Friday, October 30, 2015

Pumpkin Pillow


Back in August, Cynthia gave me good advice for paper piecing after I admired her paper pieced scrappy Basketweave Star and confessed to FPP (Fear of Paper Piecing). She said "Paper piecing is easy. You just need a technique that works for you. I have tried many over the years but I always go back to how I learned long ago and that is the Carol Doak's method. She really is the master of PP and has a ton of tricks to share. For me, it is the easiest to understand and is very methodical. It is also the method I teach when I teach paper piecing...Give paper piecing a try!"


Fast forward to September 17 when my daughter messaged "There is such a cute pumpkin pillow on the Stitched with Love webpage!" Of course I had to make it for her. Stitched With Love is located in McKinney, TX, near my daughter but 3-1/2 hours from me. I called the shop to place my order since the pattern isn't listed in their online store.


I was alarmed to find out it is a paper pieced pattern, so Lysssa at Stitched with Love suggested adding an Add-A-Quarter-Plus ruler to my order. Although she might as well have been speaking a foreign language, she explained why it would help me.


While waiting for the pattern to arrive, I took Cynthia's advice and purchased Carol Doak's Craftsy class. I love Carol's personality - she has a dry wit that amuses me and an uncomplicated style of teaching. I haven't finished the class, but I've watched enough to become familiar with the process. I have to admit the concept was so different for me, it took several viewings before the light bulb went on. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the class to learn more tricks and tips.


Last week I finally started the pattern and slowly but steadily worked on it - I really enjoyed it!


Now the pillow is on its way to my daughter's beautifully fall-decorated house!