Next in my learn-to-quilt-for-retirement lineup: Foundation Paper Piecing (“FPP”). I love the look of intricate designs and images, the ones that you just can’t piece with traditional techniques, and FPP has really grown in popularity amongst modern quilt designers. I have several patterns, and finally jumped off the ledge the other day and gave it a try.

I decided to make us a new Christmas tree skirt, and chose the Atomic Starburst Tree Skirt, by Violet Craft. The style will fit our family room well, and it is challenging but not gigantic. I am making the larger size, but it’s still much smaller than a bed-sized quilt.

I chose two layer cakes for the colored bits and plain white for the background. The stars are done with FPP, and I slowly made my way through three of them so far, with many YouTube videos to hold my hand. I made LOTS of mistakes, and had to rip and resew many (many) times, but by the third one I was starting to get the hang of it, and I’m hopeful that the remaining nine will go faster (or at least, have fewer mistakes).

The rest is solid colored diamonds, with white sashing between each. I haven’t cut any of those out yet, I wanted to make sure I could figure out the FPP parts first.