Slow stitching - EPP progress & some Applique

I always have many EPP  projects on the go, that way I can switch between them usually on a fortnightly basis & never get bored of stitching the same thing. Here are some I'm currently focusing on.....

Back in August 2016 I started making some EPP Glitter blocks having drafted my own templates a little larger than those from Jen Kingwell's book Quilt Lovely

This is another great pattern for mixing up the fabric scraps

Where I'm at so far....

Then in October last year, inspired by some amazing vintage hexagon mosaic quilts, especially those of  Albert Small I decided to design my own mosaic. I started colouring in like mad & came up with this for a starting off point

Then the stitching began....

another round was added...

& another section

This is where I'm at today, the main centre pattern is nearly complete. I'm using 3/4" hexagons for this quilt

Next up we have EPP triangles. I had a quite a few redundant triangles cut for a border of another quilt which just didn't work out as I had planned.

One day I came across Linda Collins' Panama Pyramids FB group, (as you do) & finally found a use for these pieces & just had to join in!

These are so easy & quick to make up

Some more sets prepped & ready to stitch.

This is another great scrap project, I'm sticking to using Kaffe Fassett Collective prints & shot cottons for these

Finally, last week, inspired mainly by my love of blue & white china and images of Kaffe Fassett's collection as well as his fabulous mosaics, this design was born

Fabric mosaics using up even smaller scraps, each piece hand appliqued

Embellishing the ginger jar with some simple back stitch embroidery to give it a bit more dimension

A little contrast hand quilting added

This will be bound with the same darker blue spot fabric to add balance to the piece. I

already have more ideas developing on this theme.....watch this space!

Little Quilt swap

This year I finally participated in Lori's of Humble Quilts blog,  Little Quilt swap  I've been meaning to join in previous years but had always missed the sign up deadline :(

So here is the lovely little quilt I received from Christy, all the way from the USA, isn't it adorable?Thank you Christy & also a big thanks to Lori for organizing this great swap :)

 You can view all the gorgeous little quilts made & swapped at Lori's linky party here

.....and here is the small quilt I made & sent off to Mary

 Whilst I had all the repro scraps out & was in the mood, I also knocked out a few more small quilt tops, some of them just to use up little orphan blocks I had lying around.

Just need to crack on & get these hand quilted next!

Time for an update

Just don't know where the time goes these days & can't believe it's been so long since I last posted something here.......but I haven't been completely idle!

The remainder of 2013 was busy sewing wise completing an order of baby quilts and tactile taggies for  the shop at Durrell.

Throughout 2013 I had been making quite a few Antique rose blocks by EPP which would be an ideal Christmas present for someone I know who loves polka dots

 These blocks are such fun to make & great for using up all sorts of scraps

It was a bit of a mad rush to get this quilt top completed & quilted in time. I opted for big stitch hand quilting with Pearl 8 cotton

........and chose to stick with hexagons for the border quilting

I just managed to complete it on time as the last stitch of the binding was made on 23rd December!

2014 so far .........

Remember this time last year I was up to my eyes in making Easy Street, which was a mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter, well this top was chosen as a 60th birthday present for a special person & needed to be quilted asap

For this one I decided to hand quilt in concentric circles radiating from the centre of each main block & filled the gaps in between with concentric squares

I quite like how this one turned out, even though the patchwork design is quite busy with lots of piecing, the hand quilting still shows up well

I now have a new project on the go for 2014......it involves hexagons & guess what EPP!

Hand Quilting

Where have I been you may wonder?

Well, remember these above? That became this below

I decided I wanted to have a go at hand quilting baptist fans on this scrappy repro log cabin in order to keep this quilt as traditional as possible.

I used these washable fine tipped markers and some circle templates to mark the rows of fans

...........as I didn't trust my skills at doing these freehand

Loving the look of these fans & the texture they create

Almost done......

Ta dah, all finished!

 and washed (the marker washed out perfectly)

 Look at all the texture, love it.

Here it is in all it's glory, this quilt finished at single bed/generous lap size, which was big enough for my first big hand quilting project.

Small Quilts

In between bouts of hand quilting I've managed to keep up with the Small Quilt Talk group monthly challenges set by Kathy Tracy:

April's challenge - Contrary wife block

May's challenge was a beautiful Sweet Pea pattern that Kathy designed and published the free pattern on her website here

..........and my interpretation of June's challenge, Flowerpot applique from her book, Remembering Adelia. A bit different to the original pattern, I admit I got just a little carried away doing my own thing here! lol

Here we have a possible layout of how I'm planning on joining these together "Quilt as You Go" method to make one large quilt. As I've mentioned before these little quilts are very good practice for improving my machine piecing and hand quilting. Odd orphan and play blocks are being used as fillers.

Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post, in the meantime, keep on stitching :)