Monday, July 1, 2013

English Paper Piecing

So, it's been a while since I've mentioned some of my ongoing hand-sewing projects.

ProsperityStuff Quilts: English Paper Pieced hexagon flowers

Even though most of my sewing happens at the sewing machine, there's just something nice about stitching something while sitting on the couch, or the rocking chair, or at somebody else's house.  It's very relaxing. And very satisfying. English Paper Piecing is my latest, greatest hand-work favorite.


My most recent on-the-go project (read: small enough to store in my purse or the car) is my Very Tiny English Paper Piecing. 

ProsperityStuff Quilts: Tiny On-the-go sewing box: A Juicy-Fruit-Gum tin!
This tiny project box is really handy to carry around.
The plan:
I'm making a wall-hanging, to go in a frame. Something like this, made of very tiny, very scrappy hexagon flowers ... Frame size about 8" x 10" ... or maybe the next size up, depending on how big it ends up.

ProsperityStuff Quilts: Hexagon flowers graph plan

The inspiration:
Several weeks ago, it occurred to me that I'd like to make a quilt-y wall hanging. Just something pretty and small. Colorful. Simple. (And in a frame so it's easy to dust.) This quilt (discovered on Pinterest a few weeks ago, now pinned here) has a beautiful layout, and about 6 weeks ago, I decided that a similar layout (minus the border) would make a great tiny-hexagon wall hanging.

What it looked like last week:

ProsperityStuff Quilts: EPP hexagon flowers
7 colored hexagon flowers
What it looks like this week:

ProsperityStuff Quilts: EPP hexagon flowers layout
12 colored hexagon flowers & 4 white hexagon flowers
A little size-perspective:

ProsperityStuff Quilts: Tiny EPP hexagon flowers in my hand
The flowers I made this week. (That First Big Quilt is in the background.)
So - With the current plan (always subject to change) here are the stats:
Finished 12 out of 20 colored flowers.
Finished 4 out of 12 white flowers.
Still need lots of additional white background hexagons.


~  Switich gears; next project  ~


And, my longest-running English Paper Piecing project, which has been in the works for a year and a half: The Vintage-Inspired Diamond Stars.

What it looked like last time I blogged about it:

ProsperityStuff Quilts: EPP diamond stars quilt
Progress as of September 2012
What it looks like today:

ProsperityStuff Quilts: Englsh Paper Pieced diamond stars quilt
Progress as of July 2013
ProsperityStuff Quilts: Diamond stars quilt in progress
37 inches long
ProsperityStuff Quilts: 60-degree diamond quilt in progress
31 inches wide
The stats & the plan:
I'm not quite ready to count numbers-of-diamonds needed, or even numbers-of-inches ... yet. I'm having fun, but, realistically, these are small diamonds, and this will never be a huge quilt. Basically, I'd like to make the scrappy white border of diamonds even all the way around (obviously), and then add a single-diamond-row of colored diamonds, and then more white. Something like that. 

Anyhoo, it comes in handy that I can get a little reminder/inspiration/motivation/accountability to work on this one ...

Jessica, who blogs at Life Under Quilts, has just started a "Monday Morning Star Count" as a place to link blog posts about English Paper Piecing project progress. (Say that 3 times fast!) Since I love the inspiration I get from seeing other people's projects come together ... and since Jessica's pictures of her travel quilts motivated me to try a similar design ... I'm linking my post today to this week's Monday Morning Star Count.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love the mini flowers. These remind me of some of the extraordinarily dainty quilts I saw in Japan at the beginning of the year. How hard is it to keep smooth? Your second quilt is lovely too -- the off/white border is very effective. JJ

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  2. I must post as anonymous only because I dont have any of the profiles listed. I love your mini hexies. I am using the same inspiration quilt to make a scrap hexie quilt , I am using 1 inch hexies. I chuckled over your colored graph paper as it looks so similar to mine.

    Judy

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