New York Beauty

FINALLY! I've been working on this thing for years! I actually pieced it in a few months- several years ago. Then it sat there because I was afraid to quilt it. I finally took a deep breath and just stabilized it by quilting in the ditch with monfilament thread. Then I wanted to embellish it and do fancy things with pretty threads and beads and findings. So you guessed it-- it sat again for a few years. I then decided to just put a binding on it and call it "done" and go back to embellish it when the mood strikes me. Even though it's not really done- I plan to mess with it more- I'm calling it done and getting ready to hang it in my dining room. This is Karen Stone's New York Beauty paper piece pattern. I reduced it by 50% because it was bed-size and I wanted a wall quilt. I used about 600 fabrics in it- using it as an excuse to increase my stash back when I was piecing it. I tried not to use one fabric for more than 2 blocks or spikes. for the most part, a fabric is in one of the blocks and is also one of the border spikes.

The cool part is that this quilt inspired a customer to learn to paper piece. (Yea, Joanne!). She's starting smal but wants to do this quilt (or one like it). The funny thing is that I am teaching her to paper piece over the internet. I feel a little like I am playing charades with my eyes closed, but she's a quick study and learning fast.

Has anyone else out there done any Karen Stone patterns? Karen is one of my favorite designers and I think I'm going to have to tackle another one of her patterns. I also like that she has her design pack on EQ6. TOO much FUN!