The Hexagon quilt in header photo

I love paper foundation piecing.  This particular one is a triangular log cabin design. It takes only a moment after being told that to see it. The total size is only about 15x15 and each of the six triangle blocks has 17 pieces in it.  I could not imagine sewing this design without using a paper foundation.

It looks difficult but in fact was quite simple, black and then white and then black again and so on around the center.  It took an afternoon of carefully copying the design onto tear-away paper and then sewing each triangle.  The look is, to me, wonderfully dramatic.  The red and white  striped fabric for the border seemed just right and was, in fact, the most difficult part as the corners are not at all easy to sew.

I have done many paper pieced quilts -- nearly all wall quilts, many of them from Carol Doak designs. But other block designs, or over all designs are quicker and easier and, of course, do not require the steps of copying and later tearing away the paper backing. There are a couple of paper pieced designs that I've been thinking of a long time, one a New York Beauty ... perhaps I'll get around to it this summer -- or perhaps not, as I really am committed to doing mostly stash smashing quilts that can be sewn more quickly and use up considerably more fabric.