Paper piecing—-yea or nay?

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I attended a workshop on the Judi Neimeyer technique of paper piecing.

Her quilts are lovely and those crisp points just call to me!!

Everything was very well organized, including a packet that contained a 12-page instruction booklet and enough papers to create four leaf placemats……

All of the instructions were detailed and specific and were made to help the first-time paper-piecer be successful.

To make things easier, we were instructed to cut a 9-inch strip of fabric and then place the templates on top….

It was then easy to cut on the lines as she indicated. And each page included specific instructions….

Although I understand why she presented the cutting instructions this way, it seemed to me that there was a LOT of fabric wastage….

….and that killed me!!!

The paper piecing technique was nothing new but I did learn to use a dot of glue to hold the pieces in place (see Tuesday’s post).

Then came the paper removal stage….

I absolutely HATE this part…..

In the end, I fudged a bit and didn’t piece the stem to both sides but just folded it over and will applique it in place while I am quilting…..

The leaf is finished….

…..except for the quilting and binding.

And, as I have heard many people exclaim that the binding process was hard, I may just do a “pillow case” finish and make my life a bit simpler.

I am glad that I took this workshop but I have learned that I am not interested in more of these projects.

What has been your experience with the Judy Neimeyer quilt patterns???