Best Foundation Paper Piecing Class EVER is on Sale!

Carol Doak's Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing

I've got the foundations printed and fabric picked for on of February's At the Fair Mystery Quilt Blocks.  It is going to be Amazing!  Seriously, it is one of my favorites in the quilt.  It looks so complicated but comes together really simply with foundation paper piecing.  A few years ago I was terrified of foundation paper piecing.  Then I tried it and it wasn't bad at all - totally doable!

But my comfort and skill grew by leaps and bounds when I took  Carol Doak's Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing at Craftsy.  Carol is the Queen of Foundation Paper Piecing and goes over every step in detail.  And her tips for making sure all of the seams and points line up is simple yet brilliant.  She is a great teacher and I cannot recommend her class enough.

I am sure you have heard that Craftsy is having a sale this weekend on tons of their classes.  If you want to learn how to or feel more comfortable foundation paper piecing Carol Doak's Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing is the class to take.  It is worth every penny (especially at $15 off regular price!).  The sale goes through Sunday.

Have a great weekend!

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Random Bits and a Craftsy Sale

Well, we have been busy with swimming lessons (last one today!), gardening (lots of blanching and freezing today!) and birthdays (three!) over here.  It doesn't leave much time for sewing (sad) but I played around and made this log cabin block last week.  I never get tired of log cabin blocks.  Really good classics never get old.  :)

And just so you know, Craftsy is having a Sweet Summer Sale on select classes through June 21st.  Classes start at $9.99! Not too shabby.  I hope you are having a sweet summer!

Foundation Paper Piecing

A few weeks ago the people at Craftsy asked me if I would like to take and review one of their quilting classes.  Hello, yes!  I took Carol Doak's Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing class and loved it!  Since I have paper pieced before, I wasn't sure how much I would learn, but Carol is full of great tips from start to finish!

At one point in the first lesson Carol talks about using paper specifically made for foundation paper piecing.  I have always used printer paper and when I saw her tug on her block to remove the paper I literally gasped out loud.  It was like seeing a toddler start to trip on a white rug with a glass of grape juice.  I was sure her block would be mangled!  But the paper just tore and came right off.  Very impressive.  I went and bought paper - and it tears off like a dream!

There are great materials included with the class to make all of the projects that she demonstrates plus the ebook 50 Little Paper Pieced Blocks.

I used one of the patterns in the 50 Little Paper Pieced Blocks ebook to make the apple on this little pouch.  Not all of the 50 three inch blocks are my style, but there are some fun star blocks in there that would be fun to use in small projects.

Some of the most helpful tips were how to determine how large to cut your fabric when you have a pattern that doesn't specify fabric size and tips on how to make sure your corners match exactly each time.  Plus there is a place to post pictures of your projects and to ask questions.  Carol is very active on the site and has answered every question.  Impressive.

Interested in taking the class?  You can use this link to get the class half off!  The link and half off deal don't expire.  Thanks Craftsy!

Plus, have you seen Craftsy's free classes?  Bag Making Basics, Sewing Machine 911, Creative Quilt Backs and the Craftsy Block of the Month?  What great resources!

QuiltCon Post #4 - The Lectures

 One of the funnest parts of going to QuiltCon was going to all of the lectures.  They had a great line up of speakers!

I loved Amy Butler's lecture on color and how she gets inspiration for her fabrics.  I was so inspired and she seemed so nice and real.

Jacquie Gering's lecture was also one of my favorites.  She told about her quilting journey, her family and quilting traditions that are important to her.  Truly heartwarming!

The lecture on book publishing helped answer some of my questions and concerns - perhaps someday there will be a Skill Builder Sampler Book? 

The Craftsy team was there and recorded some of the lectures - most of my favorites!  I watched Amy Butler and Jacquie Gering's lectures again and got to see David Butler and Mary Fon's lectures for the first time on Craftsy!  

I loved how Mary Fon talked about embracing beginning quilters.  Check out this post to see how Shea at The Empty Bobbin put the lecture into practice!  Inspiring!

The lectures are free (don't get me started on how much I paid to see them live!) so check them out at your leisure. 

Another fun thing about the lecture hall was how they had all of the charity quilts hanging along the walls.  The lighting was horrible for the quilts, but showed off the quilting well.  Seriously, the first thing you would notice when you looked at the quilt was the quilting design - the lighting cast these weird shadows.  It was neat to see the different ways that the guilds had put such different blocks together and made a cohesive quilt.  Lots of great inspiration on non-traditional block layouts.