This little quilt (and it is little, only 14 inches by 20 inches) represents three firsts for not-so-little-ole-me. 

• First mini quilt
• First mitred border
• First knife-edge binding

Woot! How about that? I made this for my quilt guild, who will be participating in the Broward Quilt Expo in March. There will be a mini auction and the funds from our quilts will go to help the guild do community service work, hold workshops and exhibits, and start new programs!

I used a paper piecing pattern by Carolyn Friedlander called Shirts. I bought it from her during a workshop she taught in Miami a couple of years ago. In fact, she is responsible for helping me "get" paper piecing, which I previously had not thought it possible to love. I am also working on a quilt based on her Stripes pattern.

Paper piecing is the contemporary evolution of foundation piecing, and is definitely something that requires a brain rewire to accomplish. It is generally used to create complicated blocks that require odd-shaped segments or acute intersections, though it can be used for more simple patterns in order to keep points precise. The idea seems straightforward enough: a pattern is printed on a piece of lightweight paper, and the fabric is actually sewn together on the paper, as a guide for seams. However, the intrepid sewist has to work backwards, through the paper. She also needs to ensure that her fabric will cover the appropriate areas once sewn, backwards, through paper, and flipped over into position. Crazytown, right? It really is just one of those things one must keep trying, hopefully with lots of helpful encouragement, until the eureka! moment when it sticks inside your cerebellum. 

I called this quilt Be Careful When A Naked Person Offers You A Shirt. This is an African saying, most famously quoted by Maya Angelou, who used it as a metaphor when speaking about how we must love ourselves before we are capable of offering love to others. Both the quilt and the saying remind me very much of a dear friend who I wish to love herself much more than she does, because she is worthy of it.