English Paper piecing - January progress

This year, I decided that instead of posting my English Paper piecing projects as part of my weekly blog, I would do a separate one just for this.

One of my goals for this year is to try and spend a bit more time working on getting some throws finished. I currently have two throws on the go and as you can probably guess it if you know me I have other ideas already to go for the next throws and other items.

Scrap Throw - here is a project that started because I had a lot of scraps of fabric left over from making grime guards with I do for my ETSY shop.

A lot of the pieces of fabric that I had left over were bits and pieces and no enough to make something large with, but I figured I could make them into motifs and maybe make something out of them. 

This project is going to be a longer term one because I have figured out I will need almost 1,000 motifs for this throw, but I am enjoying seeing how it is turning out. I sorted the fabric into 7 different pages so that each bag has no more than 2 pieces of the same colour in it. I am them making the motifs from each of those bags. As I get the bags of motifs finished, I mix them all together, and then I just grab a motif and join it onto the throw. Yes, it is very random, and I am loving how it is turning out. In January, I just added 14 motifs, but I have been continuing to make the small motifs as well.

Large motif throw - here is the project that I am trying to focus on, as I would like to see how quickly I can get this throw completed. This is the second throw top that I am making with these motifs, and after this one I will have one more to do.

The fabric that I am using for these throws has a very special meaning to me because the fabric that I am using is pieces of shirts that belonged to my dad. After my dad passed away, I asked my mom if I could take his shirts and maybe make some quilts of out of them. She immediately said yes and that is when this project started.  I have completed the top of the first throw and am currently quilting it.

These motifs are quite a bit larger than the other motifs I am using, so this project goes a lot faster, and I only need 144 motifs for this throw.  In January, this was more of my focus and I didn't have to make any of the motifs, so I got 23 motifs added to this project. I have 87 more motifs to go, and then it will be time to figure out how I am going to quilt this one.

Note: A few years ago if someone had said to me that I would be doing a lot of hand sewing, I would have said no because it wasn't something that I enjoyed doing. Well, I can honestly say that I really enjoy the English Paper piecing that I am doing. I have found this extremely relaxing and when I have that bit of time to sit and work on either joining some motifs or making motifs I am happy.

I haven't got any of the throws to the point where I will be doing the binding, but at least right now I know that I am enjoying doing these and have already been planning some of the other things that I would like to do once these projects are done.

English Paper piecing is a great way to use up those bits of cotton fabrics that you have left over from other projects. Now let's see how February goes and if I can continue to move these projects forward.