Tag: English Paper Piecing

EPP Stars Go Together

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EPP Stars (back)

I have been working on my Half Hexie English Paper Pieced Stars since August of 2012. I really wanted to see if I could actually take out the paper templates and use them again. I sewed four stars together and went from there.

I would have felt a lot better if TFQ were sitting with me supporting me (egging me on). She wasn’t and I needed a stiff upper lip.

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EPP Stars with Papers

I did it. I took out the papers and the piece is fine. I was kind of shocked at how easy it was and how well it worked. It is tempting to take them all out, but I know I can only take out those that are surrounded on all sides by another piece.

I should have been, but I was a little surprised by how well the ‘free’ pieces kept their shape.

I don’t know how many stars I have completed, but I may pull out the box in which I keep them and start sewing them together. I would at least get an idea of how many more I need. I could also start putting a border on, once I decide what fabric to use for a border.
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Car Trips Require EPP

EPP Hexagon Stars
EPP Hexagon Stars

I got all of these stars finished over the weekend. I spent several hours in the car on the way to and from Fortuna/Ferndale.

As an aside, if you haven’t visited Ferndale, it has a lovely Victorian main street (I posted some photos a few years ago) with lots of nice shops. Fortuna is more modern, but there are some great shops and a wonderful Mexican restaurant called La Costa where they make their own tortillas.

Both directions are about a 5 hour drive and DH drove on this trip. It rained and I am not a very good passenger. Having my focus on something else is a good thing.

One thing I did differently was I sewed a couple of the stars together to start a line of them. I want to start putting the piece together. I also have to put some of the stars together, so I can start to take the papers out. I may need to buy another pack of papers.

I don’t have the background nailed down, though I am still thinking of dots on white. I am pretty sure I will use dots on white since they worked so well on Scrapitude. I loved the look. I just need to cut some pieces.

EPP Stars Again

EPP Stars - January 2014
EPP Stars – January 2014

The last time I posted about these stars was September 9, 2013. I can’t believe how time has flown. I have worked on them, but a couple of bindings and the Christmas stockings as well as the Christmas and Birthday thank you notes got in the way.

I’ll need some more of these to work on in the car during an upcoming car trip, so I will need to cut some more fabric. I like the way Scrapitude is coming out and think I will use dots on white background for the alternating rows of this project.

I am surprised at how many of these stars are in the blue range and am wondering if I decided to concentrate on these colors and have forgotten?

More EPP Stars

Thursday, as you may know, was the Fourth of July in the US. We celebrate our independence by barbequing, watching fireworks, etc. We went over to my BIL’s house for a BBQ. It was last minute and very small. We picked up MIL, a friend from the Natives came and an old friend of BIL’s came. That was it. The Young Man was disappointed that his cousins didn’t attend. Since BIL got sick, he is not up for a large event. He said he misses the larger BBQ, especially seeing friends, they used to host, but it just wasn’t possible.

EPP Stars May & June
EPP Stars May & June

Since the event was small, I had a bit of space to spread out. I finished one EPP star and started and finished another. I was pleased to be able to do a little sewing even though I was away from the machine. It was nice, because I could participate in the conversation. I also made a bit of a sensation. People were really interested in my project. The Natives friend, Dave, brought his girlfriend, Teri. She asked a lot of questions about the process and what I did with the quilts, etc. I encouraged her to look into a class. I doubt she will do it, but I always try and encourage people to learn to quilt.

This group of stars also makes me wonder if I should continue with my plan to have alternate rows be dots on white or if I should make alternate rows warm and cool colors.

You can see the last stars I worked on in a May post.

A Week Away and Some Quilting pt.3

English Paper Pieced Stars
English Paper Pieced Stars

I guess I am on kind of a star kick. I am showing you MORE stars, after all.

Aren’t the colors pretty? I think they go together well.

This is the miniscule amount of English Paper Piecing I was able to do while we were out with the Natives. I was only able to piece in the car and it was just a 4 hour drive each way.

I thought I would have scads of time sitting by the pool to work on this project, but nope. I was too busy smiling, shaking hands with DH’s constituents to bring this project out. I think I will have a goal of getting it done by the time he ends his term as Grand President in 2017. It will be my political project. Perhaps I’ll have enough for a table runner?

More Stars Different Stars

English Paper Piecing Stars
English Paper Piecing Stars

I spent the weekend up on the North Coast with my handsome DH. In the car, I like to work on something. The English Paper Piecing project I started in August is perfect and I was able to finish 4 stars. A few of the stars were done during TV watching sessions.

I forgot how much I liked this project.

I organized the half hexagons in the hotel room on Saturday, so they were ready to put together in the car. It worked out great.

Each star takes around an hour to sew together.

EPP Stars

EPP Stars Sept. 2012
EPP Stars Sept. 2012

I have made some more progress on the English Paper Piecing Project I told you about in August.

I make about one of these stars per night depending on whether I have basted the half hexagons beforehand or not.

Faye did hers with rows of light and dark stars, as I mentioned, but my plan is to use dots on white as the alternate rows. This is a long term project. It is so I have something to do in front of the television when I am out of bindings to stitch down. I don’t know if I will ever finish this quilt, but I might get sick of it and just decide to finish it once I have made thousands of the stars.

I am still kind of working out how large to cut pieces and what pieces to cut. I have decided to leave out blacks and also dark greys, though I do have a medium grey that I will leave in for the time being.

Now it is Later

Half Hexagon Stars
Half Hexagon Stars

A few days ago, I gave a little sneak peek at my newest hand project.My quilter is quilting very slowly so I don’t have a lot of bindings to do and it is very hard for me to sit in front of the TV and not have something for my hands to do. There is only so much laundry a person can fold in this world.

I wasn’t really interested in doing anything using the English Paper Piecing technique until I saw my friend Faye’s stars. They look like the above stars, but hers are a bit bigger (I bought the wrong size patterns). When I saw what she was doing, I thought it might be a good project for in front of the TV, in the car, etc.

Like Faye, I bought my patterns from a company called Paper Pieces. They have GREAT customer service and a wonderful catalog that really opened my eyes to the possibilities of EPP.

TFQ is working on a hexagon paper piecing project, so when she was down, she gave me a little tutorial on how to put the pieces together. I was confused until she showed me that you sew straight through the cardstock patterns. Once I knew that everything fell into place. I also have Lisa at BAMQG and Faye via email as resources.

Faye's Half Hexagon Top
Faye’s Half Hexagon Top

Faye’s piece is getting quite large. Her idea is to use darks and medium-lights in alternating rows. She said the longest row is 15 stars. I am thinking of using dots with light backgrounds as my alternate rows.

I also want to use some of my newer fabric that has not been earmarked for a project.