Janaury Quilting Bee

Dear fellow bee members:

I'm very excited for January being my month in the bee.  I had a lot of fun designing this quilt - and I thought I"d share the process with you!  So here we go :

I want to do a valentine's quilt that is inspired by the colors: red/pink and gray.  So I went to a LQS near my parent's house in NJ and pulled fabrics. (This was so much more fun than buying fabric online).

Then, I had to come up w/a  design.  I don't have any fancy quilt designing software - so when it comes time to design a quilt I have to go the old fashion way: paper and pencil.  I usually draw somethings up in paint, so I can print off a couple templates.  But the majority of it is done w/markers, pencils, crayons, etc.  

Here is a picture of the final design I chose: 

And then some research on flickr led me to this quilt.  I liked the variability in the block colors.  

So, I'm keeping my design and color palate and will end up w/blocks that look something like: 

Included in everyone's packet is: 

1 large rectangle of fabric

4 strips of contrasting color fabric

4, 8x8" paper pieces

assignment: X or O

It requires the sewer to make 4 paper pieced blocks and then assemble them into 1 larger quilt block in the shape of an X or an O.  I drew the lines on only 1 of the paper squares.  So you will need to add the lines to the remaining 3 blocks to complete the pattern.  The center lines are drawn 1" away from each corner.  Does that make sense?? I hope so.

This block is pretty easy to make.  I know paper piecing sounds scary to some folks, but really this block doesn't even really require it.  Think of this as more of a string block w/only 1 string down the center.  I chose to paper piece these blocks because I thought it was the easiest way for me to make my blocks equal ensuring that the letters lined up nicely.  Plus it made it easier in sharing directions w/you guys.  

If you aren't familiar w/paper piecing, here is a tutorial I used when I was first learning: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJM6QJbBgE0&feature=fvwrel

A few notes on the paper pieces I included: 

1. I did not include numbers.  Since there are only 3 sections, you can just sew in a line (triange -> strip, then add 2nd triangle).  Please let me know if anyone has any questions - I can post more pictures if needed. 

2. I didn't draw seam allowance lines.  Just sew 1/4" seam allowance to assemble the 4 blocks.

3. I didn't include a TON of extra fabric - so be mindful when placing your fabric and paper.  You can "test" it out before you sew to help make sure all corners will be covered w/fabric. 

4. REMEMBER - turn down your stitch length to ~1.4-1.8ish - this way it will help perforate the paper, making it easy to rip off in the end, w/o ripping your stitches.

That's it!  Please don't hesitate to ask questions here or on Flickr!  Happy sewing!!