EPP Diamond Star Quilt - A real progress post!

Welcome

This is how my quilt 'slabs' are looking at the moment, they are starting to cover the queen sized bed.

I currently have 6 x slabs and 5 x half slabs.  I intend on having a 5 x 3.5 configuration:

Quilt Stats so far:

• 408 diamonds sewn into 6 pointed stars
• 136 hexagons 

On hand I currently have

• 'lot's' of basted diamonds
• 23 half stars
• 14 full stars
• 3 basted hexagons - I ran out of white fabric, but I have now rectified this!!

To complete the quilt I need:

• 46.5 stars or 279 diamonds
• 141 hexagons

I also plan to put a white 5-10 inch border on so that will be even more white diamonds and hexagons, but I haven't quite worked out the configuration for that yet - I'll just have to save that for another day.

You can see further posts about this quilt by following the links below:

• My slab process/tutorial
• A work in progress

Thank you for popping by

Vicki

EPP Diamond Star Quilt - My Process

Welcome!

I have noticed in an English Paper Piecing facebook group I am in that newbies regularly ask how to piece the shapes together. I find that this is personal, though interesting to see how others do it.

So, here I am sharing how I am putting together my EPP star quilt.

As my quilt is scrappy I start by randomly picking 3 diamonds and sewing them together as shown:

When I have a nice pile of half stars I'll sew the halves together randomly:

When I have a nice stack of stars I sew them into larger 'slabs':

This picture shows 5 slabs on top of each other. This size allows me to keep my sections flat as they aren't too large, yet I am starting to put my top together.

To make the slab I start with a star and add hexagons around it:

Next I add 5 stars around this:

Next I fill in the hexagons:

You may have noticed that I prefer to use continuous thread where possible!

Nearly there!

Now I store these until I'm ready to put the top together.  Each of these will fit together easily without having to add additional pieces and this allows me to ensure that I distribute colours, fabrics etc throughout the quilt.

I think that I am going to need 15 of these to complete my quilt top ... that decision hasn't been made yet!!

I hope this visual is useful and that you were able to follow it.

Thank you for popping by
Vicki

English Paper Pieced Star Quilt - A Work In Progress

Welcome,

If you hadn't already realised, I struggle to stick to one project at a time!

I am currently taking a break from my Farmer's Wife English Paper Pieced Quilt and started a 2 inch 8 point star quilt too.

Those of you that follow me on facebook will have seen the above image before - this is my happy spot where I sit of an evening and sew.  That basket - it holds all the goodies!

I thought I'd share how I work, I have pieces at all stages as I tend to get bored easily and this way it keeps it interesting

I have some paper pieces and fabric cut ready for basting 

I've used all fabrics that I  already had stashed away and haven't purchased any specifically for this project (yet).

As I baste the diamonds and hexagons I throw them in the paper bag to keep them together and use it as a lucky dip once I start sewing them together

Next I started sewing scrappy half stars - 3 diamonds.
When I sew these together, to keep it scrappy I go with whatever comes out of the bag, but of course there are some exceptions!  I don't allow the same fabrics in a star and try to avoid similar coloured fabrics, ie two bright yellow's in a star.

When these started adding up I started pairing the half stars and full stars were born.

Then I start joining hexagons and creating a finished 'slab' or section of the quilt - these will fit together even if I turn them around to disperse the colours

I tend to work in this fashion with a quilt in many stages.  The sections that I create will join together, this allows me to feel like I am making progress and ensure that fabrics are dispersed fairly evenly.

Thank you for popping by,
Vicki