I Heart Paper-Piecing

As I mentioned in this post, I've had some ideas brewing lately for some space-saving seasonal decor. This long weekend I was finally able to make some progress on one of them. It's not entirely done (I have plans involving spray paint, jute, and a wooden sign), but this is the quilting part of the Christmas wall-hanging I made the other night. Sorry the picture is not amazing - I'm learning. :)

I followed this paper-piecing tutorial to make the three tree-blocks. I modified the dimensions slightly, and you can download a pdf of that file here.

The paper-piecing was MUCH easier and a LOT more fun than I had anticipated. I added 1 1/2" strips of the same background fabric between the squares and around the edges. The quilting (which doesn't show up very well) was just a zigzag stitch around the triangles of the trees and then straight stitches in the spaces between and around the blocks.

To make the binding, I followed this tutorial to make binding from a fat quarter. It made more than I needed, but since I modified the dimensions (2" rather than the 1 3/4" she suggests), I have some scraps to add to my stash for the scrappy string quilt I hope to one day make.

My vision for this space-saving seasonal decor involves other mini-quilts such as this that I can switch out from month-to-month. So stay tuned for the final product and my other projects as I get going!