English Paper Piecing

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

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. 

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.

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:

7 colored hexagon flowers

What it looks like this week:

12 colored hexagon flowers & 4 white hexagon flowers

A little size-perspective:

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:

Progress as of September 2012

What it looks like today:

Progress as of July 2013

37 inches long

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.