Paper Pieced Meet 'n Greet: Charlotte @ Displacement Activity

Next stop on the Paper Pieced Meet 'n Greet!

Today I get to share with you more about the awesome Charlotte from Displacement Activity. She's awesome. So go check out her blog :)

 

I first took notice of your blog when I saw “Anova” (or do you call it “Analysis of a Variance”?), and was absolutely floored when I saw “Fracture”. It’s gorgeous! What was your inspiration for this piece?

(I do call it Analysis of Variance, when I can be bothered to type it in full! It is a statistical method, and ANOVA is the accepted abbreviation.)

The idea for Fracture started when a friend in the London (UK) Modern Quilt Guild suggested that the guild enter a very traditional UK based quilt show. She had gone to see the show last summer and felt that it wasn’t representative of the wider quilting community. The show is not juried, and there is a charity category this year with the title “A touch of yellow”, so we decided to enter. I then had the idea to have the yellow radiate out from the centre of a dark field, and it went from there. It was one of those quilts that keeps you awake at night until it gets made! The unofficial name of the quilt (the Pervy quilt – hence “Pervalong”) came from another friend in my guild who insisted that it was very “50 Shades of Grey”. The name just stuck!

 

You recently did a QAL (Pervalong) for the Fracture quilt – what was your favorite part about this? And how did it make you feel to see so many others make your quilt?

My absolute favourite part of the Pervalong was seeing the same pattern made up in so many amazing colour schemes. They all looked so beautiful! I was astounded (and extremely relieved!) that other people wanted to make the quilt – I felt like a proud mama!

What did your design process for this pattern look like? (did you use the computer at all or mainly paper?)

The design process basically involved me cutting a whole load of paper shapes, laying them on the floor in a 36 x 36 inch square, and then drawing lines on them. Very high tech ;-)

 

When and what was your first paper piecing project? How was that experience?

I made my first paper pieced project about two years ago, using a bird pattern I bought from Etsy. It was both frustrating and wonderful, which is pretty much how I feel about paper piecing to this day. I make too many mistakes (fabric too small or the wrong way up, usually) but I love the results so much that it is worth it. It’s a bit like childbirth in that you forget the pain after a while, and then it seems like a good idea to have another go!

 

(Pattern found here)

Have you paper pieced any other projects? Do you paper piece very often?

I have made a fair number of things, including several pillows, mini quilts and bee blocks. It is a really useful technique to have under your belt, but I would be lying if I said it was my favourite!

 

 

Do you have any paper piecing tips?

Just to be really REALLY generous with the size of fabric you cut, especially if there are triangles involved. Trust me on this!

Are there any links you would like to share with us?

This paper pieced Flickr group is full of all sorts of inspiration, both traditional and modern.

Thanks for including me in the meet and greet! It’s been a lot of fun!

Thanks so much Charlotte!! It was awesome to chat with you, as always :)