Portable Magic

In my most recent post, I had a photo of this quilt and promised details about it soon.  The project I called Portable Magic was a sample I made after agreeing to teach the paper foundation piecing technique at a local quilt shop.

I feel like Ginger Rogers when I’m paper foundation piecing.  You know, she did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.

The technique of paper foundation piecing in quilting is like that.  You truly are working with fabric that is upside down and backwards to normal piecing procedures. The technique is a go-to method when you need really sharp points or have awkward angles that would be tricky to piece traditionally. 

I had been asked to teach the technique years ago, but was reluctant to do so.  Most traditional patterns that use this method involve curved piecing, too, which would be a whole different lesson.  A three-hour class was not long enough to get folks comfortable with both techniques.

When I saw the pattern called Book Nerd by Angela Pingel, I offered to finally teach the class. (pattern available here) This book block had enough pieces to teach the technique, but not so many that it wasn’t doable in a few hours.  And, curved piecing could be saved for another day.

This quilt, Portable Magic, was the result.  I didn’t make 24 book blocks, as the pattern depicted.  I made five blocks and pieced them in a rather improvisational manner to make a child-sized lap quilt.  I inked the word “read” in the corner, rather than appliquéing those tiny letters.

My finished quilt measures 42” x 50”.  That’s a nice size for a class sample because you can sometimes use just one width of fabric for the backing.  

Speaking of the backing – this fabric was a fun bit of yardage I bought probably 15 years ago.  I loved it.  But it was one of those pieces I just couldn’t cut up.  So I hung on to it until the right project came along.  This one seemed perfect to me.  I pieced the back just because I like pieced backs.

Dewey Godwin (jdquilts.com) did a great job quilting it for me.

My spin on the paper piecing technique involves a lot of holding the paper and pieces up to the light to get the positioning just right before stitching.  I precut the pieces, oversizing them a bit – that helps get the angles right, making positioning easier, too.

The title came from a quote from Stephen King, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  I used a vintage doily for the label. 

As I mentioned when describing Miss Nellie’s Country Garden, I used a wider binding than usual on this quilt.  This finished at 1/2″ wide and I used one of my favorite fabrics for binding:  a stripe cut on the bias.

I used the paper foundation piecing method to stitch the flying geese in an oval in Endless Migration.  I now realize I haven’t shared the story of this challenge quilt before, so I will.