10 Karat Gems

I started the year strong in Quilting.

I completed custom quilting on a Queen Size Swoon Quilt for my mother.
(Pictures later. She gets to show it off first!)
I completed piecing and quilting the King size Star Trek quilt (seen in this post.)
I pieced the backings, and quilted some quilts for a good cause.

Then, after all of that big stuff. I needed a couple of bite size projects. I had two small wall hangings pieced that just needed quilting.

I’ll post the first one here. Let’s call it Sewn Machine.

The is a paper piecing pattern, by Kristy @ Quiet Play, called “Geometric Sewing Machine Pattern”. I downloaded it from Craftsy HERE.

The pattern makes a 16″ block. I decided to border mine with crazy pieced sashing to mimic the many angles in the design. I used fabric from a layer cake, Wilmington Essentials line call Magic Colors 10 Karat Gems. I purchased it a couple of years ago because I loved the rainbow mix. They worked pretty well for this fractal design. I have plenty left for some coordinating work.

If you are used to foundation peicing, where they tell you how large to cut your pieces to begin with, you may have a slower start with this pattern. I call this freestyle paper peicing. You have to determine how large your piece needs to be. However, I do have a method to the madness. I really don’t mind it, and for other similar projects, this let me use extensivley from my scrap stash.

If you fold your paper back on the sew line, and work over a light box, you can better estimate the size of the fabric you need. Let me know if anyone would like a video demo.

I think all my new wall hanging needs is a hand embroidered needle and presser foot. Here is a peek at it hanging on my wall, along with my other finsihed project, A Kaffe Fassett dresden plate. They add some needed color to the area!