Now we will see what can be done with a coffee filter from a Starbuck's (or other coffee shop that uses the 100 cup makers). My youngest daughter gave me a few from the coffee shop she was working at back in 2013 (I did make her ask her boss!) She called me one day from Atlanta and said, "Mom. Don't you do something with coffee filters in your quilting?" She was thinking of my Coffee Filter Fans classes. Coffee Filter Fans, now living with my dear Mother in Law When she sent me the photo of the coffee filters next to her hand, I had to gasp! These things are 20" in diameter. 20" coffee filters Let's see them in my own hands! Pretty big, huh?! I decided to draft a more complicated mariner's compass on one. I had to divide it into 8ths. The next photo shows two of these together (which make 1/4 of the compass). You can see my pencil drawn lines. One quarter of my 20" Mariner's Compass Here is how this section looks with the paper pieced ring o...

Some small, some REALLY large! A coffee filter is nothing more than a paper circle. I've been intrigued with the sewing potential for almost 30 years. Here's the first one that I did some string piecing on. I cut the circle in half and used up some scraps.  And here it is from the back. I still take these with me to trunk show presentations! The first compass I drafted for a coffee filter appeared both in the pages of Quilt Magazine and also in my first book (Bold, Black and Beautiful, AQS 2004). Autumn Mariner's Compass. Block Size: 14" x 14". Quilt Size: 23" x 23" Drafting a compass has been around for hundreds of years. Take a look at the page I wrote for the compass quilt in my book. I made a larger one in green and it was the basis for a dozen or so workshops. We did not piece on coffee filters, but I took the concept and drafted the foundations on newsprint for my students. This appeared in my 3rd book (Paper Piecing Perfect Points). Block Size: 16...