Peggy Martin's Paper Piecing

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I met Peggy quite by chance at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival this summer. She and I both attended Yvonne Porcella's lecture. We ooed 'n awed at the same things so striking up a conversation was easy. It was then that she told me her name and I told her I had just ordered her DVD about her method for quick paper piecing. Never had I put the two words together in one sentence before! Truly her method is quick and now I can make the mariner's compass and other stars that have eluded me over the years of admiring them in antique quilts.

Peggy made the purse she's carrying in the picture.it exemplifies her color choices, saturated warm colors and black and white. her compass stars will look different than mine, well most of them :0)

Peggy Martin's years of quilt teaching experience make's her technique DVD excellent. Rightly named "Peggy Martin Teaches You Quick-Strip Paper Piecing." Peggy's attention to detail is the frosting on the paper pieced quilt you can make in no time compared to non-strip pieced methods. Much less time is spent ironing, cutting, sewing and she wants you to make multiple copies from your printer. The DVD provides two patterns to download and she has a copyright free stamp on the patterns in her two books; "Quick-Strip Paper Piecing" and "Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way."

Let's face it, most paper piecing patterns are full of angles that make guessing impossible, so trial and error or checking and rechecking or ripping out and starting over are a part of the process. This turned me off in the past. Peggy's patterns are clearly marked and using her strip-piecing method together with them eliminates the guess work and eliminates steps making it a faster process. Some checking is required, but no more than on regular piecing as the 1/4 inch seam allowance still applies.

In the DVD Peggy makes two patterns, one totally made from angles for beginners and the other a compass star. She shows a variety of quilts one can make from the featured pattern blocks. Of course there are more variations.

She covers preparing the fabric, tools to use, ironing tips, sewing with excellent close-up photography and a clear narrative following her thinking as she progresses. It doesn't sound like a script is being read, she's into it and we are the benefactors. This DVD makes the process sensible and doable.

Peggy covers every question you would ask and repeats the answers when the situation arises during the instructions. I didn't have a question left when the DVD was over. After that I was pleasantly surprised to see there was more. Peggy talks about her beginnings as a teacher, shows us her studio and her quilts. this DVD is #14 in C&T's "At Home With the Experts" series.

As I always say- Piece!

Kim

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