It’s slow going on putting together the arcs.

And slow going on ripping the paper off the arcs.  But the book was right: using parchment paper makes it really much easier–much faster than other paper-pieced projects I’ve done.  Consider it your newest tip.

Since I know we all like to see completed quilts, and now that the semester’s started my sewing life will be abbreviated, here’s the quilt I have hanging in the hallway: Winter’s Branches.

I started this a long time ago–the summer before my husband and I went on sabbatical to Washington DC.  I rolled up the quilt on pin-wall fabric, toted it East.  After finishing it, I had no idea how to quilt it, but at that point, winter came to that part of the country.  I would take photo after photo of the graceful array of leaf-less branches against the winter sky.

I used a variegated rayon thread to stitch tree branches into the blocks.

The label.  I used to make quite elaborate labels and still do for my more artsy quilts.  But for baby quilts, or bed quilts, I now take a fine-tipped marker and write directly on the back somewhere.