Sunday, November 12, 2017

Strip Quilting or Foundation Paper Piecing

I found a new quilting method, and I love it.  I learned about foundation paper piecing in a beginning modern patchwork book by Elizabeth Hartman, and I used her method in a quilt of her design called Valentine.  I took 11" x 17" copier paper and trimmed it down to 11" squares, drew a diagonal line down the middle and then 3/4" lines on either side of that middle line.  I then used a glue stick to adhere a 1 1/2" strip of white fabric to the middle of the paper.  I dipped into my fabric boxes for four piles of fabrics:  red, pink, violet; indigo and aqua blue; orange and peach; green and yellow.  I adore how precise the sewing was--lining up the blocks was a cinch.  I wished I had varied the strips more and made them skinnier and alternated more between light, medium and dark fabrics.  However, I hope one can still see the diamond shapes bordered by what looks like white sashing--it's not or rather it's genius how Hartman coordinates the blocks to look like their sashed.  I will totally use this method again!  I already have another 48 sheets of 11" squares cut and ready to adhere white fabric onto and am wondering if I can double the size.  However, I'm going to use fabric from my red box of stash and cut them into 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips, and alternate them on the block starting and ending with the 1 1/2" strips.