~ My first Sea quilt ~

Almost a decade ago ... 9 years to be exact ... I made this quilt.
This was long before the idea of making Sea Quilts was even a glimmer in my eye.

I had received a book on paper-piecing for Christmas and I wanted to try my hand at some free-form design that encorporated some of my new paper-pieced blocks.

I chose the sea as my subject because I have always loved the sea.
Even though, at the time I lived smack dab in the middle of the desert.

As the quilt came together, I wanted to show how the light from the sun was so strong as to penetrate to the depths of the ocean.

I named her "Free Utilities".

I found her in the closet a couple of weeks ago, very grateful that she made the move with me since many, many of my quilts were sold or given away in that process.

After 3+ years of sewing nothing but the sea, this affirms to me that I was on the right track long before I knew that I was.

Because I do so love the Sea.

~ Paper Passion ~

I have mentioned before how much I love "paper-piecing." For you non-quilters out there, this is a method to guarantee crisp points on even teeny pieces. You actually sew on the lines on a piece of paper ... and then you spend a great deal of time ripping the paper off.

But that's beside the point.

These pictures are of a sample of paper piecing blocks I did to advertise the class (on paper-piecing) that I was teaching.

Let me assure you that I wouldn't be able to handle these teensy-weensy pieces of fabric without this technique. (Although there are quilter who do and they have my undying admiration.)

I even did these Flying Geese blocks (easily done without using paper-piecing) to showcase the possibilities.

All of the blocks I used for that sample came from this book by Carol Doak. I just printed out the patterns off the CD and was able to pick the size I wanted. Way too much fun.

That isn't to say that I haven't designed my own paper-pieced blocks like these houses (seen in completion here) ...

... or this New York Beauty block (seen in completion here.)

Right now I am working on a quilt for my latest granddaughter. Her middle name is June. She is as cute as a bug in a rug. The letter blocks came from my Carol Doak CD.

The rest of the quilt will come from these fabrics.

Stay tuned.

Linking to:
Creative Me!
Sew Happy Geek
Made By You Monday
The Girl Creative