Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Paper Piecing is a Puzzle

As you already know, I am a huuuuuge fan of the mad piecing skills of the ladies over in the Ringo Pie group on flickr. I stalk the group and am completely amazed at everything they do.

Recently, I was invited to participate in cocorico, another paper piecing bee and I am both excited and nervous!

You see, while I am a huge fan of this type of patchwork, I haven't really done any of it myself. The only paper piecing I've done is the circle of geese block and it was really hard to wrap my brain around the whole concept.

But I accepted the invitation because I am so completely inspired by the other members and don't want to miss this chance to learn more and push myself to develop this skill.

July and August are practice months so I decided to jump right in and draft my very first piecing pattern all by myself - a dragonfly!


Let me tell you, when I finished this block I felt like a total rock star! Something really clicked while working on the pattern and sewing it up wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. There are some little oops places but nothing too bad for a first try. The hardest part for me was definitely figuring out the pattern. I think looking at it and figuring out the puzzle of how to piece it really helped my brain understand this technique in a new way.


There is still an amazing amount to learn but I'm excited to see how this bee develops over the next year.

Do you do paper piecing? Any tips or tricks?



6 comments:

  1. wow - that's amazing! well done you! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally wonderful! Love your design, especially the wings. My tip is to print the design twice, one as a master sheet for reference and the other on freezer paper, then only cut your freezer paper pieces as you need them- much less chance of losing the tiny bits!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have never tried paper piecing but I dreamed about it last night maybe I should give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm in major awe of you, Miss Meg. Not just piecing... but DRAFTING too?! YOU ROCK! Love, love, love your block and your crazy mad skills. I think the Ringo Pie gals should be putting their blocks in a museum or something. And you with your crazy mad new skills... you're right there with them!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is astounding! You are like a duck to water here, can't wait to see what else you dream up... What a great "first"

    ReplyDelete
  6. I REALLY love this block, You need to start selling your paper piecing templates!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments and answering any questions. Thanks so much for stopping by and spending some time here!