I love bright colors and these new fabrics by Amanda Murphy,
Free Motion Fantasy, are right up my alley! I asked for a selection of some of the skus along with a Layer Cake. Here are a few of these lovely prints:
I had a few ideas swirling in my head and began with one concept using a 10" square and some supporting fabric. I ditched that and came up with a tried-and-true pattern from my quilt vault. I cut some fabrics from 2 skus and selected a dozen or so of the 10" squares.
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Getting ready! |
So, what was I making? First, more of the parts:
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Pattern and Patches |
I was remaking my Circle of Geese pattern from my third book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points (Martingale, 2013). It's been a workshop for several years and I have a variety of samples using various collections. Why not one more?
My Circles of Geese uses 8 of those foundation patterns (four per 1/4 circle). I began stitching using orange on the inside and gray on the outside. I wanted a scrappy look to the geese.
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Four units getting ready for second "goose" color |
Why didn't I choose a single color for both sides of the geese? Well, I wanted the outside of the ring to touch this fabric:
Here is one of the 8 units that I foundation pieced. Yes, orange on one side of the Geese and gray on the other.
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Paper pieced unit before trimming |
And how does it look on the wrong side?
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Foundation unit before trimming |
Now for the trimming along the outside line:
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Trimmed foundation unit |
Paper removed. Notice that because I trim BEFORE I add the next patch, there is no guessing. This creates a clean look on the wrong side, as though I used templates with 1/4" seams!
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Paper removed |
And from the front. Can you see those lovely 1/4" seams and the sharp points? Only possible (for me) via paper piecing. I made 8 of these units with a variety of Geese colors.
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One of 8 units trimmed |
Then I added that orange main print for the background. I cut four pieces using a freezer paper template. Each of the four units will finish to 12", so I was able to get all four from a 12-1/2" x wof piece of fabric (because I flip-flopped the template).
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Cut four background patches |
I stitched sets of two Flying Geese units together and then set them into the background piece. Now it's time to audition two different colors for the 1/4 circle base. Do I want pink or yellow?
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Pink or yellow 1/4 circle base? |
Yellow won out! Now it was time to audition my sashings. What? Do you think I plan all this stuff ahead of time? Never, ever - honest. I basically wing it as I go along. I am a visual person and the fabric never lets me read the last chapter of the book early!
I finally settled on the pink (as you can see above). Let's see it all together, shall we? The sashings are 2" finished, so this little sample is 30" x 30". I think I'm going to add another Flying Geese border around all four sides since I have plenty of that light gray fabric left.
I'm not sure about that orange on the inside track of the Flying Geese, but guess what? It's too late!
If you're still with me, would you like to be entered in my GIVEAWAY for a fat quarter bundle of these fabrics? Of course, you do.
Simply leave me a message here telling me what you think about anything I shared. Make sure I have your email address (many of you come through as "no reply" commenters, so I can't even send you an email when you reply at other times).
The contest is open until midnight Friday August 24. USA residents only (Benartex makes the rules; I just follow them).
For International visitors I will select one winner also; let me know what country you are from and I will have a second giveaway for you: any of my 100 patterns on
Craftsy. If you are chosen, I will send you your choice from those!
Thanks for stopping by. And don't forget to check out the blog hop happening at the
Sew in Love with Fabric blog this week. There's a winner every day!