Have you ever made a yo-yo?? Paper-Pieced?

Good morning friends- Come on in and have a cup of tea! Its warm but a bit gloomy here as it has been raining on and off for days. I hope you are having a good morning and are listening to the birds singing, here the frogs are also talking. They were so loud coming home last night that I thought they had to be in the grass somewhere! Mikhaila did come in with a cute brown tree frog- he was pretty big! Its a good thing we both like frogs- she brings them in and they usually hop towards me.

This morning I thought I would share some projects that I just tuck in my pocketbook so when I am waiting for something/ someone I can pull it out and be productive. I usually carry around some sort of knitting, however its Spring  so I thought I would try something new that is on my bucket list to do.

The first I have pulled out is something that I use to do about a hundred years ago. English Paper Piecing has been around forever, they come in all sorts of pre-cut shapes. The ones I pulled out are hexagons as I want to do  a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt- now to me that is a huge project! So I am being realistic and just starting out with making some hexagons and as I get them put together I will start a bin and somewhere in the future I will have enough to make either a lap blanket or a quilt. I know that I will use various light and medium colors for the flower petals, I am going to use the traditional yellow center- I would like to do a pale yellow for around the flowers however it might just be a super light pink. Usually it is white in the quilts I have seen, however I think I would get a white quilt DIRTY! I don't trust myself! LOL So where do you get the paper pieces? Well I tried to find a grid on-line that I could just print off ad cut up but I had no such luck finding any, they all had one hexagon. So I went to a quilt store here in the Haywood area River's Edge Quilt Loft to see if they would have the bags of paper pieces already cut-up. Well to my surprise she had a little basket that had trial sizes of hexagons all ready to go!

This is a good warning as little projects are addictive! LOL When I got ahold of these I could not wait to get started.

Bad picture I know- but it comes with directions, fabric and the hexies!

This is what you are creating with the samples in the bag.

They give the fabric as well as some hexagons. Also just a note, the paper pieces can be used as again. Just as soon as you take them out of the flowers you make, you can reuse them to make another. They do last for quite some time before you have to get new ones.

 While I   was there I also purchased some 2" 6 point diamonds, she was actually out of the packages of hexagons. These will be fun to try too - I am thinking a smaller project such as a table runner or a pillow would be awesome! If you don't live in my neck of the woods you can order some paper pieces from Paper Pieces and then their is Blank Quilting. If you would like to try paper piecing shoot me a comment and I will send you a sample.

The other project I also purchased at  River's Edge Quilt Loft  was a "Quick" Yo-Yo Maker by Clover. I saw a table scarf done with yo-yos and I really like it! I call it a scarf because it was longer then a table runner, not circular like a doily and it was beautiful. So that was the inspiration for buying the yo-yo maker! I thought I got a bigger size yo-yo maker but the package says small - so hey that makes sense then that the yo-yos are small! LOL I am using some civil war reproduction material scraps that was gifted to me. Also added some red floral fabric that  had sitting here.This is what I have done so far..

Aren't they cute???? Love the look of them!

The front have the swirl and of course the back are flat. I love how the pattens look once they  are in the yo-yo shape.

Bad photo. But you put the fabric between the front and the back of the disk. Then you go around and trim the fabric.

This is the red scrap I had laying around - it will add great color to the project.

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The front of the disk after the fabric has been trimmed....

The back of the disk, the ridges are where you sew. Very easy, very simple, actually fast.

 

Hope that inspires you to try some paper piecing or some yo-yos. I will update you with progress as they get done. I would be interested to hear what you are working on. Remember to check your local quilt shops- shop local! The small businesses need your support! Have a wonderful day!