My Dahlia Quilt

This quilt has been done for awhile but I haven't yet shared it here with you!  If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen me working on these EPP Dahlia blocks over the past couple of years.

From start to finish this was about a two-year project, although I did set it aside for awhile to work on other things.  

Sweet Daisy Baby Quilt + A Stitch in Time Book

On this snowy Saturday I have a sweet little baby quilt finish to share with you.  And this is quite possibly the sweetest little baby quilt I've ever done!  It's almost too dainty and feminine to stay too long in my house full of boys :).

The pattern for this Sweet Daisy baby quilt is from the new book by Sharon Burgess, A Stitch In Time (Tuva Publishing).  This book has 18 fun English paper piecing projects ranging from a small pincushion to pillows, bags, placemats, a dolly, and this baby quilt. That's quite a range of projects!

Even though the book is filled with lovely English paper piecing projects, it's not just EPP.  Each project does have an EPP element to it, like this quilt-- but if EPP isn't your forte, you could still tackle these projects and have fun doing it!

And Sharon takes you through each step - with plenty of photos and diagrams. She shares her favorite EPP tools, and techniques for making templates, cutting the fabrics and even how to glue baste those curved edges of the flower petals.  (It's not as tricky as you'd think.  Do a couple of practice petals and you'll get the technique down quickly!)

I feel like this quilt would be a good project for someone that's new to English paper piecing.

Each flower is made (hand stitched using EPP) and then they're appliqued onto a background fabric.

Then one simple floral border frames everything beautifully!  The finished quilt measures 35" x 40".

You can find the A Stitch In Time book here on Amazon, and if you're on Instagram go and check out the other projects from the book under the hashtag: #astitchintimeepp.  It's been fun to see what others are making from the book!

The fabrics for this quilt are all from the newest line from Lella Boutique called Garden Variety (Moda) and they should be in your local quilt shop now!  But I'm guessing they won't last long.  At my local shop several of these bolts were already looking pretty thin.


Quilt Details:
35" x 40"
Pattern:  Sweet Daisy baby quilt from A Stitch In Time book
Fabric: Garden Variety by Lella Boutique for Moda
Quilting:  Fanciful Flyers computerized edge-to-edge design
Backing:  Flannel from Marcus Fabric

**This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) when purchases are made through links found in this post.

Clamshell Block How-To and Splendid Sampler Block 3

Boy oh boy was this block a learning experience for me!  At first I was so intimidated by the embroidery that I didn't even want to attempt it. 

But I do so love a good challenge, and for months now I've been wanting to improve my embroidery -- and by "improve", I mean actually learn how ;)

This week's Splendid Sampler block was designed by Helen Stubbings and it's called Clamshells.  You can download the free block pattern here.  

Before I talk about my attempt at embroidery I want to share some tips with you for those adorable little clamshells. 

I have three tutorial links to share -and if you've never attempted clamshells before, I recommend reading through all three and then deciding which one appeals to you the most!  They each have some great tips and perhaps you'll end up using a mix of tutorials for your own block. 

Clamshells the iron-on way

Clamshells with the foil technique

Clamshells:  EPP style

That last tutorial is the one I used, since I'm a big english paper piecing fan!

Alright.  Now about that embroidery.  I've done just a bit of it before, but it's been so long that I'd forgotten even the basic stitches.  Youtube the rescue!

For this block we use the backstitch, the stem stitch, and the lazy daisy stitch.  Here are the youtube tutorials I used:

Backstitch how-to
Stem Stitch how-to
Lazy Daisy how-to

All three are from Mary Corbet (Needle 'n Thread)  and she has TONS more.  See them all here.

  I didn't use a hoop, and I feel like it turned out alright.  I'm pretty sure I used the wrong type of needle but since two strands of floss fit through the eye of the needle, I just kept going.

But my finished block isn't too shabby, right?  I think that once I get more comfortable with the basic stitches (and find the right needle) embroidery might be quite relaxing! 

Don't forget - find the free block pattern here, and join in the Splendid Sampler fun here on the blog, and here on the group Facebook page.  

And I HAVE been working behind the scenes on some full quilts - I promise!  I'll be sharing one here on Saturday!

Happy sewing,

--Andy

Slow Sewing + giveaway winner

I'm spending some time this weekend doing some slow sewing.  It's such a therapeutic thing for me.  I'm not a fan of knitting or crocheting, but I do really enjoy english paper piecing.  

I've recently finished my pink hexden quilt, and I'll be sharing that soon.  I also have all of my red pentaring blocks done and ready to be made into a quilt top.  With those last two EPP projects finishing up I decided I'd better get a new one going!  So I started this new project shown above.  I'm using the One Room Schoolhouse fabrics which I just love love love (designed by Brenda Ratliff for RJR Fabrics - see more here.)

I decided to do a little larger hexagon - these are 1.5" on each side.  I like this size because it shows off a bit more of each print.  I glue baste my hexagons, and then I've been stitching them together into groups of three.  

I haven't quite decided what I'll do with them next.  I have a few ideas that I'm testing out, but I like what I see so far!  

Want to learn more about english paper piecing?  One of my favorite EPPers is Sue Daley and she has some great YouTube videos about English Paper Pieicing.  

Episode 1: How to Sew Hexagons

See all of her videos here (be sure to click on "load more" at the bottom to see them all)

If you're ready to get started, you can find the 1.5" hexagon papers here (my favorite source for EPP papers.)  One Room Schoolhouse fabrics can be purchased here at Pink Castle Fabrics, and here at Fat Quarter Shop.  

And before I sign off, I need to announce the winner of the Wonderland fat quarter bundle.  Congratulations to commenter #19 - Linda! 

A New EPP Project

I was digging through some of my scrap bins the other day and decided to liberate some of them.  I realized that I had some really good red scraps and that they needed to be used and not just stored away.

So I started a new English Paper Piecing (EPP) project to work on while I sit at karate classes, wait in Dr offices, and watch tv in the evenings. 

 

My last project was these pink hexdens.  The hexdens have been stitched to a background square and the blocks are just needing to be sewn together into a quilt top.  For this next project I chose to make pentarings.  It's a ring shape made up of 10 pentagons.

These are the pentagon pieces I chose to use (I purchased them here).  

What do you think?  Cute, huh?  I love the little pair of scissors.    

I made a tester one, and decided that I love it.  I've now ordered more papers and cut my favorite red scraps into 2.75" squares - ready for basting!  

A Mini Finish

My mini quilt wall is growing!  Last week I added two new ones – one called "Petunia" that I will release next week as a new pattern, and this one made with the new Gooseberry Fabric (by Vanessa Goertzen for Moda).  Back in September The Fat Quarter Shop did an English Paper Piecing (EPP) Sew Along on Instagram and I joined in.  You can read more about the sew along here.



Most of the hand sewing (making the diamonds and stitching them together) was done while watching tv/movies in the evenings.  I’m the kind of girl that always has to have a project to work on while I watch tv.  I’d say for me, the trickiest bit of this mini was hand appliqueing the star to the background.  But once I figured it out, it went pretty quickly!



You can still buy the EPP Sew Along Kit here (theirs uses the Meadowbloom fabric) or you can just purchase the 2” 6 Point Star paper pieces here and use fun scraps from your stash!

Sue Daley has helpful youtube tutorials about how to sew the diamonds together here.  It’s really helpful to watch these if you’re a beginner (or semi-beginner like me) because she shows how to glue baste the fabric to the paper pieces and how the pieces fit together.

Little Pink Hexden Project

In my travels around town this last week I stopped by a couple of local shops and picked up some lovely pink fat quarters to help add that scrappy feeling to my pink hexden project.  I've been feeling like it's needing a little more variety.




I love that there’s so many great pinks out there right now! 



I’ve been making good progress on my little hexdens – I have 36 flowers made and they’re ready to be appliqued onto a background square.

So I’ve been on the hunt for a good background print to applique each hexden flower to.  This week I found this print and I think it’s perfect!  Like, perfect to the point where I'm excited to start working on it NOW.  We're talking Christmas-morning excitement here.  Weird, right?



The print is from the new Modern Background- Paper line by Zen Chic for Moda.  There are some really great low volume prints in that collection.  Click on the link and scroll through the page and you’ll see what I mean.



In addition to working on this fun paper piecing project, I’ve also been putting the finishing touches on two new quilt patterns!  Stay tuned for sneak peeks of those :)

Hexdens and English Paper Piecing

If you follow me on Instagram you have maybe seen these pink English Paper Piecing flowers that I’ve been working on here and there.  I’ve been getting questions about them so I thought I’d do a blog post about this project.

 

A few months ago I was in a quilt shop in Spokane Washington and spotted a little EPP (English Paper Piecing) display that was the sweetest little flower, and I instantly fell in love!  But the shop was sold out of the templates.  I finally tracked down the pieces at paperpieces.com – they have EVERYTHING there!  If you’re into EPP, that’s a fun place to shop.  



The shape is called Hexden (hexagon + dresden) and paperpieces.com has two variations and several sizes.  You can see in the photo above that I went with the 1” size.  That 1” refers to the length of the side that forms the base of each flower petal, which is also the length of one side of the hexagon that forms the flower center.

 

Want to see the difference between the two Hexden variations?  Check out the two flowers below.  The difference is subtle, but in the bottom flower, the petals are a little taller and rounder.  That’s variation 2.  And that’s the one that I preferred for this project.  For both variations (in the 1” size) you can cut all pieces from a 2.5” scrap, including the hexagon center.  That's pretty handy since 2.5" scraps are easy to come by around here!



Here’s what’s in the package of paper pieces – enough pieces to make 36 blocks.



I dug through my scrap bin and pulled out most of the pinks.  Then they were stacked into  similar piles and pinned together in groups of 6. 



Ready for basting!  I’ll be back in a later blog post to show you how I keep everything organized, and how I glue baste the curves of the petals. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

A Little Hexie Project + giveaway winner

Over our Spring Break last week I decided to start a little english paper piecing project (say that 3 times fast!)  I was out of town, up in Spokane WA and had forgotten to bring my current epp project with me.  So I stopped by one of the quilt shops and picked up a few supplies – enough to get me started. 



While I was there, one of the helpful employees pointed me in the direction of this thread:



She said it’s the best thread for epp and it’s the ONLY thread she uses.  With a glowing recommendation like that, I figured I’d better try it out.  Even after using it just for these few hexies, I’m sold.  Normally my stitches are completely visible from the front, but as you can see below, the stitches barely show.  I’m a believer.  The woman recommended this particular color of thread too – she said it pretty much blends in to everything.  So there you go!  I’m passing along the tip to you!

 
And now, for what you’ve been waiting for – the winner of the Home Executive Planner giveaway is….

Heidi [Banks of Frog Creek] !!  Congratulations Heidi!  Thank you all for entering.  Now I've got to get back to that pile of laundry.  For me, that's the WORST part of taking a vacation - all of the laundry that needs to be done once you're home - ugh!