BC Mini Barn Christmas Swap

My last swap of 2016 was the Bonnie and Camille Mini Barn Quilt Swap.  Another 6 inch block quilted up sent to my partner using only Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

 I didn't get many process photos for this one,  Just a photo of before and after with binding.

This super cute mini landed in Missouri.

This is the mini I received.  It is very similar to the one I sent out.  It is perfect!

At the end of 2016 I said I was going to quit signing up for mini swaps,  but as of today I have seven more swaps in the works.  They are just too fun!

=^..^=

Winter Mini Quilt

This next swap was mailed out in November last year in plenty of time for winter.  My partner had several snowflakes in her mosaic so I broke out the snowflake pattern I used at the beginning of the year during project quilting.

This time though I opted for one snowflake.

I got real good at chain paper piecing last January so this top went together in no time. 

The fun part was deciding on the layout.  Even though it is suppose to be scrappy, I don't like to have too many of the same fabrics touching. 

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch around the snowflake and meandered the rest.

Since I liked the look of the hexagon, I decided to omit the final triangles in the corner.  This is the perfect size for a table topper for my circle end table. I will have to make another one for myself.  As for this one, it is now living in Australia.

The mini I received is wintry and Christmasy.
And has my favorite touch of red!

=^..^=

Crayon Challenge Swap

I really enjoyed this next swap.  The swap host mailed out postcard to everyone with three different colors on it.  You were only allowed to use those three colors to make a quilt.

I had plenty of Caribbean gran and lots of oranges that matched Bittersweet in my stash, but it was tough finding anything that went with Mango Tango. I finally found some quilters candy fabric I had brought from Connecting Threads that matched perfect. 

After perusing my partners Instagram feed I decided to go with a non  tradition block that matched her style more.  I found the perfect kitty block from Sugarido.

Kitty and fish bones.  Matched up with my color card.  I love this cute little block!

He shipped out around the end of October 2016 and is now happily resting in Virginia.

My partner choose a geometric pattern for me and nailed her color card as well.

=^..^=

Quiet Play Swap - Circle of Love

I'm still catching up on posting last years mini quilts.  This next one was done for a swap called Quiet Play.  This swap used patterns exclusively by Kristi of Quiet Play.  There were two versions of this swap.  You could be in the group that choose any of her patterns, or you could be in the group that specifically used her Circle of Love Pattern. I joined the Circle of Love group.

My partner said pretty much anything goes, so I went with my favorite color combo: Rainbow. 

The first quarter went together pretty smooth....

Followed by the other three... 

The longest part was trying to decide how to quilt it.  It sat on the sewing machine for a couple days while I brain stormed.

I ended up quilting wavy lines branching out from the center.

I finished it off with a black binding to tie all the colors together.

This mini is now happily residing in Texas.

And this is the quilt I received from my partner.

=^..^=

How I Paper Piece

The other day I worked on some fabric postcards.  This particular swap was themed "Black and Orange". 

I had the idea in my head of what I wanted to do for these cards, but I couldn't find the right sized paper pieced tree pattern, so I made my own.  As I started the paper piecing process I kept having trouble lining up my next piece.  I'd use the light box to help line it up, but then things would shift as I took it to the machine. and I wasn't quite sure where the line was anymore. I would either have the top too far off or the bottom in the wrong spot, so I decided to try it a little different.

Instead of trimming the pieces to a 1/4 in seam allowance AFTER I sewed the pieces together, I decided to trim it BEFORE the actual sewing.  Here is what I mean:

This is what I have so far.  It is ready for the next piece of fabric.

I flip my paper over.  The piece I am adding next is piece #7.

I find the line I am going to sew on next and fold the paper right on that line.

Fold it all the way and crease it.  You can now see all the extra fabric from my last few pieces.

Line up your ruler and trim that fabric off.

Since I was making a postcard that won't get washed, I used a 1/8th seam allowance.

Flip your block back over.

You now have a nice straight edge to line up your next piece with.

Line it up and take it to the machine.

Sew on the proper line.

Press that piece open 

The iron not only presses the fabric, but it also presses out the crease you just made in the paper.

Continue the process for the rest of your pattern.

Feel Free to use my Paper Piecing Tree pattern to make your own 4 x 6 postcard.  

These trees would also look great as Christmas trees, or winter evergreens. or even pastel spring trees.  

The possibilities are endless.

Four pretty orange trees making their way across the US.

=^..^=

Foundation Piecing PC Swap

Here is another postcard I made for Fabricards. This one was for the Foundation Paper Piecing Swap. The original pattern was a square but I took the advice Janet gave me awhile ago and stretched it to fit a 4 x 6 postcard and I must say it turned out great! :)

It is fun using up my tiny scraps for projects like this. Makes me feel good that I didn't throw them away. Not that I would throw them out to begin with. It is always hard for me to throw fabric away, no matter how small it is.

Cat postcards

These are two of my long overdue cat postcards. They are now on in the mail traveling to their recipients. When I was making the faces, I put a smile on the first one, but then I didn't like it as much. So I left it off the next one. Later when I came back to look at them again, I realized I did like the smile after all. Go figure...

I am really enjoying paper piecing in such a small format. I just wish I could find more patters that fit the 4 x 6 size. Most of the ones I find are square. Which means I have to come up with something extra to fill the top and bottom of a postcard. This cat one was the first one I have found in rectangle from. Hmm, maybe I can work on making my own PP patterns... that is something to think about.

Spring Daffodil

Spring is here and it sure feels wonderful. The leaves are budding on the trees and the azaleas are blooming all over the place.

The March flower mingle for Fabricards was Daffodil, what a perfect postcard for the season. This is my version. I paper pieced this little flower and then added some beads and some yellow stitches to fancy it up a bit. The blue has very small stipple quilting all around it, but the thread I used blends in very well so it is hard to see in the photo. This will go out in tomorrow's post.

Log Cabin Postcard

This is the postcard I made for the Art4Mail Block of the Month postcard swap.

The block for January was Log Cabin.

I decided to do paper piecing for this one. I have only paper pieced about 4 times before. I wasn't too impressed with the process the first few times I did it, but this time around I really enjoyed it. I guess i just had to do it enough times to enjoy it.