Vintage Sunburst QAL - Month 1

  It's Month 1 of the  Vintage Sunburst Quilt Along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop and here are my 4 blocks for this month.  Aren't they just so fun!!!  

Each month for the  Vintage Sunburst Quilt Along I will be making 2 blocks with the 8" Vintage Sunburst Paper Piecing pads that I then add a border to make them 12" blocks.   And for fun, I wanted to make little diamonds in the corners, so I am also adding a stitch and flip corner to these blocks.    And for these blocks, I am using Blossom Basics, in all of the warm tones :)  

Each month, I will also make 2 more blocks using the 12" Paper Piecing Pads and the  Blossom Basics, in cool tones :)  And then of course, some warm corners so I can make those diamonds when the blocks all come together ;)   The quilt will finish at 64" x 88" so it will be a nice large throw size when complete.   The free pattern for this Quilt Along can be found right here ;) 

 

 And wow, has making these four blocks improved my paper piecing skills.   Especially on those little blocks, they are super crazy having all of those pieces come together in the center.   So just in case you are a little more beginner to paper piecing, like me, I found that taking out my papers at this point, was way easier than trying to take them out after the block is pieced.   I know that is not "normal" for paper piecing but it made me way more accurate.   Also second helpful hint, taking a picture of your layout at this point is also helpful to refer to after you start sewing the pieces together ;) 

And the third final hint, every time you sew pieces together, remove the extra bulk that hangs out at the center.  I just kept trimming anything that was pressed over.  That made putting the center together much easier without all the extra fabric.  Oh, and the pin trick helps to line up those centers, although I was more concerned about aligning my colored seam allowances than the center :)  

And my big thing with paper piecing, all of the waste.   So I decided to just improv piece all the scraps together.  These will be my leaders and enders this month as I add to the improv block.  So fun :) 

So do you want to work on your paper piecing skills as well??  Pop over the the Vintage Sunburst Quilt Along page to get all of the details and join me in some paper piecing fun ;)