Do you recognize this little owl?  He is one of the many paper pieced blocks in my Intentional Piecing book.  I had him in mind when I was working on the Improv fabric collection. I love how the molehill fabric print works for the feathers on his body–can’t you picture them as scales on a fish or shingles on a roof too?  They are just the thing for paper pieced designs. I also like the way the crosshatch print works for the wings.  And the screen print makes such a cool background.  Notice how it holds together cohesively even though it is all chopped up with seams? It is a great background print and has just enough of a design to add texture.  Because the design is all straight-lines, I think it feels more modern than some textured solids. I actually can’t wait to make a quilt using it soon–and the grey version as well.  Flitter was made using the white version of the print.

It was important to me that I got the molehill print to line up across the paper piecing sections. I thought I would show you how I did it. I placed the foundation sections on my Wafer light box so that I could line up all the foundation lines.  Then I drew a line across the foundation using a ruler.  I then used the light box again to place the fabric, lining the molehill print up with the ruler line.  I did this on the body sections of the owl too. It worked like a charm!

I’m always asked what supplies I use for my pillows.  I quilted this one in a 50 weight Aurifil thread from my new Improv Aurifil thread collection. I love to back my paper pieced pillow fronts with Thermoweb HeatnBond Fusible Fleece. It is just a little thicker and more substantial than its competition and I love the way fusing a paper pieced top keeps all those seams secure while I quilt. My favorite finishing method is inserting an invisible zipper at the bottom. I buy them from Zipit.

To view all the prints in my collection, please take a look at the Benartex/Contempo web site and ask your local quilt shop to place an order!