Friday Finish - LEGO Marvel Superhero Cushions

Back in the new year I coaxed Kristy to put together some LEGO Marvel superhero patterns, because she has awesome paper piecing patterning skills and is queen of all things LEGO.

Kristy has patterns for these guys and more of the team (crew? what do you call a bunch of superheroes anyway??) available for free in her Craftsy store if you want to test them out. As far as paper piecing patterns go these ones are fairly simple, I'd rate them a confident beginner to intermediate. The blocks finish at 10 inches so they're pretty manageable.

I quizzed my nephews on their favourite Marvel dudes, then decided their Dad (biggest superhero geek on the planet) needed in on the action two, and created these blocks.

In true fashion, I then stuck them up on the design wall until I realised that the twins' birthday was fast approaching and I needed to get my butt into gear!

First up, I needed to fix my face painting. Funny story, but it turns out that white fabric paint I found in my stash actually dried clear. With glitter in it. Now I love glitter as much as the next girl, but poor Hulk was sparklier than a Twilight vampire, and that would just never do. So I embroidered over Hulk and Wolverine's teeth with perle cotton and all was good with the world.

Then I decided to quilt with a zig-zag, lightning strike kind of pattern that reminds me a little of those comic book captions... I am happy with how it turned out and I hope the boys like it too.

Finally, I finished up with a solid border and I turned each block into a cushion, also in a solid.

Then I photographed them in crappy light because the weather has been blergh and I haven't been home in daylight hours. Now all I need to do is wrap them and post them before the boys birthday!

Linking up with I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins, Paper Piecing Party at Quiet Play, Needle and Thread Thursday, TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Friday Finish.

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Progress on the Harry Potter Quilt

My goal for April was a pretty simple one, to make some progress on my Harry Potter Project of Doom - aka the Bookshelf Quilt - which I started late in 2012.

I had nine blocks complete and I'm pleased to report I've done another nine this month. I still have twelve to go but none of these paper piecing blocks are too fiddly and some are really very simple. It's been a fun opportunity to play with different fabrics to my usual style, finding the perfect matches for the Harry Potter theme.

  I am refusing to pack up my sewing machine or these fabrics until I finish all 30 blocks in this quilt. Then I have to embroider book names onto the book, which I do by machine. I found a list of all the books mentioned in the Harry Potter book series, so it's fun to choose the ones I want to put on the shelf.

 
My only drama is that somehow my blocks are coming up different sizes. Initially I may not have selected actual size when I printed the PDF and my early blocks are 1/2 inch smaller than expected. So then I printed the newer blocks the same way but I am using the pattern that is now on Craftsy and these ones are coming up 1/2 inch smaller again. It's a little frustrating but not the end of the world - fortunately these are the kind of blocks where I can trim a bit or add a bit more background fabric as required to make it all work. 

I was also pleased to find a great fabric for the border and backing, a yellowy-gold print with stars on it, for a measly $4.99 a metre at Spotlight - then I got it at 40% off, making it a very cheap quilt back. 

I'm looking forward to getting this quilt on to the finished list!

Linking up with the ALYOF April Finishes Party over at Sew Bittersweet Designs

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Paper Piecing Party On the Road: Setting Up Your Paper Piecing Workspace

First things first, a massive thank you to the beautiful Kristy for letting me hijack her Paper Piecing Party for the week! And if you're visiting from Quiet Play, thanks for stopping by! Feel free to take a look around.

Kristy is one of my quilting besties, we're in the Wombat Stew paper piecing bee together, and we are real life quilting group friends too (yes, I know I'm lucky!). She's been to my house and knows how fussy I can be about my creative space, so when I asked if she was interested in sharing my paper piecing set up with her readers, she probably figured I'd have a very particular way of doing things... and I do!

I rarely paper piece away from home because I really am fastidious about how my paper piecing workspace is set up. I'm going to share my set up and process with you - maybe you'll get something out of it, and if you've never been super comfortable with paper piecing, this might help you set up your own space.

I consider paper piecing quite different to traditional piecing in terms of set up. When I'm traditional piecing I'll do a heap of cutting first, then sew, then press in a batch later on. Having everything close at hand isn't as critical.

But when I'm paper piecing I find myself cutting fabric, stitching, trimming and pressing with every seam.  (And yes, I know it's not mandatory to press with every single seam, but I like to. Fussy, is what your call it.) Cast your mind back to high school home ec, did you learn about the kitchen work triangle of stove-sink-fridge? Well, your paper piecing work triangle is pressing station, cutting station and sewing machine. I'm a creature of comfort, once I sit at my machine I don't want to move, so I have everything at hand.

Before I start, I gather my sewing materials. A small bin for teeny scraps, small rulers, a larger ruler for cutting down large pieces, a medium sized pair of sewing scissors, an unpicker (keeping it real!) and my regular and small rotary cutters. My baby rotary cutter is the one I bought when I first started quilting, sometimes it's easier to use than the regular 45mm one when you're making small cuts.

And from the regular stationery section, a pair of paper scissors to cut my paper pattern pieces, a pencil to write what colour fabric goes on each pattern section (I ALWAYS do this) and a white glue stick to stick that first piece in place.

My pressing station is to the left of my machine (I am left handed, so you might prefer to have yours to the right). I covered small TV table with batting and calico and it makes the perfect pressing station. Credit for this idea goes to Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson!.

You can see how it sits right by my cutting table and I just have to spin my chair to press.

My cutting mat is to the left of my sewing machine so I can simply cut my fabrics and trim them up without moving.

Keeping it real moment... just in case you thought super fussy equates with neat, it doesn't!! Right now I'm piecing my Harry Potter quilt and it requires a huge variety of fabrics. All of which are right here on the cutting mat!!

My OTT Lite sits right behind me shining light on the machine. It's perfect for making sure your seam allowance is okay before you stitch. It is also near impossible to take a photo of this, but you get the idea!

I like to have my extension table on my machine for paper piecing. I figure that a larger flat surface to place your pieces on is better.

 And this is my Wombat Stew block for Ms Midge, who is our April queen. Midge has decided on a London theme for her blocks and Kristy has designed us a gorgeous collection.

Thanks for taking a little tour of my paper piecing space - now it's your turn to link up and share all your beautiful paper piecing goodness with me!

Quick refresher on what the deal is with the Paper Piecing Party (full details here):
* It’s on every weekend here at Quiet Play, starting Friday.
* Link up something you’re working on that’s foundation paper pieced
* Link a blog post or flickr photo
* Visit at least two other links and leave a comment because that’s half the fun!

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ALYOF - April Goal

I'm getting in on the skin of my teeth again... life is crazy busy here and to be honest I was thinking of skipping ALYOF again this month. But that does nothing to keep me on track, so I decided that I'm going to work on my Harry Potter Bookshelf quilt again.

I started this over a year ago and haven't made much progress, and while I don't think I could possibly finish it this month, I'm sure I can make some progress.

This is where I was at:

This pattern is from Fandom in Stitches, and is available for easy and free complete download at Craftsy. Awesome!!

Linking up to ALYOF... now I'd better get to work!! 

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Paper Piecing: Marvel Superheroes

I have this brother Stuart, he is tall and very geeky. He really likes Superheroes. Like, way more than a 30 something man should. (Like my Charlie and Lola reference there?)

Stu is the only person I know with a collection of Iron Man bobbleheads and he's raising two adorable little superhero loving boys who share their dad's passion. Either that or they just love being loud and smashing things. Could go either way.

He recently brought his family up to visit us and I was introduced to the world of Marvel Superheroes on PlayStation. The cries of 'Olverine (the W is silent, you know), and Hulk Smash! all week brought back vague memories of a conversation I had with the lovely Kristy of Quiet Play about designing Lego Marvel Superhero paper piecing blocks when she was done with Lego Star Wars.

So I asked her if she'd think about drawing up some blocks that I could test for her. I had visions of making cushions for the twins' birthday in May, then decided daddy shouldn't miss out either, since he had a birthday coming up too. Before I knew it, patterns for Wolverine, Hulk and Iron Man were waiting in my inbox, and I didn't even have to threaten to sic Thor on her (though I suspect she'd take that as a gift). Fabric was pulled and the fun began....

These are the Amish (faceless versions):

As usual, Kristy's patterns were awesome to put together. Some of the angles are a little tricky, but I got there. Aside from a moment of using completely the wrong fabric because I was too tired, I had no problems with these.

I mainly used solids, with the exception of a bit of yellow sketch for Iron Man's mouth and two mottled greens for Hulk (I figure his complexion isn't the smoothest.

Here they are with their faces on:

I used a Sharpie Stained marker and white fabric paint to draw their faces. Honestly, I don't know how painters do it - the angst I felt as I was permanently marking their faces was extreme. At least I usually have a seam ripper to back me up if I stuff up. But I think I did an okay job, and their intended audience will approve.

Now I just need to turn them into cushions.

Kristy is going to have these patterns available in her Craftsy shop as a freebie very soon.

Today I'm linking this up to Kristy's paper piecing linky party.

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Lucky Little Wombat

I'm in a little paper-piecing bee called Wombat Stew - which is a bit of a nod to the famous Ringo Pie, and a bit of a nod to us all being Australian. Wombating along with me are Alyce, Fiona, Gemma, Kristy, Lara and Marieka. - and they are all such talented paper piecers!

I have been very slack in sharing these pictures, but back in October I was the Queen Wombat. I requested house blocks, with my only stipulation being that they featured the street number 34, because that's my street number and I also wanted a bit of selvedge love in them.

 I got all my blocks in the mail over the course of a few weeks, and eventually they were all together, and looking wonderful. They're all a little different, but they all happen to feature that clear blue sub-tropical sky we have here. I adore them!I am a lucky, lucky girl. Actually, scratch that - I think my 8 year old is a lucky girl, because this quilt is probably destined to go to her. Between Fiona using purple as her main colour and Lara putting Blythe dolls in the window - two of Brooke's most favouritest things in the world - it seems like a sign that this should be her quilt.

Take a look at this paper pieced love!

Alyce's Little Red house

Fiona's purple Nanny Goat house

Lara's doll house

Kristy's Quilter Lives Here house

Marieka's actual house - Kristy designed this block based on a picture of the 100 year old bluestone cottage Marieka recently bought!

Gemma's traditional Noumean house

I really think that one of the key things with paper piecing is your fabric selection. The thing that really makes all of these blocks pop is the choices of fabric. And I think we're all finding that the fabrics we choose for paper piecing are often different to what we'd use for regular piecing. We're looking for a lot more textured look, small scale, natural looking prints that can pass as wood or bricks or leaves, or cute designs that can be fussy cut.

The girls also included some scraps for me, which I shared on Sunday, but I'll share again 'cos they're so freaking cute. My girls have the BEST taste in fabric!

I'm not quite sure how to finish this up - I think I'll add 3 more houses and then put a picket fence border around it all. I'm not in a huge rush though, I am loving having these babies up on the design wall for a while.

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