Frankie's Bride: My first paper pieced pattern!

 

We're at the end of the first week of October and the Something Wicked This Way Comes blog hop is well underway.  Soma of Whims and Fancies had the brilliant idea of putting together a Halloween themed paper piecing blog hop and was kind enough to invite me to design a block.  Thanks Soma!

When I think about Halloween, I think of the classic horror movies I grew up watching.  No, not A Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween.  Go back a little further to movies like Dracula, The Mummy and Bride of Frankenstein.  I picked one of those characters, cartoon-ified her, and voilà:

It...is alive!

This block is 10" x 10" finished.  You can find the pattern here and the piecing instructions here.  Did the hand-drafted and colored templates give away that this is the first time I've shared a pattern?  If you haven't tried paper piecing or just need a refresher, Jennifer of Sewhooked has a wonderful tutorial.

The blog hop runs through the month of October, complete with weekly giveaways.  Follow along for more wicked fun blocks! 

Paper piecing frenzy

In looking over my sewing to-do list, there's an inordinate amount of paper piecing of all three varieties.  I've got freezer paper piecing for the Piece Bee gals, foundation piecing for a blog hop, and EPP for both a blog hop and a bee.  Whew- by the end of this month I should be a paper-piecing guru! 

I've just clipped the last thread on a block slated for a blog hop hosted by Soma at Whims and Fancies.  Here's a little sneak peek:

The only thing left to do is figure out how to format my hand-drafted design into a template to share without the use of software.  Check back here Saturday for the completed block and free pattern.  In the meantime, visit The Halloween Paper Pieced Blog Hop, which runs through October 31st, for the blocks shared so far.

There are a few other freezer paper foundation piecing blocks on my short-list.  A photography-themed block, a classic British toy block, and a Viewmaster block are due (in some cases, overdue) to my Piece Bee With You beemates.  The pattern for first two have been planned, but not drafted, and the third has been provided to the group. 

Having only tried my hand at freezer paper and foundation paper-piecing, I'm excited to finally take a stab at EPP.  Hexa-Go-Go has been collecting dust on my shelf the past few weeks while I scour the interwebs for tutorials and video how-to's.  First up are EPP stars for the do. Good Stitches October block.  Rachel was kind enough to provide printables for the 6-point stars.  She also has a wonderful instructional video for those, such as myself, who may need help.  

Just to give myself a little added pressure to learn English Paper Piecing, I've joined up with the Travellin-Pic Stitch Blog Hop hosted by Quokka Quilts and The Littlest Thistle.  This blog hop runs the whole of October and November- check it out!

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for: