IB MAY Challenge: Paper Pieced Celebrations

/ quiltinggail

Here’s what Island Batik had to say about this month’s challenge!

Technique: Paper-piecing
Theme: Holidays and celebrations
Design a paper-pieced quilt that celebrates the spirit of a holiday of your choice, transforming fabric into a visual ode to joy and festivity! We encourage you to get inspired by your assigned Winter ‘23 collection and explore the world of paper piecing. The precision, ease of use, and design flexibility of paper pieced patterns have made them a favored choice among many quilters. We can’t wait to see your stunning paper-pieced masterpieces that capture attention!

My Surprise Package contained “Peppermint Sprinkles.”  This collection was designed by Kathy Engle for Heidi Pridemore of the Whimsical Workshop. Look at those wintery blues and reds! Such a fun line!

With this beautiful fabric collection, it was an obvious choice, to me, for the celebration to be Christmas!

The guidelines were to make a Lap size quilt or larger. I found this tree skirt pattern by Stacey Day: Frosted Pines Tree Skirt. Stacy is from the lower mainland and belongs to the Modern Quilt Guild. (And yes, it’s a FREE pattern)

Anyhow, I knew that it would be perfect with my fabric collection. But, would a 50″ circle tree skirt be adequate to meet the size requirements of a lap quilt? I wrote to Elizabeth (one of our leaders) and asked. She said it would be stretching the guidelines, but thought the fabric was perfect for the tree skirt.

I paper piece without sewing on the paper. I used to do this with regular computer paper and it worked quite well. When talking with a friend via Zoom, she said to try using Freezer Paper and do the exact same thing. The advantage of the Freezer Paper is that the fabric sticks to it and you don’t need to use as many pins. I bought some Freezer Paper and it works great! The Oliso iron is perfect for this!

One of the advantages of paper piecing with this method is that you can use a regular stitch length and can chain piece it. Another advantage is that with no sewing through paper, the needle does not dull as quickly. I still used a Schmetz needle and it lasted for the whole project.

Yes, you’ll see a few pins in my pieces. These pieces are SMALL and they needed just a little help to stay in place.

A few ‘in progess’ pictures! The tree top ornaments, organization of the trees, the Aurifil threads I used and a final pressing with my Oliso iron.

It was fun doing the photo shoot!! Tree skirts do not hang well on the clothesline, so I resorted to placing it on the bricks in the back yard.

We are dog-sitting our ‘grand-dog,’ Daphne, and as soon as I put the tree skirt on the ground, she was on it!!! “Thanks for the comfy quilt, G’ma! It’s nice here in the sun!”

“But why did you have to put something in the middle? That is a poor excuse for a tree!“

“OK … I’ll let the plant stay!”

Of course, in May, there are no Christmas tree displays, and this small tree across the street was the closest I could get to a Christmas tree.

I’m not sure why it didn’t come to a complete circle … I know the piecing was correct and my 1/4″ is bang on … but since it’s a tree skirt, I’m not going to worry about it! That open V can go to the back of the tree. On 2nd thought, perhaps if I had left it as a circle when I went to quilt it, it might have remained a circle? I’ll try that next time!

Quilt Stats:

  • Size: 50″ round
  • Hobbs Batting 80/20 is the batting on the inside!
  • Aurifil Thread:
    • Piecing and Quilting: #2021 – Natural White
    • Binding: #1103 – Burgundy
  • Quilting: on my domestic machine
    • Free Motion swirls on the background
    • Outline the trees, using Silly Moon’s Rocket ruler

Peppermint Sprinkles can be found at many quilt stores, but the one closest to me is Creekside Quilts in Oregon. They are an online shop. Also Villa Rosa Designs in California will be carrying it.

Visit my friend, Emily, at The Darling Dogwood to see what she made! She used the same collection, Peppermint Sprinkles! I haven’t seen it, but I heard a rumour that it’s gonna be super cute!

You Could Win …

Island Batik Blog Hop: Week 2

For the second giveaway there are two Fat Quarter bundles of complete 20-SKU collections by Kathy Engle that will be shown off this week – Oasis and Peppermint Sprinkles!

Go to the Island Batik Blog (HERE) and follow the Rafflecopter prompts for your opportunity to win!

This week’s blog hop!

May 13:

May 14:

May 15:

May 16:

Thank you!

A huge Thank You to Island Batik and industry partners that provided the fabric and sewing supplies for free.

Disclosure: The fabrics, batting, thread, needles and the iron were generously supplied by the following companies: Thank you, Island Batik,  Aurifil Thread,  Hobbs Batting,  Schmetz Needles, Oliso  

Don’t Forget

Here is my Affiliate link: https://glnk.io/mzmmj/quiltinggail If you order over $50 from Missouri Star, you will get 20% off your order and I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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38 thoughts on “IB MAY Challenge: Paper Pieced Celebrations”

  2. Hi Gail, what a great Christmas tree skirt! Daphne looks like she enjoyed it until you started adding trees to it 🙂 You can always cover up the “V” with presents. I find that under the tree, there is a lot less space, so it closes up easily! Thanks so much for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you!!! Daphne certainly did not like us adding plants to the tree skirt! I’m not too concerned about the “v” as it will likely go to the back of the tree and not be seen! But covering it with presents is a fabulous idea!! Thanks for hosting Free Motion Mavericks!

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  4. Pingback: Monday Moments: May 20 | Quilting Gail

    • LOL!!! I don’t know about being a hero … but in reality, I was forced into it. Island Batik gave me the fabric and told me that the challenge was to be a celebration. With the beautiful Peppermint Sprinkles, what could I do?? LOL!!!

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  14. I love your tree skirt and am glad you enjoy the freezer paper…a god send in a larger project I think. Interesting about the circle/not circle problem; I am guessing it distorted in the quilting but who knows. I do love the icy blue colors in the this collection with the reds…so fun. Daphne is a lovely model and I really like the skeptical approach to the pot in the middle!

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    • Thanks, Kathleen! Yes, the freezer paper helped a LOT! Especially with the trees, not so much with the tiny tree top ornament! Oh, she definitely did not like the pot in the middle! but quickly settled when she realized it was not going to move! LOL!

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  17. What a perfect project for Peppermint Sprinkles!!! I knew you would use trees somehow and I absolutely love it!!! It looks fabulous! (I have trouble commenting from work; this is Emily if I come through as anonymous)

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  19. Peppermint Sprinkles is a beautiful collection and your Tree Skirt is the perfect project to show off its beauty. The photoshoot did not disappoint either 🙂 Daphne is such a good model!

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