This fall/winter, I haven’t been that great about updating the blog – yikes. But just because my blog has been stagnant doesn’t mean my crafting has. I’ve been doing lots of things behind the scenes, just haven’t taken the time to write about them. Or I can’t, because I’m in Christmas elf mode and everything is a secret!

So hang in there while I jump in my sewing time machine and show you a project I tackled that has a Jack O Lantern on it. Yes, a Jack O Lantern. I told you I was jumping in a time machine, stop judging! 😉

Even though Halloween is over, I want to rewind a little bit and highlight this little experimental project I tackled earlier in the fall. I took my first shot at foundation paper piecing a quilt block! In my quest to follow crafty social media accounts, I’ve found a lot of quilt-y friends who frequently post about paper piecing. Needless to say, their constant paper piecing posts (can you say “paper piecing posts” ten times fast?) piqued my curiosity and I decided to give it a try around Halloween with this pumpkin paper piecing (free PDF pattern available here).

I watched a few YouTube videos to learn the basics and then gave it a whirl. Once I wrapped my brain around the concept, I was able to do it pretty mindlessly. My technique still needs a little work, but overall, I’m satisfied with this experimental block and plan to paper piece a lot more in the future – there are some really cool patterns out there I can’t wait to try.

My cute pumpkin is still just sitting there as a lonely little block – he has yet to be turned into a pillow, a wall hanging, a tote bag, etc. And now that Halloween is over (waaaaay over), let’s be honest, I probably won’t be motivated to do anything special with him until next fall. I’m sure it will be a pleasant surprise to re-discover this guy and turn him into something festive and fun!

I have a fun paper piecing related project in mind for a Christmas gift, but I have no idea if I’ll get around to it in time. The clock is ticking! So much crafting to do, so little time…

Did I mention that paper piecing a quilt block was one of the items on my list of 100 No Pressure Projects? One more project done. Check!