Tiny Toffee Designs Blog Hop

I'm so excited to be a part of this special blog hop hosted by Susi of Tiny Toffee Designs. 

Heidi (aka Fabric Mutt) and I get to kick off the fun and WOW is there an amazing line-up! [Full list of people participating can be found on Susi's blog and also below.]

I've mentioned before that I am constantly being blown away by Susi. By her kindness, her creativity, and by her talent. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to showcase her patterns. If you haven't seen her adorable itty bitty paper piecing patterns - you need to check them out. Seriously - go to her shop right now! She's releasing a complete new set called "Dream Big." 

If you are new to paper piecing, Susi has a photo tutorial on her blog that you can check out. And there are lots of great sites and videos online. This is an amazing community! And don't let the size scare you away - these patterns can be easily scaled up and down for any project or if you are a beginner and the small scale is intimidating. 

Let's get started! My favorite notion for paper piecing is my Add-A-Quarter Ruler - but for this tiny piecing you really need the Add-An-Eighth Ruler. If you don't already have one, you'll thank me for suggesting it. These are some notions I always have close by when paper piecing. 

The patterns (once pieced) are designed to work perfectly as 1" English paper pieced hexies. But really they are also stand alone patterns that can be worked into a variety of projects. I know you will see some amazing projects (and hexies, too) on this blog hop, so I decided to do something a little different with the patterns. Today, Heidi and I get to feature the "follow your dreams" pattern in her new set. 

This is similar to the flying geese found in Susi's "I Love Quilting" pattern - but the geese here change size on a slight gradient. I immediately pictured a forest of trees. Standing tall and proud and reaching toward the sky. 

I wanted to use a variety of sizes for the trees, so I enlarged the pattern to a few different scales. The tree pictured above (and all the way to the right in the picture below) is printed at 100%. The tree in the center was printed at 300%. I also enlarged the pattern and only used two geese (instead of all three) and incorporated the tree from Susi's "Christmas Delights" pattern to add some variety to the trees. Then I started working on my layout. 

See that little red hood peeking out behind the tree? I think we may be in the Enchanted Forest.

And the little pom pom detail I added is one of my favorite features. Plus, the Big Bad Wolf is here, too (made using the fox from the "Into the Woods" pattern set).

I decided to finish my project by wrapping it around a canvas to hang on the wall. It's always fun to have handmade work decorating my happy sewing space. This will be a fun reminder of fairy tales and the importance of dreaming big.

Creating your own custom canvas is not too difficult and a technique I've used before (see here and here). Maybe I'll write up a little tutorial one day.

I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog today. Be sure to check out all the other great bloggers!

FULL BLOG HOP SCHEDULE

March 4th: Heidi and Andrea

March 7th: Alyssa and Mike

March 11th: Mary, Kate, and Amy

March 14th: Cheri and Karen

March 18th: Jennie and Rebecca

March 21st: Amanda Jean and Sarah

March 24th: Rachel and Mollie