English Paper Piecing, Tiny Style

This past week, I didn't make any new tiny flowers. (Nor did I sew any vintage diamonds!) But I did stitch some tiny flowers into usable "groups" of two flowers plus two white hexagons. 

I'm still not sure what order the flowers will go in, or exactly how many more I'll make, so putting the flowers into groups is a step in the right direction, while still giving me the flexibility to rearrange.

When I was sitting with these flowers in my lap, I asked one of the kids for my tape measure. Apparently, Dad's tape measures were easier to find than Mom's, since this is the tape measure I promptly got. :-) So - this layout is about 8 inches wide already! With a few white hexagons around the sides, and another row or two of hexagon flowers, I should have an 8" x 10" frame full of tiny hexagons soon! 

I'll be linking this post to this week's Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts, which is one of the blogs that continually inspires my English Paper Piecing. 

I tried writing this post with the Blogger app on my phone ... but it wouldn't publish. And then it disappeared. Now, as I type this (on the computer), it's showing up on my phone's blogger app. So ... if a similar post (or three) turns up later on, that's why.

This past week's English Paper Piecing

I love the speed and ease of quilt-piecing on the sewing machine. But I love the portability of hand-sewing, and I love the chance to keep my hands busy making something pretty.

This past week, I snapped a few pictures with my phone while I was sitting and stitching in random spots ...

I spent a little time working on my tiny English-Paper-Pieced flowers when I was outside watching the kids swimming at Grandma's ...

As of Wednesday afternoon, this is how many tiny flowers I had. (For the eventual layout, imagine all the black background space filled with white ...)

I also made a couple flowers when I took one of the kids to a scout meeting ...

And I got out the diamond EPP to pass the time in a waiting room ...

It's nice to have some supplies in a compact format, for convenient handstitching.

The single row of diamonds around the border is coming along great!

Always plenty to do ...

Vintage-Inspired Diamonds ...

Here's where the Diamonds EPP is looking ... 38 new colorful diamonds around the edge, new since last week.

And the Very Tiny EPP flower count is up to 20 - up from 16 three weeks ago.

I'm linking this post to this week's Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts. And I'll be checking the links there for pictures of some other handsewing projects that quilters have been working on during the past week.

Daylilies!

Another weekend post about flowers ...

A couple years ago, I decided that I must need some kind of regular lilies. This year, I'm pleased to have some!

After all, I'd thought about the fact that I had irises that bloomed early, and cannas that bloomed late. During that "empty space" when none of my big flowers were blooming, I noticed that other people had lilies blooming. 

One day last year, one of my kids showed up from our little bit of woods with an orange lily. She said that one of her older siblings had told her, "Take this to Mom - she will LOVE it!!" True enough - the kids knew that if there was an awesome flower in the woods, Mom would show up to dig it up and put it in the flower bed!

Are these called Daylilies or Tiger Lilies? I'm never sure, but I like them! 

More Quilting on the Scrappy Shirt Quilt

Yesterday, I got out this Scrappy Shirt Quilt to finish up the last little bit of quilting.

I finished up the last couple rows of twirly loops in the "background" part of the quilt.

Now it's trimmed and ready for binding. Binding is cut and ready. Almost done!

Gingham Striped Square blocks

Not long ago, I added this one to my gingham block collection:

It's an idea I've been wanting to try. (Sew 4 strips together, then cut triangles out of that, then sew 4 triangles into a square.) My technique isn't perfect, but I like the idea, and I'd definitely like to make more of these some time.

Simple. Not complicated. Again, lots of white with the gingham ...

So, this block joins the others in the crowd ...

The Gingham Maverick Stars

The Gingham 36-Patch

The Gingham Mosaic 

Blue Gingham French Braid

Pink Gingham French Braid

The Gingham Triangles

Tuesday report on English Paper Piecing

I'm pleased to report that my vintage-inspired quilt got to the point of being symmetrical this week!

Symmetrical is nice ... even though it's just a few diamonds from where it was last week.

It's fun to see progress!

I've started sewing a single row of these colored diamonds around the edge of the white border.

Not much progress to report on the very tiny hexagons this week ... just one white flower, plus a little ... to add to what I've already finished.

Even though it's not still Monday, I'm linking this post to this week's Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts.

Gingham Maverick Star blocks!

This was a fun block to add to my collection of Gingham blocks ...

Maverick Stars, which I've been wanting to try for a while. Inspiration here and here and here.

Fun to try a new setting. So, this adds to my collection of 12(ish)-inch gingham blocks ... blog-post links below the other blocks.

 

The Gingham 36-Patch

The Gingham Mosaic 

Blue Gingham French Braid

Pink Gingham French Braid

The Gingham Triangles

Progress on English Paper Piecing

Progress is happening on the English Paper Piecing vintage-inspired diamonds. As you can see in the picture below, the border is a lot more symmetrical than it was last week. Once I finish that row on the left side, I'll probably start on a row of colored diamonds all the way around. Then more white/cream ...

This project has been going on for nearly two years, but sometimes I put it down for months at a time. Early posts are here and here, and more are in the "English Paper Piecing" label in the blog sidebar.

I'm really pleased with how this is turning out. I love the colorfulness, and the vintage-inspired-ness, and the fact that I can work on it when I'm sitting & relaxing.

I'm also loving the subtle variations in color & texture in the white-cream section. I'm placing the whites/creams in a semi-random arrangement, using a variety of whitish solids & whitish woven-in textures.

The very teeny hexagon project is pretty much at the same place as it was last week.

I'm linking this post to this week's Monday Morning Star Count at Jessica's Life Under Quilts blog ... 

Cannas Blooming!

I love these canna flowers that are blooming right now!

I mentioned these cannas on my blog last year, mostly here and here.

I love that my neighbor shared some of her cannas (and other flowers!) with me. And I was glad when I had the chance to divide some last year and share with a friend.

I love the bright, cheery, ABUNDANT flowers, and I love the tons of BIG leaves!

Since I have some red and some orange cannas, I'm now eyeing the yellow cannas I see in other people's yards ... might have to get some of those, too!

Cannas seem to love the weather here. I love the fact that, as "big flowers" go, these are among the easiest flowers I've ever had ... plant them, water them, leave them alone, and that's about it. Nice.