WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2012
Tula Pink's new quilt pattern, 'Space Dust' recently came out, and honestly, I couldn't wait to make it. I really did not have time to start another project, but I thought 'well, I'll just finish this in a couple days and it won't throw me too much off track.' Ha!
This is a paper-pieced pattern, available here. Before you go through to the link and get sticker shock, yes, the pattern is $24.95. But let me cut you off. The pattern is a pdf, which means you can have instant gratification. Also, it contains 44 templates for paper piecing. This is NOT a quilt pattern that will use, say, 4 templates and repeat them through the entire quilt. Oh, no. You are getting 44 individual and unique blocks. You can tell that the pattern designer spent a ton of time working out the logistics of this pattern. It is well worth the price.
I really wanted to make mine in Tula's new 'The Birds and the Bees' fabric line, just like the quilt in the pattern. Desperately. However, a) I haven't received my fabric in the mail yet, and b) While the quilt would be beyond beautiful, it wouldn't test my creative boundaries, so I decided to make mine in Kona solids in rainbow colors, with a texty background. Who doesn't love text fabric. The thread that I used to make this quilt is lovely Aurifil 50 wt. thread.
Can you see the amazing quilting on Tula's quilt? If only Angela Walters would quilt mine for me! lol. This is just perfect. The quilting is the other half of this quilt's perfection. Unfortunately, I don't have time in the books to quilt this until probably next year ::sob:: I would like to quilt inside the triangles like the original quilt, however, I know I can't pull off all the fancy quilting on the background. ;-)
Also significant to mention is that I opted not to make the full-sized quilt (pattern makes an 88" x 96" quilt). My squared-off version runs approximately 60" x 60". One day this sucker will be a wall hanging. I may add a small bit of background to the sides still, but I'm super-happy with how it came out. FYI in case you decide to make this square like I did, I used 1 yard of background fabric (although I really did not have enough and sort of had to fudge near the end, so I'd recommend you purchase 1-1/2 yards of background fabric if you're going to make the same size quilt that I did).
From start to finish, this quilt took me 8 hours to make, but I was really burning rubber. I'm not telling you my project time in order to rush you through it, because it really should be savored, but rather, I'm letting you know because I want you to know that this project is definitely within reach. Even if you have never paper-pieced before, you WILL be able to do this!! Tula's instructions are extremely helpful and spot-on, there are tons of diagrams on how to paper piece the blocks, and most of the blocks are only 3-5 segments, so not a ton of work. Because of the random nature of the segments, this also is a very forgiving quilt. Of course you'll have to square up the rows, but you definitely won't need to do much lining up as you sew your blocks into rows...a definite plus!!
So what do I say? If you're new to paper-piecing...get this. If you've done paper-piecing before...you need this pattern. You will not be sorry. So go get it. :-)
FAVORITE.QUILT.EVER.
Sew Sweetness: Tula Pink 'Space Dust' Quilt: Tula Pink's new quilt pattern, 'Space Dust' recently came out, and honestly, I couldn't wait to make it. I really did not have time to s...
