EPP – Page 11 – OccasionalPiece

UPDATE: I drew up some loose instructions and have it for you at its new home: Revisiting the Red & White Pinwheel.

And under Krista’s enthusiastic encouragement, I tried my hand at English Paper Piecing. You know I had an English great-grandmother, who I’m named for (Elizabeth). So I called up my mother and asked her if my gr-grandmother ever did English paper piecing. “No,” she said. “She was a gardener. She spent any free time she had in her garden. It was my mother — your grandmother — who was the sewer in the family.” So, in homage to them both, I’m making something with flowers.

I finished the middle, sewed some more together and attached them to the central flower. Kind of a stuck space for knowing where to go from here in terms of sewing things together, but IF I can imagine myself as a young bride in the late 1800s far away from my mother and hometown of Bloxwich, England, and IF I were a quilter, carrying forward my mother’s traditions, I’d either have been doing this since I was a child, or I’d figure it out.

I’ll figure it out.

I hope you noticed the new notice on the side of the blog: On Leap Day, check back for multi-blog giveaway.

Now head over to Freshly Pieced and see some more fabulous Works In Progress.

It’s all Krista’s fault. I’ve been seeing her English Paper Piecing for weeks now, and have really admired them. But hey folks, is there anyone else out there with too many unfinished projects? And should I even think about starting another one?

Here’s something else to blame: Downton Abbey. I justified trying this block because I missed having something in my hands to work on while I watched. And tonight is another episode, and so I jumped. Besides I am doing ENGLISH paper piecing, and these ladies’ lovely accents will cheer me on while I get all Britishy and such. Don’t you love their clothes?

First I followed Krista’s advice and went to Clare’s site, SelfSewn, to read her tutorial.

Then I went to a site *incompetech* that will print out whatever size hexagon you want. They tell you that whatever number you put in the size box, your hexagon will be twice that. I wanted a jumbo, so I put in 2.5, again remembering Krista’s experience that she was wanted a big rose block. I subdivided it, according to Clare’s instructions, then cut the pieces apart with my template ruler.

And then, this wonderfully quiet Sunday afternoon, I pulled out a fat quarter pack from at least two seasons ago, figuring if I fussy-cut it to death, what would it matter? I was at least getting it out of the cupboard and using it, and besides, I loved this collection from Dena. Forgive the mediocre lighting and faulty Photoshop skills.

All lined up. I cut them out, kind of free-handing it, and then realized that the pieces have to go on the BACKSIDE of the fabric.

Better. I got over the terror of making my fabric into swiss cheese when I was working on my Lollypop Tree. Which, by the way, I think about a lot and promise to get back to, but I have to completely destroy the studio, and when I’m in school, it’s too hard to clean it all up and get back to grading. It will keep until summer.