English Paper Piecing – Page 10

La Pass Basting

I spent Craft Night the other night basting my first La Pass Rosette. Yes, I finished cutting in case that wasn’t clear.

Half Hexie EPP Section - April 2019 — Half Hexie EPP Section – April 2019

On my Half Hexie Star project, I have been thread basting. If you zoom in on the photo (right) you will see the bits of thread holding the papers and the fabric together.

Thread basting is a fine way to prepare English Paper Piecing pieces and their fabric. I had planned to thread baste La Pass. Then I watched the Naudia Tatum video and Tula’s first EPP video, about halfway throug., both of which included sections on glue basting. Sue Daley, the apparent queen of EPP, though I had never heard of her until I started this project, also has a video. Of course, I watched it. I might be tending towards obsession.

Finally, I decided that I would, at least, try it. Time is kind of short around here lately and I really need all the spare minutes I can get if I have any hope of getting anything finished this year.

First, I had to find my glue pen**. Fortunately, it was in the place I thought it was. Why I knew it was there, I have no idea. Visual memory, I guess. Then, I watched the glue basting section of Tula’s first EPP video video again and went for broke at Craft Night.

In the photo, left, you can see the swipe of glue on the paper on the right hand side. The process takes some practice. I know there will be pieces where I glued too close to the edge, but I think I got used to the process as the evening went on.

The good thing was that I could see the results of my precise fussy cutting right after I basted.

This is some Tula Pink panda fabric. I do not want animal faces looking at me from my quilt, so I fussy cut them in a way that would make black and white optical sort of designs. I am excited to see it once I sew it together.

I found the glue basting fun once I got going. The Sue Daly small turntable cutting mat** arrived and really helped.

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

More La Pass Cutting

I talked about cutting the other day, but not in detail. One thing included in the BOM is acrylic templates. These are super handy as they allow me to use a rotary cutter to cut fabrics.

The issue is that they are multi-sided. In all the videos, the demonstrators have turntable mats. I have had a basic one** for awhile. It wasn’t round so it wasn’t ideal, but I never really felt like I needed it.

I took the Jen Carlton Bailly class in 2019 (so long ago? I can’t believe so much time has passed!). That class started me thinking that a real rotating mat might be useful. I decided to put the Martelli version on my wishlist and the YM bought it for me.

Martelli cutting mat for La Pass cutting

I used the Martelli rotating mat** for cutting all the pieces for the first rosette and it was great except it didn’t fit well on my cutting table. A quarter of it hung over the edge of the cutting table, so if I got to close to the edge the mat would tilt. It is a little too large for my cutting table. You can see how half of the mat is hovering over the floor in the photo (right). I made it work, because it made cutting pieces so much easier.

Pink Door and Naudia Tatum recommended a small mat by Sue Daley**. I bought one, which arrived the other day – after I cut all the pieces for the first La Pass rosette. This size does not hang over the edge of my cutting table, so I don’t have to be as careful. I have much more control over my cutting.

I think I might be a convert to using this rotating turntable cutting mat.

La Pass Block 1 Cutting

I spent a few minutes each day this past week cutting the pieces for the first La Pass rosette.

I cut almost everything as the cutting guide suggested. I added teacups for the extreme diamonds (now purple in the lower left), but decided the pieces weren’t big enough to show off the tea cups. They are waiting for another outing.

I did change the small pentagons. I used dots for some and eye fabric for some. I hope it looks ok.

I finally got all of the cutting done and am ready to baste. I think I am going to use glue. I’ll see how it works and ditch it if I don’t like it.

La Passacaglia Start

As mentioned, I joined the La Passacaglia BOM through Pink Door Fabrics. The other day I received my first month’s shipment. This is an 18 month project, so I’ll be getting a lot of these. This one was special because everyone in the group was so excited to start.

Yes, I am in a group of about 500 people who are doing the BOM. There is a private FB group where we talk about our journey. In the group there was a lot of hype up to the first shipment.

I wasn’t in the first wave of recipients. I got mine probably in the middle group. I have a month to finish the rosette, so I wasn’t worried. I was excited when I got the package. I immediately ripped it open and checked everything out.

La Pass is a daunting project and this group as well as the monthly shipments helps break it down into bite-sized pieces. It also gives me a project on which I can work when my workroom is in disarray.

La Passacaglia Prep

As I mentioned a few days ago, I watched a video suggested by Pink Door to get ready to make La Pas. I didn’t really feel like I needed to watch it. After all, I have been working on the Half Hexie project for years. I was tired from a long day of Workroom Refresh and needed a break so I sat down and watched it. I found it to be interesting and helpful.

I have most of the tools I need, though I did toss a few more True Grips** and a new kind of thimble to try into my cart as I perused the Pink Door site while watching the video.

The thing I found helpful, was watching Naudia cut and organize her pieces. It was also helpful to see what supplies would be coming in the BOM shipments. The video with this information was especially helpful as I think about making a bag to organize all of this stuff. I have a better idea of the types of pockets I might need. I am thinking I will want to carry stuff around so I can work on this project on the go. So far I need pockets for the following bits and pieces:

Book, which has the pattern*
Tools and supplies
- Rotating mat
- Rotary cutter
- Scissors
I will definitely need a pocket for prepped or cut pieces and their papers
Pink Door cutting guide
extra fabric
thread
What else??

I also liked the way she showed using a rotating cutting mat. Of course, I have used one before, but in a different way. Her rotating cutting mat is really small – good for one piece at a time. Mine is really big, so I may think about buying a smaller one.

*The pattern not included in the BOM subscription. This wasn’t a surprise as Pink Door made that very clear. The pattern is included in the book, Millefiori Quilts**, which is the first Willyne Hammerstein book. Yes, this book is expensive, but worth the money if you make one or two of the quilts. Also, it is beautiful to look at since the quilts are so amazing.

La Passacaglia Finally

You saw in the past couple of Various & Sundry posts that I was selling my La Passacaglia papers and acrylic templates. I bought them in 2016 from MassDrop and I really did want to make the quilt. I do want to make the quilt. The biggest problem was choosing fabric. I don’t know why this was such a problem, but it was a daunting wall that I couldn’t climb over. I also wanted to finish the Half Hexie quilt before starting on another EPP project.

I did sell them, which is great. A woman in New Zealand bought them and she received them in a week! I sent them Monday and she received them the following Monday! WOW!!

I didn’t give up on the project, however: I am making the quilt. I am making it along with the Pink Door BOM. Their project uses Tula fabrics and larger sized paper templates. It starts in April. They describe what I get as “Your first shipment will include a set of custom acrylic templates for the Pink-Door-Size La Passacaglia quilt with 3/8” seam allowance. Each month, you’ll receive an installment of Tula Pink fabric, paper pieces, the exclusive cutting assistant, 2-pack of Sewline glue pen refills, and an optional coordinating Aurifil thread-set add on that will be custom curated to the fabrics used that month. We will also be sending special super-secret surprise goodies throughout the sew along. Lastly, we have an exclusive Facebook group with custom video tutorials to get you started off on the right foot, as well as a community of your fellow block of the month participants.” I am not providing a link, because the subscriptions are closed.

I have never done this kind of project before. I always, as you know, do my own project. I want my own look to the quilt, so I plan to replace a few fabrics with my own. I have been saving fabrics I thought would be good. I got a few ideas as I was perusing the Millefiori Quilts group on Facebook. I might implement them. I’ll definitely wait until I get the jist of the whole project. We’ll have to see how it goes.

One good thing is that the acrylic templates have a 3/8″ seam allowance. I prefer the 3/8ths seam allowance for EPP projects. I know that they will recommend glue basting. I have a good system going with clips and will try to continue with that.

I went looking for information after seeing some posts from the East Dakota Quilter. I saw a post about making the quilt that I thought was really good. Karen Tripp, who owns the DIY Addict shop (no affiliation!-just a happy customer) wrote about the whole process of getting started. I have to explore more of the post, but I think it will help me get started even with the BOM instructions.

I also looked for other posts and will explore those.

The BOM starts in July.

EPP Pentagon Ball

I finished my large-ish EPP ball and really like the way it came out.

I fussy cut some favorite fabrics and then spent several hours during Craft Night and some guild meetings basting the fabrics and, then, sewing the ball together.

I used the last bits of my bag of fiberfill to stuff it. Normally I would add some Beanie Baby pellets to the stuff to give the ball some weight. However, I plan to give this ball to a 1 year old and I don’t want her breaking a lamp or giving one of her parents a black eye when she throws it.

I think these balls would be fun for people of any age, though the fun could get out of hand at a family event.

Half Hexies Again

I have been working steadily on the half hexie project while I watch TV after dinner. I am making progress, but it feels slow.

I have started to make the piece wider by adding whole rows to the straight side of the piece. I can’t say whether I like this method, but it is controlled and does make the piece wider.

Yesterday I heaved the top on the bed and checked to see how many more rows I need.

I don’t normally show my messy bed, but this is the best way to show progress. The length is good, thought I do need to straighten up the top and bottom edges. From the photo, I think I need 6-8 more rows to make the quilt wide enough to cover the whole bed.

Scrapitude Carnivale is under the Half Hexie piece so it might cause some visual confusion.

Half Hexie EPP non-fatal Problem

The other day I showed you the latest results in my EPP piece. As I was taking the picture, I noticed a piece that looks a little odd.

Dots. Dots are the problem. That violet with white dots fabric n the middle is weird looking. Something about the dots intersecting with the white is unconventional.

The papers are out so I can’t rip it out. I’ll leave it and see if anyone notices.

Half Hexie EPP

The other day I showed a piece of the Half Hexie EPP I was working on. I have spent some time since then attaching it to the larger piece.

I often think I am in a good place with this piece, then I look at the whole thing and realize I haven’t made the progress I wanted. That was the case when I looked at this whole piece as I was photographing it. It is still too skinny. I need to make it wider.

I have been thinking I would square up the top and bottom then make it wider. Somehow it just keeps getting longer and appears to be skinnier.

Fortunately, I still need some length so the work will not go to waste and I won’t have to rip it out.

As an aside, I saw an exact match to this quilt (except for the fabrics) on a Kansas City Star page. They call it Whirligig. Do I like that name? Maybe.

I am kind of thrilled that the Kansas City Star has a pattern for this quilt. I’ll have to look it up and see what my copy says about the pattern.

Half Hexie Section

I am never going to get this project finished if I don’t work on it, so I work on it whenever I can. Lately, I have just been making stars. I have a whole Scone container full of the little stars and some pieces in my Sew Together Bag cut to make more. I decided I had better put some stars together to make a section that will increase the size of the main piece before I made more stars. As a result, I have been beavering away at that task.

It doesn’t look very impressive, I know. That takes a bit of the wind out of my sails, because all of that piecing is handwork and it took quite a while, though not years, to get that much done.

I am still trying to think of this as my slow quilt project, but it is hard. I am kind of ready to be done with this project and move on to something else. At least I finished one hand project this year.

A Few More Half Hexie Stars

White half hexie stars - January 2019 — White half hexie stars – January 2019

In between everything else I have going on, I have been working on the half hexie stars. I need about a million more stars, so I just work on them whenever I don’t have any other handwork pressing.

I especially need white background stars so I have been concentrating on those fabrics lately.

One problem I had with this batch was matching the centers. WonderClips, which has worked perfectly well before, were not working. They didn’t seem to be clipping strongly enough. My pieces kept slipping, making the centers off. Some were just a smidge. Others had to be ripped out.

Half Hexie Star - matching centers — Half Hexie Star – matching centers

Alison saw my double point pins at the last Sew Day. Someone in Rosalie Dace‘s class said I had to have them, so I bought some. Alison mentioned to me that they were for matching up points. I don’t usually have a problem in regular piecing, but since I was having a problem with the half hexies, I thought I would try them. They are not ideal, but they help a lot. You can see from the photo that I use clips and the double point pins. I am now using two pins and a clip. This strategy seems to be working.

Gift Post #9: Juggling Balls

You have seen a few posts about these juggling balls in the past few weeks. Well, I finally finished them. I didn’t get them done in time to give them to my niece for Christmas, but oh well. I am still pretty pleased with the way they came out and I am thinking about making another set.

As previously mentioned, I got the idea for the balls from All Points Patchwork, a comprehensive guide on English paper piecing. I wrote a review about it recently.

I didn’t want to just hand over 3 balls, so I looked for a bag to make in which they could be stored. Quickly, I remembered the drawstring bag by Jeni Baker of In Color Order. I found the tutorial, but after working through it a little I found some missing information. After some investigation I was forwarded to another version of the tutorial. In fairness, Baker sells a pattern for this drawstring bag with several size variations. I believe I bought it at one point, but wasn’t able to put my hands on the pattern quickly. The size (approx 10.5″ x 8.5″) in the tutorial was fine for my purposes. Perhaps a little big, but fine.

I had a bunch of the mini-charm packs of Prairie by Moda, which is what I used to make the juggling balls. I used more of them to make the bag with a Barbara Jones peach dot print for the accent and the lining. I am not sure I would make patchwork again for the bag, though if I had some orphan blocks I might use them. It would be quicker and more elegant to use two or three fabrics. Still, what I made is kind of cheerful.

More Juggling Balls

Juggling Ball n.1 - in 3D — Juggling Ball n.1 – in 3D

I finally got one whole juggling ball to the point where I can stuff it close it.

I didn’t use the same method of basting I use with the half hexies. I only basted through the fabric, not through the paper. This was recommended by the All Points Patchwork author, Diane Gilleland. It doesn’t feel as secure to me, but so far so good.

The next step is to remove the papers, turn it inside out and stuff it.

As mentioned, I had to take all of the papers out before I left Portland, because the ball, as shown right, would have certainly been squished. I’d like to use those papers again.

Pentagon Juggling Balls

I am absurdly pleased with how these halves came out. Some parts of sewing them into a 3D shape were not easy, but not too difficult either.

As mentioned, I used a mini-charm pack so the backs don’t look as tidy as my half hexies do. I don’t care. I am using pretty supplies I have. I also had no time to pick out fabric and cut small pieces, so the mini-charm pack worked well.

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