ago!

 

 

For the Manly quilt, I am paying tribute to the 70's, giving it a modern day twist, using natural fibre. The batting is a lofty wool, and the ties are spun wool.  The quilt is approximately 63"X71". 

 

 

I used fabric from three different Benartex lines:

 

                           

The sashiko prints from Bellissimo in the lower right corner (for the center of the patchwork and the binding), plaid taupe from Paintbox/Shadows (for the backing) and all 24 colors available of Burlap (for the outside edges of the patchwork).

 

 

You will also need wool batting, wool yarn, and a tapestry needle.

For the main patchwork, I used my Go! cutter and 5" die to cut 224 5" squares. The Go! cutter made light work of this step which I was pleased with since cutting is my least favorite part.

 

Here is a diagram of my layout:

 

Blues on the left, tans on the bottom, purples/reds on the right, greens on the top, and blacks/dark grays in the center.

Once the you have the top assembled to your liking, make a quilt sandwich with your top, batting and backing and baste it with pins in every other center of each square to prep it for tying.

 

To tie your quilt, use your tapestry needle and wool yarn to stitch a running stitch through all layers of your sandwich, diagonally through the center of each unpinned square.

 

 

 

Once all the unpinned squares are stitched, cut the yarn where the four squares come to a point (half way between each stitch)

 

 

and then use a sewer's knot to tie each piece of yarn. Trim the knotted yarn to the length of your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now remove the pins and stitch and tie the remaining squares.

 

 

Tying your quilt in this manner will give a clean finish to the backing. All the stitches will be straight and the stitch pattern on the back will have an orderly appearance.

 

 

 

Once you have tied your quilt, bind it and you are finished.

I want to thank Benartex for sending the lovely fabric, this project was a joy to work on. And what has made it even more fun is L-man has said several times this is his favorite quilt! I am pleased I hit the mark with the Manly quilt!

 

 

I am also excited that because of Benartex's generosity, I have enough remaining fabric for a second quilt top and part of a backing. If you would like to make a manly quilt of your own, leave a comment on this post telling me who you would make a Manly quilt for if you win, and I will chose a winner on this Friday. (US entries only please due to shipping costs)

 

 

Good luck to you and Happy New Year!!!

xo,

Penny

 

Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making is here!!

 

 

I am thrilled to be a part of Lucky Spool's initial book, Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making! And it's finally here!

This book is chock full of big and small techniques to help the modern quilter on their journey. The teachers in it are full of knowledge and have great techniques and tips to share.

The chapter I teach is of course, paper piecing.

 

 

In this chapter you will learn the basics of paper piecing, several tips and tricks to make your process go smoother, and I also include 10 really fab patterns (I am a little biased, but I hope you agree!)

If you're thinking of purchasing this book for your library, the Taunton Store will provide a 20% discount on your order with the code EGQM20 and the code is good from 6/23 - 7/21.

 

Here are the other workshop authors and their blog tour dates for you to check out! 

6/23 // Chapter 1: Principles of Color // Teacher: Kari Vojtechovsky

6/24 // Chapter 2: Working with Solids // Teacher: Alissa Haight Carlton

6/25 // Chapter 3: Working with Prints // Teacher: Dan Rouse

6/26 // Chapter 4: Improvisational Patchwork // Teacher: Denyse Schmidt

6/27 // Chapter 5: The Alternate Grid // Teacher: Jacquie Gering

6/30 // Chapter 6: Circles and Curves // Teacher: Cheryl Arkison

7/01 // Chapter 7: Paper Piecing // Teacher: Penny Layman

7/02 // Chapter 8: Large-Scale Piecing // Teacher: Heather Jones

7/03 // Chapter 9: Modern Machine Quilting // Teacher: Angela Walters

7/04 // Chapter 10: A Study of Modern Quilts // Teacher: Heather Grant

 

QuiltCon diaries Part 1

 

Hello everyone!  I've missed you!  And I have so much to tell you since I was here last.  Fair warning, this will probably be a long one!

I'm going to break my QuiltCon posts into a two because there was just so much to take in.  Honestly.

What to say, what to say.  It was inspiring.  Joyful.  Exciting.  Fun.  Heartfilling.  Nervewracking.  And I had several proud momma moments with my students. 

I taught threee classes.  Foundation piecing.  Freezer paper piecing by template.  And Designing foundation blocks.

I was so impressed by each and every student in all three classes!

 

Vicky and her cupcake from the foundation piecing class

 

Claudia and her microwave design/block from the design class

 

Elaine and her flappy finned fish design/block from the design class

 

Monica says hi from the foundation piecing class!

 

Gillian's elephant (applique, applique that ear!! lol) and Anne's St. Bernard patterns from design class

 

Joanne's key pattern/block from design class

 

Audrey's headless "Marigold"

 

Eileen's ladybug pattern/block from design class

 

Whaaaaat?  They're all so fabulous!  And there are so many I missed. 

 

So yeah.  I had some serioulsy goofy students too. 

Or maybe it was me (no, not me!) and I forgot to tell them it was OK to take their blocks home with them after the photoshoot?  Ooopsie! 

 

If you were in the class and you see one or more of your blocks here, shoot me an email to sewtakeahike at gmail with your addy and I'll pop them in the mail to you! 

 

 

And you should probably hurry before Fozzy tears across them.  He's a total spaz. 

Also, I have your original bridge design one of you left in the design class that I'd love to get back to you!!

 

And lastly for today, a photo of some of the concentrating design class students

 

 

And a couple of gratuitous class sample seam block photos

 

 

See you in a few days for QuiltCon diaries part 2.

 

xo,

Penny