La Passacaglia - part 1 -

I am back from a wonderful 2 week holiday in the West Indies and whilst I think that there should be a law against having to leave the house if the temperature difference is 30 degree Celsius (-3 in London yesterday to plus 27 in Bequia the night before !), I nonetheless dragged myself into work albeit in my vintage furs and suffering.
But that's enough whining and on to some crafting updates instead.

So I started another another EPP pieing project. The last one I did was called "On my travels" and was a quilt entirely made from low volume fabric. I pieced it as the name suggested while travelling, usually whilst journeying to my parents in Germany. Since then I have been mainly knitting on my travels and which I will keep doing so time for the new project has to be found elsewhere.

 

For those who have not heard about this latest self-inflicting torture craze, this quilt is a 3000 strong piece quilt pattern created by Willyne Hammersteil. A book is available and sew&quilt sell it including the pre-cut paper pieces and acrylic templates.

The idea is to piece this in company once a month. The lovely Ruth who is also a member of our LMQG suggested to meet up once a month for a few hours in the evening in a London to work on this together. Along the lines of shared pain is half pain or something like this. Trouble is so far I only managed to attend one evening, so the whole project may take half a century....

 

But I love my start and really love paper piecing. So I will just go with the flow no matter how long it takes and in(frequent) updates on the blog may help me along.

Hearts - a quilt in progress -

Over the last few months I saw several heart quilts popping up in quiltland. There was this quilt and tutorial from Allison Harris. These were cute hearts with two seams that she later reduced in another heart tutorial to two seams. And there is also Faith' heart quilt on her blog. She uses basically Allison's tutorial on the block and both quilts really are the cutest.

There was just one thing that bugged me with both; and that is the seams through the middle. So I created my own heart block that has no seams but a Y-seam (how is that for a bargain !...).
This allows for some great fussy cutting and will make the quilt into something like an "I spy quilt". A quilt that appeals to small children and adults at the same time. How about that ?

I will publish a pattern and tutorial soon. Just let me practise my Y-seams a little longer as not all of them are that pretty.

On my travels II - on the train to Cornwall -

So this is the start of my second ‘On my travels’ quilt following the 13 month long previous project. Again I will only or let’s say mostly work on this whilst on my frequent travels.

I so much loved the EPP process that I will stick to it but this time I am going for something more complex and will create giant hexagons from 3 different shapes.

I got the idea from Clare from selfsewn. Clare frequently makes the most gorgeous quilts from EPE shapes and one of them is a quilt called ‘Summer of Love’ that is absolutely stunning. I saw the shape I have chosen for my new project on one of her tutorials for fussy cutting. I followed her clear  instructions to make templates for the 3 individual shapes but omitted the slim border around the giant hexi. 

Then I dived into my fabric scraps and stash to look for something suitable. This little assembly above is made using K. Fassett fabrics and I think some J. Dewberry and was sewn together on a relaxing train ride 2 weeks ago to visit friends in Cornwall.

I love fussy cutting and will attempt to use in each and every giant hexi at least a fussy cut shape for the the inner hexagon if not for the diamonds too. 

Happy sewing....the weekend is not far....

Ruby Star Rising Cosmetic Bag

Yes I am eating my words here. No need to point it out. Ruby Star Rising is made for bags and no it is not to precious for it. I still would love to make a skirt for myself with the 'Ladies' part of the collection but I need to find a different pattern than the Study Hall skirt pattern as the fabric is a little to thick for the inverted pleats. 

I was in need of a new cosmetic bag to take with me in holiday so I fussy cut some of the Ladies and combined them with some lovely strong linen. I  double lined the inside, the middle layer with Kona Cotton matching the green Ladies and with a plastic lining to ensure that liquids don't soak through.

And guess I am so pleased that I finally managed to cut into the fabric. I love love love it. Isn't it a true 'Ladies' cosmetic bag ?

I have more bags already planned but they have to wait a little longer.