Category: Templates and Patterns

BOM 2019: October

eli

How can it be October already? I feel like this year has flown past. It’s alright, though, as I love autumn and October is my favourite month. The light is amazing and I love seeing all the autumn colours on the trees. It’s my birthday month and this year it’s one of the big ones: 50.

I love the age that I am, I love that I know who I am and what I want. I love the person I’ve become and I wouldn’t want to change anything in my life as everything that’s happened, good and bad, has shaped me. So I’m happy to say bring on the fifties!

Anyway, enough with the rambling. Here’s my September block which I finished at the last minute and where I added some fun orange accents.

I’m getting more and more excited about this quilt. I’ve started appliquéing the tiles onto the background but haven’t gotten very far yet. I really need to get a move on, though, as there are only two more tiles to sew.

Curious about the penultimate tile? Here it is:

I’m a little bit at a loss on how I’m going to do this one and where I’m going to put the coloured accents. Once I start all of this usually falls into place quite quickly so I’m hopeful that I’ll come up with a plan soon enough.

Right, here are the templates:

October-ADownload
October-BDownload
October-CDownload

And here’s the entire tile so you can plan your fabrics if you are so inclined:

OctoberDownload

I’m really looking forward to seeing all the various versions on Instagram.

Happy stitching!

Categories: Block of the Month, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and Patterns1 Comment

BOM 2019: September

eli

How are we in September already? I feel like this year has flown by and I’m sure it’s also because of this Block of the Month, as I have been looking forward to the new tile every time I’ve finished the current one.

Here’s my August tile:

I really like this green with the black, white and grey. And I also like how all my tiles look together on the background fabric:

As you can see Charlie was very happy to help with the layout.

You may also have noticed that my tiles don’t fit on my background fabric. This has meant that I have indeed gone back to my original plan and I’m going to appliqué them onto squares of fabric and hand quilt them before sewing the squares together. This will be my first ever quilt-as-you-go quilt and I’m really excited to try it.

Right. Are you curious about this month’s tile? Here it is:

Here are the templates:

Tile-10ADownload
Tile-10BDownload
Tile-10CDownload

And the whole tile so you can plan your fabrics:

SeptemberDownload

I’m looking forward to seeing all your beautiful blocks this month. Mine is going to be orange (at least if I find a nice orange in my stash).

Happy sewing!

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and Patterns1 Comment

BOM 2019: August

eli

It’s a new month which means it’s time for a new tile for the block of the month. I loved last month’s block.

I was going to do the pentagons in red too but used the grey sketch by mistake and didn’t want to change it when I realised it. I rather like the way it looks and am really happy with how it fits in with the others.

Right, here’s the August tile:

I think this one is a really interesting shape and I’m very excited to start this one and see everyone’s versions. I’m going to use a nice green for this tile, I think.

If you’d like to make it, here are the templates:

Tile-9-ADownload
Tile-9-BDownload

And here’s the whole tile for your fabric planning:

AugustDownload

Well, I hope you enjoy this block of the month as much as I do.

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Sewing, Templates and PatternsLeave a comment

BOM 2019: July

eli

Time is flying when you’re having fun and I sure hope you’re having fun sewing with me.

I loved the June tile and thought it looked great half finished too.

Every evening I sit in my sewing room which is also my rat room to let my ratties Bailey, Blue and Quentin roam free for an hour or so. So far this has been no problem at all as they all thought that the floor was lava. This meant that they mostly climbed on the cage and on me. However, this week Bailey has discovered that the floor doesn’t swallow her up when she walks on it and has started exploring. Add to this the fact that she’s a little hoarder and suddenly nothing is safe from her. I was sitting on the floor sewing when she swooped in and tried to steal my Aurifil thread. She also tried to get my scissors but they were too heavy for her.

Anyway, here’s the new tile:


This one looks like it’s got little cat faces in it and I might try and play with this a little. This month’s colour for me is red. Once again I have to dive into my stash to see what I can find as I really don’t want to have to buy more fabric. Rather the opposite, I’m trying to lighten my load and use up as much as I can. The problem is, that EPP doesn’t really use up that much fabric at least not when you use lots of different fabrics or scraps.

Right, here are the templates:

Templates-8ADownload
Templates-8bDownload
Templates-8CDownload

And here’s the whole tile so you can plan your block:

July-tileDownload

Categories: Aurifil, Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and PatternsLeave a comment

BOM 2019: JUNE

eli

I can’t believe it’s June already. My daughter and my cat Charlie have their birthdays on two consecutive days and it’s always very busy at the end of May. I managed to finish May’s tile quite quickly and was looking forward to June’s tile for the last three weeks as it’s one of my favourites.

My little old man enjoying the sunshine (he’s 19 years old)

Before I post the June tile I’d like to show you last month’s tile:

I found it a real struggle to find the right fabrics for April’s tile and I was a little worried that I was setting a trend but that didn’t happen. Once I picked the solid and the grey swirls for the centre square I was off and finished the tile in no time at all. I did, however, feel that I was always using the same black fabric and therefore went and bought a couple of fat quarters. You’ll see them in the next tiles, I’m sure.

Right, let’s get printing:

Template-7ADownload
Template-7BDownload
Template-7CDownload

And the whole tile for fabric planning:

Tile-7Download

This month I’m going for a sea green or turquoise accent. I have to go through my stash first to see if I have enough of one colour for this block as I’ve just cut lots of 4.5″ squares for a quilt. If not, I’ll have to buy some more fabric. The horror…

Happy sewing!

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and PatternsLeave a comment

BOM 2019: MAY

eli

I can’t believe we’re already half way through this Block of the Month once we’ve completed this last tile.

I quite like my last tile which was made with Kona banana:

I did find this tile quite difficult. I have no idea why, but I found it really difficult to choose the fabrics for this one. However, I got there in the end and am rather happy with how this one looks with the others.

This month I’m going for a light pink accent fabric. I have to check which colour it is exactly as I don’t always write down the name. It’s definitely a Kona, though.

Ok, here are the templates for the month of May:

Templates 6aDownload
Templates 6bDownload
Templates 6cDownload

Print out four of each. You can discard three of the center squares from templates 6a.

And here is the whole tile, so you can plan your fabric and colour selection:

Tile 6Download

I can’t wait to get started and see all your beautiful versions. Happy sewing!

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and Patterns1 Comment

BOM 2019: APRIL

eli

Wow, it’s already the fourth month of my BOM and I’m really hoping that everyone who’s still sewing with me is having fun.

I’ve found last month rather difficult as I couldn’t sew or type as I was suffering from tendonitis. Everything’s more or less alright now, although I still have to be a little careful and take enough breaks. I just about managed to finish my March tile in March, finishing it on the 31st.

I love my last block which I did with Kona Honeysuckle, one of my favourite Kona colours. I’m already looking forward to this month’s colour which is Kona Banana, another firm favourite. I think the four blocks look quite good together, although I’m not sure if I’m going to keep the emerald block the way it is. I feel that the colour is too solid. However, I won’t do anything about it until I have a few more blocks and can judge it properly.

So without much ado, here are the templates for April’s block.

Templates 5ADownload
Templates 5BDownload
Templates 5CDownload

And here is the PDF for the entire tile, so you can do some planning.

Tile 5Download

Happy sewing!

By the way, I’m preparing a blog post about layouts. I’m using a very simple 3 x 4 layout as I’ve always said that I want to use the quilt-as-you-go method. I haven’t started quilting yet as I wasn’t sure about the background fabric. There are so many different possible layouts, though, that I thought it might be fun to show them here on the blog.

As for the background fabric I have now narrowed it down to two, one white with grey polka dots and one grey and white striped one. The second I’m sure which one to choose I’ll start working on appliquéing the tiles and quilting the first few blocks.

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and PatternsLeave a comment

BOM 2019:March

eli

This is what the next tile looks like:

And here are the templates for it:

Template 4aDownload
Template 4bDownload
Template 4cDownload

Here you can download a pdf of the entire tile so you can colour it in and play with your fabric placement.

Tile 4Download

I hope you’re enjoying this Block of the Month as much as I am. Keep sewing!

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Templates and Patterns1 Comment

BOM 2019: February

eli

Hello! I finished my January blocks way too quickly and have been longing to continue with February’s tile. I did go for the black, grey and white with a pop of colour and I’m loving it so far. This is totally not what I would normally go for and it’s so nice to challenge myself in this way.

Here are the templates for February’s tile:

Templates 3aDownload
Template 3bDownload
Template 3cDownload

You only need one of the center squares from template 3a so you can discard the other three.

And here is the picture of the entire tile so you can colour it in and play with your fabric placement:

Tile 3Download

I hope you’re enjoying this Block of the Month as much as I am. Happy stitching!

Categories: Block of the Month, BOM 2019, English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Templates and PatternsLeave a comment

Athea

eli # # # #

Here we go! I’ve finally managed to scan in the templates for my EPP pattern which I have called ‘Athea’. Réalt Glas was made with the first set of templates. It was then I realised that I would have to re-work them as I literally had to shoe horn the grey pieces between the two green stars. This has made the inside star very pouffy. As this little mini was always supposed to live here with me, I didn’t really mind. However, when a few people asked me for the templates I realised that I would have to go back to the drawing board.

Réalt Glas Finished

Enter the Spring Version. I still had a little bit of an issue with a few of the pieces not wanting to slot in without a fight so I realised I would have to make another one. Enter a long ‘sigh’ at this point.

Réalt Glas and Spring

Voilà, Blossom! I really like how different the three versions are and I do hope that some people will use the Athea Templates. If you do, please show me your version as I’d love to show it off here as well.

Réalt Glas, Spring and Bossom

These templates were drawn by hand and are therefore not totally uniform. I do apologise for that and for the rather blurry picture of the pattern. Because I didn’t design the pattern with the intention of putting it on the blog I cut up the pattern sheet to make Réalt Glas. The only thing that remains is this blurry picture. You might think that I could have redrawn the pattern and you would be right but, to be honest, I’ve already spent so much time on this and have so many new ideas I want to explore. Furthermore, I’ve bought a wonderful app called TouchDraw for the iPad with the help of which I might even be able to give you templates that are accurate and all the same size. So think of Athea as a trial run.

Having said all this, if you do decide to have a go at ‘Athea’ and run into any kind of problems, please don’t hesitate to contact me (sharksdinner [at] sunrise [dot] ch) and I will be happy to help you as best I can.

EDIT

Here are the templates I drew on Touch Draw. Click on the link to download.

Athea

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Templates and Patterns, Tutorials7 Comments