Piecing Stegosaurus the “Slow” Way: English Paper Piecing
This is our week to piece sweet Stegosaurus the slow way with English Paper Piecing. I’ve come to love this technique precisely because it is so transportable. In fact, I’m going to be taking my Stego to Tennessee with me next week when I drive down to the Village Quilters in Tellico Village. And then there might or might not be a quick trip to the beach following the time spent with the Village Quilters. We’ll see!
Since I will start work on my Steg while travelling next week, I don’t have a dino to show you this week. However, I’d love to show you the work of one of our fellow participants, Carol H. Carol is part of my Tiny Treasures Club and the Diamonds & Drama Queens Block of the Month Club and the Mighty Magnus Sew-Along. She’s a marvelous person and crazy for quilts. She’s given me permission to showcase her lovely “fast-pieced” Stegosaurus block here in my post today. Isn’t it cool!?
I adore the fabrics she used to create her dino block. Don’t you love the movement the fabrics create in the body and background? Carol picked some wonderful values of light, medium and dark to represent the different parts of its body. And look at his pointy scales up top! Fabulous! The background color just glows and moves — very prehistoric, in my opinion.
Carol said the fabric was a marble, but didn’t have the name and maker of the product top of mind. I did a search at eQuilter.com on “marble” and found some fabrics that looked similar but I’m not sure they were an exact match. However, I got a ton of inspiration from my search.
Send Me YOUR Dino Pictures!
I’d love to have you send me images of your dino blocks so that I can post them in a future blog. If you’re interested, please attach your image to an email and send it to me at [email protected]. Could you also write in the body of the email that you give me permission to post on my blog? Looking forward to receiving your email hopefully!
My Recent Projects
Meanwhile, let me share with you what I’ve been working on these past 2 weeks. These are the projects that have taken center stage in my life and have pushed other projects to the back burner temporarily.
First up, is a sneak peek at the edges of some blocks I created for Jennifer Sampou using her newest SKY fabrics. Jennifer asked if I’d be interested in making a quilt using her new line and, of course, I said, “YES!!” I used the Birthstone Series blocks to create a long, thin piece. It could be used as a wall hanging or a table runner. I’ll be able to share more about the fabric and the whole piece in the coming weeks. The new line is going to be released in October and available in stores and online in January 2022.
Jennifer’s SKY fabrics have been on the market for awhile now and they are spectacular. When I first saw them, I marveled at how painterly they looked. I hand-paint my fabric to create the glow and flow of light and color across the gem facets. Not everyone, though, is interested in painting their own fabric. (It’s kind of a messy process.) The perfect alternative is to use Jennifer’s gorgeous line. Here are some examples of her current SKY line and her book featuring them.
Here’s a sneak peek at another project I’m currently working on in collaboration with the amazing Becky Goldsmith. She and I are creating a class that combines both a center gem block and surrounding applique borders. Having a blast! In fact, I’m taping short instructional video segments for it this afternoon and all this weekend. More soon about this project later in the month!
If you’re just joining us….
If you’re just joining us and want to learn more about the techniques used in making the “slow” pieced Stegosaurus, scroll down to previous blog entries for the instructional videos I’ve created. Be sure, though, to watch the videos for the weeks we “SLOW” piece the block. This is English Paper Piecing (or EPP) and uses a card stock as your templates. Enjoy!
And don’t forget to send your dino pictures to [email protected] with a note that it’s OK to post them on my public blog. Can’t wait to see your work!
Be well and Shine On!
