T.G.I.F.F. #13 - Paper Pieced

It's that time of the week again - Finished Friday!  I did manage on almighty finish this week, against some odds that left me cursing and almost crying.  I only tried paper piecing (or foundation piecing depending where you come from I guess?) for the first time last month, and it has sort of got me just a little bit hooked.  You can see my other attempts HERE and HERE.  

Last week I had to get my act together and make something for a "no children allowed" showcase over at The Handmade Library.  After umming and ahhing, I decided to go with yet another cushion cover - my "thing" at present it seems!  Who doesn't love a nice cushion cover?  And with Mother's Day coming up, I thought someone may just fall in love with it and grab it for their Mummy.

Anyway, I spotted THIS tutorial by Pitter Putter Stitch on Pinterest, and ran with it.  It was quite interesting to work out that you could in fact just draw up a little square with lines on it, and that it could potentially end up something pretty!

I pulled out my trusty bag of Terrain "scraps", and some white homespun, and off I went!

After a failed first block - not leaving enough seam allowance - the nine blocks came together relatively easily.  "Only" took me about three hours!

And then THIS happened!  I'd sewn all the blocks together and was ready to give it some steam therapy - and my iron had a hissy fit - promptly spitting rust spots on it.  I followed with my own hissy fit......

Thank God for Google!  Dr Google told me to treat the spots with lemon juice and salt, then lay in sunshine.  Well, Melbourne was lacking in sunshine this particular day, so it didn't get much before a wash.  The spots are still there but very much faded!  I believe another treatment will get rid of them fully - but I was on a deadline - so soldiered on!

And this is the finished result!  If you looked at the tutorial, you may notice that I switched the layout around?  So I have white stars instead of coloured.  Well, I wish I could say that was intentional!  Still getting the hang of this paper piecing gig!  But I do like how the white stars Pop!

I did a zippered back, which I am going to try and write a tutorial for sometime soon.  They are really quite easy and look much nicer than your regular envelope finish!

When it came to quilting, I went through my thread collection and found some bright "Signature" brand variegated thread that I was given a while ago.  It's almost rainbow like.  I think it worked beautifully with these Kate Spain prints.  I did the straight line quilting inside the stars and then some loopy free motion quilting around the green border.

Isn't she pretty?

Sooooo, this little beauty is up for sale over at The Handmade Library!  I have popped it up with a little discount for the fact that those little faded spots are still there.  I'm hoping that someone falls in love with it and snaps it up - otherwise someone I know will be getting it as a present!

And that's it - I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. over at Quokka Quilts!