Circle of Friends

Here's a project that has been on hold for a little while. I didn't have a lot to do today so I thought I'd start on it.
I'm not officially calling it Circle of Friends, but because this isn't my "usual" style I needed a little assistance.
An online blogger friend, who I'll name at a later date, hand dyed the fabrics.(gorgeous, aren't they?)  And another friend gave me some tips and tricks for piecing this. Thanks Paula!!

I guess it's been awhile since I paper pieced. I didn't even notice that I'd missed a whole section. It was only when I was putting on the fourth green piece I realized the points were supposed to be cheddar!! Ooops....

So, I paper pieced two halves, then sewed them together.  It's lookin' pretty good now.

My photo didn't turn out but I cut out the center circle from freezer paper and ironed the seam allowance over the paper. I used a lot of starch too, so it would hold really well. I removed the paper and laid the circle on top of the sun points and pinned it, ready to hand applique. As Paula pointed out to me, it gets difficult to applique under the points and still have them stay smooth.

I made freezer paper templates from the outer frame, adding a lot of extra fabric on the outside.

Sew the 4 pieces together. I lightly snipped  the inner circle and pressed under the seam allowance, using lots of starch. I removed the freezer paper at this point.

I set the center circle under the frame and pinned. Now it's ready to hand applique. Because I added the extra fabric I can trim it whatever size I want.

I'm off to the city today to help my daughter move! Who moves three days before Christmas?!

Paper Piecing Helper

I have never been a good paper piecer. You'd think after doing the Stickle quilt and Salinda Rupp quilt that I'd have it down. This isn't meant to be a paper piecing tutorial but to show you how one small thing has helped me so much. I had the opportunity to do some paper piecing over the weekend and thought if I could help one person then that would be a good thing!

I was always holding my paper up to the light to see where the next piece goes. I'd pin, then flip it and check to make sure I had a seam allowance and that my fabric covered the whole section it was supposed to. If I didn't have enough light then I wouldn't be paper piecing! When I had weird angles that was a whole 'nother scenario.

Someone got me this ruler and although the ruler is handy, the best pp tip for me came from the directions inside the package!
By the time I thought I'd take photos this is what I had. I sewed on the line on the other side of the paper. I trimmed the seam, then pressed.
Now this might be fairly easy to see where to put the next piece of fabric, but for the sake of this post I'm going to show you how I did it.
Turn the paper over so you can see your sewing lines.
Get an index card and put on your next sewing line. (I actually put it up a tad more then in the photo)
Fold back your paper against the index card.
Use your add a quarter ruler and use the little edge against your card.

Then trim.
Set your next piece on top of the fabric and you are ready to sew. No holding up to the light!
I did the same thing on the sides. Put your index card on the sewing line and fold back.
Trim.
I really wanted a seam that was a bit smaller then 1/4" so I used my regular ruler. That works just fine.

Until I read about folding back the paper on an index card I fought with paper piecing. This tiny, easy trick has helped me immensely! Now, please don't tell me you've been doing this for years, OK?!