Oh wow, that was the first (and likely last) paper piecing I ever did. And then forgot to print it in reverse and didn’t notice in time…so I had to do some adjusting. And it came out well. I’m glad you still love it and we need to remember that message.
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I think we’re gonna need a pic or two 
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Here is my tool endorsement 
:
My all time favorite tool is the Stripology ruler. It is the ruler to rule all other rulers 
! I have shared this info before, so it may look familiar to some. I’ve done my best to explain it in words, but if you are a visual person like me, here is a helpful video (the video shows a previous version of the ruler, so it looks a little different).
The Stripology ruler is made by Creative Grids and it is by far the handiest, most used ruler I own. I have the XL, which is a 22” rectangle with slits cut out at every 1/2” mark. The cutting area is 13" tall. So, if you’re working with fabric that’s 42” wide, you can take your folded off the bolt fabric, fold it once more for a total of 4 layers of fabric and it will fit under your ruler. Line the folded edge with the bottom line on the ruler and the raw edge on the quarter inch dash marks on the left side of the ruler. Make your first cut at the ‘0’ slit to give you a straight edge. Now you’re ready to cut strips. Let’s say you’re cutting 2” strips. You go the the 2” slit and run your rotary cutter down it, next you cut down the 4” opening, the 6”, the 8”, etc. In the 45 seconds it took to make those 4 cuts, you end up with four wof 2” strips.
If you look at the bottom of the ruler, you’ll see stars and squares. The stars are at 1.5" intervals and the squares are at 2.5". This lets you cut out these common strip sizes without even thinking, you just cut at every star or square.
If you need 5” squares, you cut out 5” strips, then position your strips widthwise under the ruler (with your fabric folded in half), cut at the 5” intervals and voila - eight 5” squares/strip (assuming your fabric is 42" wide) !
The stripology ruler is also helpful for squaring up blocks. It has bold squares ranging from 3" x 3" up to 13" x 13" to assist with squaring. The one downside to the ruler is that it can be pricey (though mine has been worth every penny). I’ve seen similar rulers by June Tailor at JoAnns (which I believe cost less, or at least they would with a coupon), but I’m not sure if they come in the XL size. I also don’t know if the quality is as good as Creative Grids (I personally prefer Creative Grids and have found them to be the best quilting rulers).
The stripology ruler really upped my quilt game and it reduced my cutting time by 67% (disclaimer - this is not a scientifically proven number, it is a made up number to add to the wow factor of this amazing ruler 
)!
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This may be just what I need to finish up a couple of quilts I’ve been procrastinating on- A Jelly Roll Race Quilt top that is finished but needs to be quilted and bound, a baby quilt (for a now 2 1/2 year old) that just needs a binding, and a FPP quilt that needs to be sewn up {the fabric is ready but I just need to get my head in the right place to concentrate on it!}. And, I have the materials for the Deep Dive Quilt-along that I haven’t even started! It’s traditional pieceing, and I could get myself caught up if I just take the first steps!
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What is the Deep Dive Quilt-along? I imagine it as an all stash quilt-along. The quilters dive deep into their stashes to make this quilt and those who don’t have enough material in their stash, have to dive even deeper into their closets to source the material. So, most of those people end up using clothing that they’d planned on donating and an unfortunate few are forced to use up clothes that weren’t intended for donation, but are actually for everyday use. But, these are the pitfalls you run into when you commit to a deep diving stash only quilting expedition…
Am I close?
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I have one quilt to repair, and one quilt top that I found in my father’s army chest to back & bind, and a box full of half dresden plate arcs to figure out what to do with. Those are my 2020 quilt goals!
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I’ll be participating too. I have a couple larger quilts in mind for this year and will probably make a few wall quilts for the new house we are building in 2021.
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I use the binding clips for binding, but mostly on small stuff. I tend to eyeball binding on longer runs
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I remember that! Beautiful!
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I attached the binding, then flipped it and glued it all down before sewing it on my first quilt. It left the binding perfectly placed, which made the sewing process super simple, but I felt like it took forever to glue it all!
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I like your interpretation! That could be a fun one! But, it’s this:
https://arteastquiltingco.com/deep-dive-sew-along
It’s a block a month quilt-along. There are 9 blocks and it started in September. I didn’t start in September, of course, but I should be able to get caught up before the last block. I need to put all of the supplies together and work on it in short bursts.
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So funny! I was just thinking a block a month would be a fun part for this group.
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That deep dive quilt looks fun. I was looking at the Elizabeth Harman patterns today, they are expensive! But very cool.
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I have a Craftsy class that uses one of her patterns, but I haven’t made it yet. I think that I might try it after the Deep Dive quilt.
And, @Lynx, a block a month would be fun! I have a bunch of fabrics I bought once (from our local discount fabric store) that I thought would make a nice quilt, so maybe that would be a good use for them.
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A quilt-along?! Awesome!
I made 3 twin-ish sized quilts last year and I am hoping to finish 5 this year (4 twins and a full). I have 3 grandnephews to make quilts for, the full-size is for my DS2’s new bed, and the last is a Quilt of Valor for a retired Marine friend. I’m going to attempt paper piecing for the first time for the QOV. 
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I really like Elizabeth Harman patterns. I have a few. I can’t remember the official names for the patterns, but I made one of her penguin patterns into a pillow cover and Meredith the Musk Ox from one of her quilt patterns into a wall hanging.
@Liilyleaper it sounds like you found the perfect place to encourage you to finish those projects! I am excited to see them. I’m not sure what half dresden plate arcs are.
@Cindy Having some handmade quilts for your new home sounds…well…homey!
@audiobooklover, I’d never heard of gluing binding then sewing. I do know that I am not good at making my binding look good if I machine sew the back side, so I always machine sew the front and hand sew the back (no matter the size!)
@tendstowardschaos, so glad you are joining in! It sounds like you have a lot of awesome plans! Paper piecing is easy once you can wrap your brain around how it works. I find I have to make my brain think mirror image or backwards and that is the trickiest part. It does give fun and different options to quilting. I am especially excited to see the Quilt of Valor.
We’ve mentioned the Deep Dive quilt, but has anyone seen any other options for a quilt block a month?
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Kristy at Quiet Play has a Pattern Club, which is similar to a Quilt Block of the Month.
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I’ve made good progress on my baby quilt today. I’m making up the pattern, so it’s a big slower as I figure it out, but I’ve got half the blocks made.
We could do a block a month on here, we could take it in turns to nominate a block design that we like, and see what happens at the end of the year. 12 months, 3X4 blocks, if we did larger blocks, it would make a nice size for a lap quilt.
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I like that idea a lot. If the blocks are not all the same size, one can add sashing where needed, too. It would be fun because everyone would use different fabrics and colors and could sew up the completed blocks in any order they choose.
What does everything think? Would you be interested in this? Would anyone like to nominate blocks?
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@Edel, I love the thought of it being a group effort that we can all contribute to!
And @Lynx, I’ve seen a lot of really nice quilts that use sashing to compensate for the different block sizes, so that’s a great idea!.I like the idea of using flying geese units for part of the sashing. The quilts I’ve made so far have been pretty simple, so I like the idea of branching out and trying additional units and blocks! I’ve always wanted to do a sampler quilt and that’s essentially what this will be!
I’d like to nominate an 8 pointed star block!
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