Current projects

This is my newest quilt start. It's long term ...a hand sewing ( #epp ) project. My last English paper piecing quilt top took 7 years to make and it's taking about 6 months to hand quilt then bind. This one will be faster since it wont be just worked on during car rides and doc appts. I'm doing some blocks each evening. I've hauled out my bin of 30s reproduction prints and vintage fabrics and am sorting in color order. Then I have daughter Jenn finding coordinating light/medium/dark sets for the blocks.

Also, in the evenings or early morning, I'm putting in a bit of time on that first EPP quilt, my 6-point diamond stars. It's getting to the end. This week I flipped the quilt frame around so that I can quilt the last few rows. It should be finished some time in April.

No machine last week

I tried a new thread last week ...supposed to be wonderful for machine quilting...FMQ. Well, my machine ate it! It broke it off and wound it around some inside parts and it seized up. Yesterday, when I picked up my machine, the repairman told me I probably won't be able to finish the quilt with that thread! What?! I can't use two different threads! So, I'm going to put something different in the bobbin but keep the problem thread on top...and proceed SLOWLY. But in the meantime I've been doing some hand sewing.

I started a new English paper piecing project. This is "Tumbling Blocks". I'm going to make the quilt out of 30's reproduction prints, actual vintage fabrics and shirtings. This quilt will take years, I'm sure. My last EPP quilt took 7 years for the top...it's the one I'm hand quilting right now. I hope this doesn't take THAT long but it won't be quick. It'll be something to keep me busy on the road, at sporting events, doctor appts, etc

Of all the papers and patterns, I keep coming back to the 60° diamonds. They're so easy to work with. Before starting this, I searched epp patterns to see what was new or different. There really are a lot to choose from. One that I really like the looks of is Lucy Boston but it seems like a lot of fussy cutting and that's not something I enjoy. I also like the looks of Grandmothers Flower Garden which uses hexagon papers. I've had my fill of hexagons lately and I'm still making an occasional hexie flower for daughter Jenn's quilt. She's very slowly collecting/making those. Another epp pattern I considered was the apple core...really cute finished but maybe a bit harder to join together? So diamonds won out. Anyways, that's what's been happening here the past week. Now I need to finish FMQuilting that great neice quilt

Sunday sewing

Today's weather is pretty warm but very rainy and very windy. It's a perfect spring day to stay in and sew...at least until the rain stops. I've been sewing a few different things lately. One project I finished up for this month is my YELLOW blocks for the #rsc2022 which is the rainbow scrap challenge I'm doing.

My other project is a daily dose of hand quilting on this quilt:

I'm "trying" to do #300daysofhandquilting along with some Instagram quilters. So far I've been at it about 15 days.

Also, I've made some more log cabin blocks and added them to my wall...I think I have 25 or so to make. And as I'm sorting and cutting for the log cabins, I also cut drunkard path pieces and pyramid pieces. I was planning to start machine quilting a child's quilt this week but just wasnt up to it. Maybe later today.