Sunday afternoon I drew a pattern in illustrator, thought about how it could be pieced using a method similar to the one used for my Tolva quilt, but then realized it would be a pain to try to match up those kites and half hexagons. My next thought was… paper piecing. I have not tried paper piecing yet. I never had a need really. I though it would be tedious, messy and besides, I don’t mind the cutting process. But then this design came along and I needed to educate myself. These are the tutorials I used to go into my first paper piecing project:

Starry Night Quilt Block Tutorial by Fresh Lemons Quilts
Foundation Pieced Quilt – Design Phase by Dunawi Creek
Paper Pieced Kaleidoscope Tutorial by Pitter Putter Stitch
Hummingbird Quilt Block Tutorial by Red Pepper Quilts

And this is what I have to show for it… I made two of these diamond blocks, showing only one here. What do I think? I am still not sure. It is a bit of a pain to cut the paper patterns (I never liked using templates to cut fabrics). I made a few mistakes and it’s not fun ripping a seam with such small stitch length. And then the paper is useless, so you have to either start again or use tape… tedious. I am hoping this would disappear once I get better at it. And then… this triangle (half of the block) pattern has only three pieces, or two seams, as you can see. So the fabric pieces are not attached at the corners, and then tend to curl up from the paper, especially after ironing. So when I tried to sew these two triangles together, I had to align the papers, while at the same time making sure that the fabrics is not slipping between the papers. Maybe there is another way? I don;t want to use glue. More pins? And then the biggest disappointment – alignment (see above). One of the major benefits of this method is crisp, sharp points. Not so much for me. Can you see? I have a smaller problem on the other block, but it still does not match exactly. Why? I matched the papers perfectly. A little frustrated. But I am going to finish it. These are fairly small blocks (maybe that’s an issue?) so It will be a mini quilt. I will let you know how I feel after I make a few more of these…