Author: eli

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

Passing it on

eli

I caught the English Paper Piecing (EPP) bug about seven years ago when I started my first hexie cushion. I still have it and when I look at it I see all the imperfections. However, I love it so much that It sits on my favourite yellow chair in the living room, reminding me of my humble beginnings…

Well, I’ve gone and infected my mum. She was curious to try out EPP, so I gave her some big hexagons and some fabric and showed her how to baste and sew them together. She made a gorgeous runner to brighten up her dark blue chair.

After she finished it, she wanted to make a cushion cover and picked diamond shapes and some turquoise, white and pink fabrics.

As soon as she’d finished she asked me for something red. I had just designed a cushion cover for my sister to try out EPP as she’d seen my mother’s beautiful creations. As there were two versions I gave one of them to my mum with various red fabrics.

Those pieces are quite big so she finished it in no time, turned round to me and said the magic words: “I think I’m ready to start a quilt now.” You could’ve blown me over with a feather. I grabbed my iPad to open TouchDraw and started designing before she could change her mind. I gave her the papers and some Gütermann fabrics I had bought to make a quilt for my daughter two or three years ago and she set off.

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m sorry the picture is rather bad quality but I think you can still appreciate the beauty of it. My mum first said she was going to make four rosettes, then decided that maybe six were in order. I still think she’ll continue and make nine, although she is sure she won’t. We’ll see who’s right, won’t we?

As for my sister (who’s a prolific knitter), we’re going on holiday together soon and we’re both taking our EPP kit with us. I’ll show her how to EPP and maybe just maybe she will catch the bug, too.

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing2 Comments

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

Portable?

eli # # # # #

I love EPP because it’s portable. I can sew at home on my sofa while watching tv or I can take it with me on holiday. I can sew on the train, in the garden and many other places.

However, I’ve now started a project that is EPP but most definitely isn’t portable. My Floral Star quilt started with a stack of fat quarters I was gifted by my lovely friend Paula. She knows how much I love anything designed by Kate Spain and I was thrilled to bits when she gave me her stack of Canyon fabrics. I knew I had to make something special with it and decided to try and supersize one of my designs. The choice fell on Floral Star and I couldn’t be happier so far.

The colours aren’t the same in my version so it looks quite different.

As you can see I’m not finished yet. I had to let Charlie sit on it as no one really understood just how big it is already. I don’t mind, though, as he is the cutest cat in the whole wide world. The smallest piece is about 3.5″ x 4.5″, most of them are over 7″. It’s quite a challenge but fun too. I had to use slightly thicker paper as normal 80g/m copy paper bent too easily with such large pieces. It makes the whole thing harder and heavier to handle so I can only work on it when I’m sitting on the floor or at a table.

Since taking this picture I have finished sewing on the magenta triangles and am now going to continue with some green, I think.

If you’re on Instagram you can check out my progress with the hashtag ⌗sharksdinnerfloralstar

Categories: English Paper Piecing, Hand sewing, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, Work in Progress1 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

AGNES

eli

I have a new sewing machine: an Elna Grasshopper, which I’ve decided to name Agnes.

I used to have a Grasshopper but sadly her motor started smoking while I was sewing and I had to get rid of her. I’ve wanted another one ever since and when I found this one on the internet for sfr.35.- I knew I had to get her. She’s got quite a few scratches and has neither her case nor any accessories but I thought that it didn’t really matter for this price. I really enjoy using her and I mostly got her so I could take her to retreats.

I had to get a new foot for her as when she arrived she was set up for darning but that was quick and easy thanks to the internet again. I was really happy for the darning foot as it means I can do some free motion quilting with her too.

I now need to make a cover for her and think I might go through my massive pile of orphan blocks and EPP trial pieces to find something I can quickly turn into a quilted cover. I’ll show her off in her new cover as soon as I’ve finished it.

Welcome to the family, Agnes!

Categories: Sewing implementsLeave a comment