First EPP finish

I have finally finished my English Paper Pieced Medallion quilt! I started this while pregnant with my twins, so 2016. I was too nauseous to sit at my sewing machine, and wanted to get baby quilts made before they arrived, but this project fizzled and I was able to get back at my machine in time to make them both quilts. I couldn't figure out how to get it squared off so it sat. I finally pulled it out when I was cleaning out some drawers and decided to just do it. I had enough of the red fabric to appliqué it on to the top and then added some borders to make it larger. It ended up REALLY large, but I think it worked out well. I do wish that I had trimmed the fabric from behind the EPP because the print shows through the low volume fabrics now that it's quilted. But I was worried about the messy back for the quilter, and figured it would help it be a bit more stable. 

Overall I'm happy with it! I had this blue in my stash and just enough for the binding. I think I had an extra 24" of binding that I cut off. And I used every bit of the fabric I had, even a scrap that wasn't the full WOF. I backed it with a Ruby Star wide backing in sateen that I found on clearance at Backside Fabrics, the colors work well because it's an aqua background with a green and cream floral print. 

English Paper Piecing Star Blocks

I'm still plugging away at my EPP medallion quilt. I've got the center sewn onto a large square, I've got the churn dash blocks sewn onto that, and I've got 140 flying geese made. Next step is actually deciding if I want the border between the churn dash and flying geese to be 2" or 3", which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's the difference between the flying geese going one direction, or having them meet in the middle of each section.

I've also been doing a bit of work on some hexagon blocks for a new EPP project, using up the blocks I had started making for the next round of the medallion. I've got some additional colors added and I like where it's going! I spent General Conference basting and stitching, and I got several more added. 

The stacked ones with the yellow fabric on the outside are the ones I made years ago, and the ones on the outside are the new ones. It currently takes just under 2 hours to stitch a whole block, so this project will definitely take a while, haha. We'll see how big I decide to make it and how many years it takes. 

First Quarter Status

I end up hearing a lot about quarters when my husband talks about work. Quarterly goals, statistics, all sorts of things. I'm sure you do, too. And it just kinda bleeds into life, right? Well, I suppose really, it's okay, I mean, we are 1/4 of the way through the year already (Really?!) and I thought it would be a good time to check in with some in progress things. So here's my status.

I have two quilts at the quilter's that I'm expecting back any day now. They've been out for 6 weeks now, so it's about time. They are my All the Good quilt and a Christmas Shimmer quilt. No rush on either of them but I am starting to get antsy!

I just finished my sampler WIP, and I'm excited to have that wrapped up. It's waiting to go to the quilter's when I pick up my other two, along with my Little Women economy block quilt.

I am also working on my EPP WIP, and I've appliquéd (is that the right verb?) the EPP center onto a piece of fabric I've had in my stash for ages. I made a daughter a pair of pajama pants and had just enough left over for the center portion, which is great! I've also pieced the strips of churn dash blocks. Next up, I need to trim the center to size (I cut it large just in case it shrunk down while piecing, or in case I wasn't quite centered with it). That's got me a bit nervous, though, so I've been avoiding it, haha.

And, I'm working on a linen top right now. After I finished the sampler top, I decided to try this Fira top out of linen. I made a muslin to check the fit at the bust, and the darts were not happy (possibly due to the stiff muslin fabric, possibly due to my quick careless sewing since I thought I was checking the bust fit and not the dart placement...). I made a slight adjustment to them and I'm working my way through this pattern with a scrap of linen from fabrics-store.com from a different project. It feels good to use up leftovers! And, as long as I don't need the rest, I'll have enough to make a napkin, which I've also been slowly working on. I thought it would be nice to have some linen napkins, and that I would use up what I have left that isn't large enough for something else. They'll be mismatched, but I think that will just add to the charm. 

(Checking on the fit before I top stitch the yoke down on the shoulder)

So, next up are finishing the Fira top, finishing the EPP medallion quilt top, hopefully binding my quilts when I get them back, and then I want to make a couple of t-shirts for the summer in some specialty knits I bought from Salt Lake Sewciety. One is a merino wool, and the other is an athletic material. 

Revisiting UFOs

I was attempting to reorganize a couple of drawers in my sewing room without completely reorganizing my sewing room a month or so ago. It didn't really work that well, so I don't really recommend that approach. However, it did unearth a couple of UFOs that I've avoided for a few years. It didn't really unearth them; I've always been able to see them and have just ignored them. But this time, I wanted to reclaim the drawer space so I gave them a second look. 

One was the 6" sampler that I've hinted at recently. I had a sampler all sashed and ready to quilt complete with a backing (but not basted). I was going to attempt to machine quilt it on my domestic and felt like it was a size I could achieve. But...well, I wasn't all that interested in doing it. I have too many other things I'd rather do. So, when I cleaned out that drawer, I took a hard look at it and decided I needed to either finish it, or get rid of it. I decided to finish it, in a different way than I had planned. I decided to take it apart and set the blocks between hourglass blocks so it would be larger and have the appearance of stars. But, I didn't have quite enough blocks, so I have been adding to them over the past few weeks. I think this will be a lot better for me and the way I use quilts. This picture doesn't have all the blocks I have finished in it, I'm up to 56. I'm shooting for 60 so I can make a 60x72 quilt.

The second was an English Paper Piecing project I started when I was pregnant with the twins. I wanted to make sure they both had baby quilts and figured I'd have zero time to finish them after they were born, so I really wanted to finish beforehand. But...I got nauseous in my sewing room. It was the most tragic thing! Still, I wasn't about to be deterred, AND I was bored just sitting on the couch all day. So I decided to try English Paper Piecing the top. I saw an amazing design on Instagram and it had the piece sizes, so I just kinda went for it...but I ran out of steam. And felt a lot better, so I opted to make the baby quilts on the machine instead.

The problem was that when I got to a certain size, it because really hard to continue to add to it. I was adding from the center out, and figured I'd get around to rounding it out into a square eventually...but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So, I left the center and the completed blocks to add in the corner and forgot about it. 

But, I'd really like to finish it up somehow. I do like what I have, but adding to it seems daunting and it's way too little and not square. So, my current plan is to buy some yardage to appliqué it on to, and then add to it in a medallion style to make it larger. I'm going to start with a border of churn dashes and then I might do a zigzag or a diamond type border around that. 

As for the squares I had made (hexagons, I guess, more precisely), I decided to make more in different colors and make it a block based quilt rather than medallion, so I've started basting more diamonds. And I think I'll go with the color scheme I posted for my Fabric Friday on March 10. I'm out of practice, I haven't English paper pieced in years, so the basting is going slowly, but I'm looking forward to having some handwork to work on during movie nights and things. And I think it will be much easier to finish, since it'll be more in rows than this one and won't require so much thought to square it up. 

And, if I'm not mistaken, those are my only UFOs. I have a bunch of orphan blocks and leftover HSTs that I would have made as I cut them off of other projects, but I don't consider those UFOs. I'm pretty proud of myself that I don't have more! I did do some UFO clearing out during the pandemic and I'm sure that helped a lot. 

January...

So...January, huh? I haven't posted since December and don't even have morning sickness to blame. I guess twins are a good excuse...but really, I have been sewing, and I've actually sewed a lot, but haven't had a lot of finishes to post.

Still, since it's been SO long, I figured I'd post a few work in progress shots I took today.

Here's a quick shot of my design wall. I have a mini quilt top I started for the Disney Quilt Swap, but I had to drop out because my pregnancy was killer. My partner was a librarian who (among other things) liked Beauty and the Beast. I had to make a book-inspired mini. Lucky for me, I dig books and Beauty and the Beast, too. I swore I'd finish it up at some point, and now I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. I'm leaning towards just simple straight line quilting. Not quite matchstick, but lots of close lines.

I also have my first seven blocks in the Patchwork City Sampler book. I'm using it to feature travel-related prints. Of course, they aren't all destination specific--I've got some food prints and the camera prints. I decided to also include prints that include things that are important to me in traveling. :-)

I also have two quilt tops and backs ready to deliver to my favorite long arm quilter...but I'm waiting until my big roll of batting arrives. I ordered a roll of Pellon batting off Overstock.com after reading about it from Allison Harris, and since I paid $4 a yard for it (YEP.) I thought I'd take some with my quilts since she charges more. Hopefully the batting is nice!!

I also have been working on this English Paper Piecing project. I started it while I was on bed rest. I didn't work on it a ton, but I did a bunch. And I've worked on it periodically while I pump breastmilk. Because pumping is officially one of the most boring ways of spending time ever.

And, I'm working on a new bag. It's a diaper bag pattern from Dog Under My Desk, and while I get nervous sewing three dimensionally, her patterns are extremely thorough. I'm pretty excited about it, and hope it doesn't take too long. The one change I am making is adding this strip of fabric to the front zipper panel.

I've got lots of things going on...and lots to get started on, too. :-)

Mini Mania: Ferris Wheel

After posting a photo of my English Paper Piecing project, Lesley commented and told me about a Flickr group she participates in, Mini Mania Challenge. After seeing the current project, an EPP Ferris Wheel design made by Felice of Sew Scatterbrained, I really wanted to participate too, and got to work.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the pieces because I'm really bad at using scissors. I know that sounds just a little ridiculous, but I'm a lefty, and if you aren't a lefty, you just can't quite understand. Our scissors are actually different, and it's just a little trickier. Ask a lefty: they'll tell you :-)

So, to make my pieces, I printed out the templates on regular copy paper and measured. Then I used the polygon tool to create the shapes, and before I generated all 100-some-odd pieces, I "assembled" the pattern on the screen to make sure the shapes fit together the way they were supposed to. Once they did, I replicated them out, and got *almost* all the pieces out of one 12x12 sheet of cardstock. I used a textured cardstock because that's what I had, and it was a little thicker than I would have liked, but on the whole, it worked. I used black and red, and realized after I had started piecing that it may not have been a great choice because of the pressing. I worried there would be color transfer during pressing, but there wasn't, thankfully. Next time, I'll use white or a neutral if I can.

And I jumped right in! The tiny pieces were tricky, and the quilt ended up smaller than I would have hoped for, to be honest. If I were to make it again, I'd increase the templates by 50%. But I really love how the colors worked together, and the shapes weren't difficult to piece together. There are some holes in the centers, but I'm not too worried about that, because it's a wall quilt, but I definitely need to improve my skills! It was great practice, though, and I'm really glad I made it.

I'm also pretty pleased with the quilting; I used my walking foot and quilted just inside the hexagons, and I love how it made the colored pieces really pop. The back looks pretty cool, too, in my opinion! (Don't mind my poor binding skills, though...)

I can't wait to see what next month's challenge brings!

WIP Wednesday: Discovering English Paper Piecing

I'm not sure what finally made me decide to try out English Paper Piecing, but I'm really glad I did! And now I'm wondering what took me so long to jump on the bandwagon. I think I was put off by the whole "hand-piecing" thing because I'm not very good at hand-sewing. I've tried needle-turn applique, and that was pretty much a joke for me. I'm sure I could have improved, at least a little, with practice, but honestly, I started out really, really bad at it. And I didn't even like it--why practice something you don't enjoy?

So why would I even think about trying EPP? Well...I don't like hand-applique, but I do really enjoy hand-embroidery. Again, I'm not very good at it, but I enjoy it, and I feel like I'm improving. And I really like wool applique. I wish wool applique was more my style, to be honest, because I think it's a lot of fun, but I haven't seen a lot of patterns I would want to make for myself.

Anyway, EPP. I tried it, and instantly fell in love! Nearly instant gratification. Simple. Portable. Uses up scraps. What's not to love? I mean, really.

I got started with the tutorial/video on Craftsy with Amy Gibson's Craftsy Block of the Month class from several years ago. I can't even tell you how many times I watched it, dissecting it, trying to decide if it were something I could even attempt. In the end, I just went for it.

And, I decided to do it with the same layout she did for one of her blocks, except I'll make multiple blocks and sash them all together instead of using it in a sampler.

And now, I'm dying to try out new shapes! I need to get some cut out--I'm thinking my Silhouette Cameo is going to make me a perfect EPP companion...stay tuned for updates on that!

I'm linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.