A long delayed finish!

I have been waiting impatiently for what seems like ages to share this finish with you, so I am delighted to finally have the opportunity.

Sometime last year, I submitted a project to Fat Quarterly which was accepted and the publication date was set for February. Then the bombshell that was VAT MOSS landed, which meant (in a nutshell) that suppliers of digital files, such as quilting e-zines, to recipients throughout the EU now had to pay the VAT rate relevant in each member state of the recipients. The UK solution to this big headache involves quarterly VAT returns that require a working knowledge of VAT rates throughout the EU, so it was not surprising that the editors of Fat Quarterly decided to suspend operations for a while until the ramifications of the changes and an acceptable way of working with them were ironed out.

Thankfully that hiatus is now over and the latest issue of Fat Quarterly has just hit the stands.

Issue 20 is dedicated to paper piecing and contains, amongst some amazing patterns, my very first paper piecing pattern!

The pattern was inspired by a visit some time ago to the V & A museum in London, where some outrageous shoes by the designer Alexander McQueen caught my eye.

Designer Shoe Boot cushion

Sadly my budget does not match my desire so I decided to go for the next best thing and make my own version of a McQueen Shoe Boot. Creating the paper-pieced pattern was most definitely a challenge for my poor brain cells, but they managed to survive, just! Of course, I did make things a little bit more difficult for myself by incorporating a zip into the pattern, but it really wouldn't have been the same without it, believe me :) The skull charm is, for me, the icing on the cake.

So, if your taste in shoes transcends the contents of your wallet like mine, and you are looking for a way to scratch that designer shoe itch, now you know where to go. Whilst you are at Fat Quarterly check out the amazing Acrobat cushion pattern by Juliet, I am definitely adding it to the must try list!

Perhaps I ought to attempt one of the cushions as a future Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew project to add another gift to the pile of handmade goodies :) Don't forget to link up your Christmas and Holiday crafting this month over at Charly & Ben's Crafty Corner to be in with a chance of winning your choice of a mini Charm Pack from the Fat Quarter Shop

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Drunks and Designers

The recent surge in Craftsy BOM catching up continues!

September's blocks were based on the Drunkard's Path pattern, so two lots of curved pieces to conquer. The first up, called Chain Block, looks to me like snakes slithering across the floor but that might have something to do with my distaste for curved seams :)

Not only were the curved seams a pain to sew, but I also managed to get marks from the iron on three of the individual blocks and had to do them again.

The second Drunkard's Path block was called Cleopatra's Puzzle and was much more to my taste than slippery snakes. Can you spot the problem I only discovered after I had put it all together? Are you beginning to see why I have put off doing these blocks for so long?

 

Should have paid more attention to the fabric placement when I was cutting out those pieces! 

The final month's paper-pieced blocks will be light relief after these :)

Fortunately not all of my blocks recently have been so problematic. Last month in Katy's Everything and the Kitchen Sink SAL she showed us how to design a paper-piecing pattern using Microsoft Word. Having had my monthly struggle to come up with something appropriate for the Star of Africa Bee block, I thought I would have a go at designing my own paper-pieced block. The theme for February was shoes. Having visited the V and A Museum in London a few weeks ago, I had an idea of what I wanted to do for my block, but until Katy's post no idea how to achieve it.

There were some fabulous shoes on display at the V and A,

from the very old

to the very glamorous

and the retro!

The ones I chose to represent in my block though can just be seen in the bottom of this photo

The rivet shoe boot was designed by Alexander McQueen, so I even managed to fit in a Scottish connection as his parents were from Scotland!

Here is my interpretation for the Star of Africa block

I even managed to add a McQueen signature skull to the zip! Yes, I did get a zip in the paper-pieced block, it was an interesting experiment I can tell you :)

I had great fun designing the block and will definitely have a go at doing this again, thanks to Katy's brilliant instructions.

Waiting to see now what is next up for the Bee, it will be challenging I know.

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