My EPP flower garden is growing

Welcome,

My English Paper Pieced flower garden is slowly growing.

I have received 3 sets of flowers recently.

Gayle sent these from the USA:

Debbie sent these from Israel:

LaRee sent these from the USA:

And finally I have added 3 flowers:

I now have 27 flowers. I'll keep going before I decide on a setting.

I'm leaning towards a non-traditional layout for a bed sized quilt.

Thanks for popping by,

Vicki 

English Paper Piecing Hexie Flower Swap Update

Welcome 

Today I'm doing a round up of the hexie flowers I've received through the Hinchy Flower Swap that I joined in January this year.

 Each month we get allocated a partner, to make and send two flowers to.  The flowers in the top row above are the ones I have received, the bottom row has the ones I've made for myself.

We get to specify the flower colours - mine are pinks and purples with a light coloured centre.

This is the first swap I've been involved with, my return success rate has been 50% - I find this a little disappointing, surely people intend to send flowers when they join up.

Anyway, I'm happy, as I make a couple for myself each month too and the garden is growing slowly, which is fine as I have two other EPP project on the go and more itching to get out of my head!

I have recently found some groups on facebook where people are swapping, but I don't want to over commit.  I have yet to decide how many people I will swap with on there, but the garden will continue to grow.

Thanks for stopping by

Vicki

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

Twisted Rib Beanie - A Finished Project & Tutorial

Welcome,

I have completed another beanie!  This one was a request from hubby, he wanted something with a spiral so I set out to work it out!

It must have been what he wanted, as he has been wearing it!

I thought I'd share a tutorial, mainly so that I will remember what I did if I want to make another one day!

Please be aware that I have never written a knitting pattern or tutorial before, I welcome any constructive feedback

Twisted Rib Beanie Tutorial

Supplies

• 60gm/200m 4ply Merino Wool
• 3mm 40cm circular needles

Gauge
I'm afraid I'm not good with this - I don't knit practice swatches, so I'll tell you what I do know:

• my 8 stitch repeat measures 2.5cm unstretched
• my finished beanie had a circumference of approximately 45cm unstretched
• calculate how many stockinette stitches are required to make the unstretched circumferance required - you will need a multiple of 8.

Abbreviations

k - knit

p - pearl

ssk - slip 2 stitches knitwise from left to right needles. slip left needle into the 2 slipped stitches and knit

pfb - pearl front and back into same stitch

sl1 - slip 1 stitch knitwise from left to right needles

p2tog - pearl 2 stitches together

psso - pass the slipped stitch over previous stitch

slm - slip marker

Getting Started

Cast on 160 stitches (or calculated number calculated divisible by 8) ensuring the stitches aren't twisted

Place marker before proceeding

Knitting The Brim

Row 1 *k2, p2* repeat to end, slm

Repeat Row 1 until ribbing reaches 3.5cm in length

Note - if you don't want a knitted brim and want to launch straight into the pattern, knit row 1 once to avoid curling and proceed to the next section

Knitting The Pattern

Row 1 - *k2, p6* repeat to end, slm

Row 2 - *k2, p5, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 3 -  *k1, ssk, p6* repeat to end, slm

Repeat Rows 2 & 3 until total length reaches 18cm, finishing on Row 3

Tips

• if you lose your place, count the number of pearl stitches between the knit ahead of where you are knitting, if there are 6 you are on row 2, if there are 7 you are on row 3
• if you like a longer or shorter beanie, adjust the number of row repeats to suit the length you require

Shaping the Crown

Row 1 - *k2, p2tog, p3, pfb, k2, p5, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 2 - *k1, 22k, p5, k1, ssk, p6* repeat to end, slm

Row 3 - *k2, p4, pfb, k2,p2tog, p3, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 4 - *k1, ssk, p5* repeat to end, slm

Row 5 - *k2, p2tog, p2, pfb, k2, p4, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 6 - *k1, ssk, p4, k1, ssk, p5* repeat to end, slm

Row 7 - *k2, p3, pfb, k2, p2tog, p2, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 8 - *k2, ssk, p4* repeat to end, slm

Row 9 - *k2, p2tog, p1, pfb, k2, p3, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 10 - *k1, ssk, p3, k1, ssk, p4* repeat to end, slm

Row 11 - *k2,p2, pfb, k2, p2tog, p1, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 12 - *k1, ssk, p3* repeat to end, slm

Row 13 - *k2, p2tog, pfb, k2, p2, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 14 - *k1, ssk, p2, k1, ssk, p3* repeat to end, slm

Row 15 - *k2, p1, pfb, k2, p2tog, pfb* repeat to end, slm

Row 16 - *k1, ssk, p2* repeat to end, slm

Row 17 - *k1, sl, k2tog, psso* repeat to end, slm

Row 18 - knit slm

Row 19 - *k2tog* repeat until 10 stitches remain

Note - change to double pointed needle or magic loop knitting when needed

Finishing

Thread remaining wool onto a wool needle, thread through 10 remaining stitches to close hole. 

Weave in all ends

Please share if you have a go at knitting this, I'd love to see your finished projects.

Thank you for popping by

Vicki

Recycled Denim Dog Blankets - A Finished Project

Welcome,

The total of my weekend sewing are a couple of recycled denim dog blankets:

Recycled Denim Dog Blankets

Not great pictures I'm afraid, I took them this morning after they'd been slept on!

Recycled Denim Dog Blankets

Each top has been made from a patchwork of 3 x trouser legs opened up

Recycled Denim Dog Blanket 

And the back of each is 2 layers of an old fleece blanket that is no longer used. 

A simple sew around inside out and then turned in the right way with a simple line of stitches around the edge.

Now all of the family members have our own denim blanket. You can read about hubby's here, and mine here.

Floyd, showing off his new recycled denim blanket

Floyd was kind enough to model his, but he wouldn't let Gretle model hers - little brothers can be like that!!

Thank you for popping by
Vicki