English Paper Piecing - August Progress

Here it is the start of another month, and I have been able to spend some time working on my different English Paper Piecing projects. It feels good to see that I have at least been able to make some progress on things and that is great. Being able to pick up a project and work on it for a little while is always nice and these projects are the ones that do work when you have just a little bit of time to work on something.

Table runner - here is the project that was my focus as I was trying to get all the motifs added to it so that I could say that the top of the table runner is finally complete.

In August I was determined to get the rest of the motifs joined onto the runner and I got it done. It is nice to know that I have the top of the table runner completed and now what I need to do is figure out the backing that I want to use and then do the actual quilting on it. 

Popsy's throw - I am continuing to work on getting more of the motifs made for this throw. The pile of completed motifs is growing so that means that I also need to get back to joining these into flowers so that I can work on moving this project forward.

Other projects - I haven't picked up any of the other EPP projects as I have been trying to focus on just working on one or two projects at a time. Once the weather was cooled down a little bit I may try and work on a couple of the projects that are further along so that I can see if I can get them moved forward and closer to a finish.

In September I haven't decided what the focus is going to be, but I do know that I want to continue to move my projects forward so will see how that goes.

 

English Paper Piecing - July Progress

Here it is the start of another month, and I can honestly say that I was able to make some progress on my English Paper Piecing projects this last month. Maybe, part of it is because there was a lot going on in July and I needed a project that I could pick up and work on even just bits at a time. 

In August I hope that I can continue to move some of these projects forward again because it makes me happy to see what I was able to accomplish in a month.

Table Runner - here is the project that does take a bit more focus and it was something that I wanted to see if I could move it closer to being finished. The pattern does take a bit of work to ensure that you are joining the motifs correctly, but I have now figured out a method that works for me and I am getting it moved forward.

As I am looking at the second picture of the table runner, I am realizing that I don't have much more to do so hopefully I will be able to continue to work on it and maybe even get the rest of the months attached. If I am looking at this correctly, I have a row to finish attached and then just two more rows to go and this table runner will be ready for quilting.

Popsy's throw - this project is something that is fun to work on because it is just making motifs and I can get a few made in just a bit of time. It is also a project that is easy to move around so that also does help.

I know that there are a lot more motifs that I need to make before I get this project finished but it is nice to have the motifs to work on when I have those few minutes and I want to work on something.

The pile of completed motifs is starting to pile up so I am thinking that I might get back to joining these into flowers so that I can continue to make the throw a bit at a time. The nice thing about this project is I have three stages and they are, making motifs, making flowers and joining flowers onto the throw. It gives me a nice variety.

Scrap throw - this project even got a bit of attention this month and part of that is because I wanted to work on making flowers from the motifs and this was the project that worked for that. One thing I have done is I have put together seven motifs into a little bag so that means that when I want to make a flower, I don't have to pick the motifs that is already done so it is fun.

With this project I like having the bags of motifs in a small container because it means that I can take them wherever I want, and it isn't a lot of stuff to carry with me.

Other projects - I didn't work on any of the other projects that I currently have on the go and that is good because right now I would like to try and focus on getting things moved forward and not starting something else.

I hope everyone has a good month and if things go as planned, I should have some more progress to show you at the end of the month. Have a good month and if you are working on your EPP project, I hope that you can make some good progress on it.

English Paper Piecing - February Progress

It is hard to believe that another month and some and gone and now to look at what I have been able to accomplish in the last month. I have been able to continue to get some things done would make me feel a little better.

I have been able to work on a few projects this month and that makes me happy because at least I have been able to make progress on things.

Scarp Throw - I was able to continue to make more of the flowers for this project and just seeing that I can continue to move this project forward makes me feel a little better. I haven't been able to continue with the joining of the flowers to the overall throw but will see how things go in the next few weeks.

Table runner - this is another project
that I have tired to move forward and it is making me feel a little better.  It feels good to see that I am slowly getting closer to the end of this runner.

I do know that just sitting and focusing on this project would help as well because when I am bouncing between projectsI never feel like I am getting somewhere on it. What I am going to do with this project is figure out just how many more motifs that I have to add and then try and figure out just how to get them all attached before long.

What I would like to try and do is focus on this project for a little while and see how much of it I could get completed. I am not certain if that is going to happen or not but at least I can think about doing it and maybe it will happen.

Stir Fry Fabric - now to explain why this is called stir fry and not something else is because the fabric that I am working with is from three stir fry bins that I picked up at a quilting store. Basically, each bin contained pieces of fabric and you didn't know what you were getting until you had purchased the bin so that was a lot of fun. Quite a few of these colours aren't colours that I would normally purchase so instead of just putting these fabrics aside I ended I was going to challenge myself to work with all these fabrics and see what I can make with them.
 

I have started to cut the fabric into squares so that I can make some motifs and then see what size this project is going to be when I finish it. I haven't figured out how many squares I will get yet so that means I don't have a clue how bit this project is going to be, but I think it will be fun and it will be out of the normal colours for me.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other projects this month but have been thinking about one project that I might be changing up how it will be made. I guess I will just have to do some more planning and maybe see if some of the other projects can get some attention as well. It does feel good just focusing on a couple of projects instead of trying to move all of them forward at once.

This coming month I hope that I can make some progress on a couple of the projects, and I will see what happens. If things go well, I may even have a bit more progress on things to show you at the end of March. Have a great month and if you are working on some English Paper Piecing, I hope that you can also get some progress on your projects this coming month.

English Paper Piecing - December progress

Here it is January 1st, and I am going to show you what I was able to accomplish in the month of December. 

Scrap throw - I was able to spend a bit of time working on motifs for this project but you can see I didn't get very many made. Now to see how January goes as I would like to make some progress on my projects.

I hope to be able to start adding some more motifs to the actual throw so that I can see what it looks like before too long.

Table runner- here is the project that got some attention this month. I decided that I wanted to see if I could move this project forward some and I did. I am going to try and continue to work on this piece as I would like to have all the motifs attached to it before too long. I know that I still have quite a few motifs to add to this project, but it makes me happy seeing where it is.

I am not certain what project is going to get the most attention in January, but I would like to make sure that this project does get some attention. Being able to move this one closer to a finish would be good so that is something that I am going to try and achieve.

Other projects - none of the other projects got any attention. I am trying to focus on only doing a couple at a time so that I can feel better about them and also see progress.

I hope that if you are working on an English Paper Piecing project that you are moving it forward even if it is very slowly. Hopefully I will have some progress to show you at the end of January but only time will tell. Have a good month and see you at the end of the month hopefully with some progress.

English Paper Piecing - October progress

Here it is the start of another month, and it is time to show some of the progress that I have been able to  \make on the different English Paper Piecing projects that I have been working on. This past month I focused on just two of the projects and I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on both.

Table Runner - here is the piece that I decided that I wanted to try and get moved forward some so that meant sitting and working on getting more of the motifs added to the actual runner. It does make me happy to see that I was able to make a bit of progress on it.

This project is now at the point that if I could focus on it I would be able to get the top of the runner completed before too long. I still need to figure out the number of motifs I have left to add to this project and then maybe I can work on just getting it done. It would be nice to see this runner closer to a finish so that might be something that I try and focus on in the next couple of months, but we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Scrap Throw - here is the project that seems to have got the most attention and part of that is because it was easy to work on when I was trying to juggle a lot of other things. It was nice to have a project that I could work on a little bit at a time and see progress on it.

What I decided to do with this project was to work on joining sections of motifs together so that it might be easier to get them attached to the overall scrap throw. Having these little pieces with me makes it easier to work on and it means that I am not carrying around the big throw when I don't have a lot of time to work on it.

Now that I have a bunch of groups/flowers completed I hope that I can start to add them to the scrap throw and maybe see how quickly that goes. I hope that doing the piecing this way will also help more the project forward a little quicker.

The other thing that I did in October was to continue to make some of the denim motifs that I need for this throw as they are going to be part of the border. I know that being able to get these motifs made would be great, but I need to get more of the inside of the throw put together because a lot of denim motifs will come in happy.

Other projects - I didn't work on any of the other EPP projects that I have on the go as I was trying to just focus on moving a couple of them forward instead of trying to work on too many at once. Now that it is November, I will see what projects I work on.

I am really enjoying working on the different projects and I know that there are a couple that I haven't touched for a while and maybe it's time for me to pull them out and see what I can get done on them. I have 30 days to work on my projects again this month and I will see what happens. 

If things go well, I should have some more progress to show you at the end of November. I am not certain which projects will get my attention, but I hope that at least a couple of them do get a bit of time this month. Have a great month and I will see you for another EPP update on December 1st.

 

English Paper Piecing - September progress

This last month I can honestly say that I didn't get much English Paper piecing done. Life got pretty busy which meant that having time to do stuff like this was impacted.

Table Runner - here is the project that got the attention this month. I was able to move it forward some and am hoping to be able to get more of the motifs added in October. 

I haven't picked this project up very much lately so hopefully I will be able to get at it so that I can continue to move it forward. It would be nice to see more of the motifs added to the piece so that I can get this project done.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any of the other projects in the last month. I hope that this coming month I can get to focusing on some of the different projects that I have on the go.  

One thing that I have been working on is figuring out the fabric that I would like to use for a throw that will be using my favourite colours (blue and teal). This project is a long way from getting done as I have just got the fabrics that I want to use.

So, this coming month I hope to be able to make some progress on some of my English Paper piecing projects. It would be nice to see at least one of the projects moved forward so I will just have to see how October goes and what I can get done. I hope to have at last some progress to show you at the end of the month when I post another update on my English Paper Piecing projects.

 

English Paper Piecing - August progress

Here it is the start of another month and yes, I was able to spend some time last month working on my English Paper piecing projects. It doesn't look like I did quite as much as I hoped, but at least I was able to work on two projects and make some progress on both.

Table runner - this project did get quite a bit of attention as I wanted to see if I could figure out if I wanted to make it larger or not. By the end of the month, I was getting close to the width of the runner, so decided that I needed to make some more motifs for this project.

This table runner has been a lot of run to work on, and I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like once I have added the rest of the motifs. I have been trying to make this project my focus project, but of course some of the other projects are also getting a bit of attention.

Scrap throw - the scrap throw didn't get a lot of attention in August, but that didn't bother me at all. I have started to make the motifs that I will be using for the border, so that was the focus in August. Hopefully during September, I will be able to work on attaching more of the motifs to the scrap throw, as I would like to see the width of the throw before too long.

Other notes - in July and August I was also able to go to two quilt stores and of course, you know when you go to quilt stores you end up with fabric. In July there was a garage sale at Ultimate Sewing Centre, and they had what they called stir-fry containers and what was in them was scraps of fabric and other items. I ended up getting three of these stir-fry containers and just recently decided to sit down and iron all the fabric that was in the containers and see how much fabric I ended up with. It was a lot of fun going through all the fabrics, and I think I have enough fabric to make 772 1-inch motifs or a throw around 40" x 48".

The other quilt store I went to was in August, and it was also a lot of fun, and it was Country Concessions Quilt Shop, and I was lucky enough to go there during their birthday bash. Again, I couldn't leave that shop without adding a little bit more fabric to my pile, so I added a few more fat quarters to the pile that will be for my blue/teal throw that I hope to be able to get started before too long.

So yes, I have been having some fun going to quilt shops and looking at all the different fabrics. The other thing that I have found is that when I have been in these stores, I have been able to gain quite a bit of knowledge just by listening to conversations and sometimes asking questions. The best comment I heard was, "Don't be afraid to ask a question, because we were all new to quilting and English Paper piecing at one time."

Well, I think that is all the update for this month, and hopefully next month I will be able to show more progress on at least a couple of projects. I also have to try and avoid starting to make motifs for another throw. Have a great month and I will see what I have to show you at the end of September.

 

English Paper Piecing - July Progress

Here it is the start of another month and time to look at what I have been able to accomplish in the last month.

Table Runner - here is a project that I decided to pull out and see what I could get done in the last month. It has been something that I wanted to work on and add a few more motifs to see if I could move it forward.

What I decided to do was to start filling in one side of the runner to see how much further I can move it and after this month I am starting to see that I have got to a good point. Of course, there is still more motifs to add to the runner and I still haven't decided on the overall size so will see how it goes. I am happy with the progress that I made in July so now to see when this project comes out and gets more attention.

Scrap Throw - now this is the project that has been getting quite bit of attention through this month. It has felt great being able to work on this throw throughout the month and now to see where it is. What I have done in the last month is try and make some "flower" motifs so that they are easier to add to the throw and that has been helping me quite a bit. 

The "flowers" are seven motifs sewn together and they make it a little easier to see a change in a project easily. It has been a bit of a challenge to make sure that I am adding the "flowers" in the correct spot, but at least I have been able to watch this project move forward in the last month. I might not be moving it forward as quickly as I would like, but at least I am seeing that I have made progress.

Now one of the projects that I need to do is to start working on making some of the denim motifs that I will be using as part of the border. Being able to get those motifs made and available for some of the "flowers" would be good as it means that I can then start working on the border as all as the overall project at the same time. It feels great seeing the progress that has been made in the last month and I look forward to seeing how much more of this project I can do in the next couple of months.

Other EPP projects - of course, I am planning and thinking about some of the other projects that I would like to do but those are currenting waiting for their turn. The large motif throws need some attention, but I think they are going to be waiting until it is a little cooler out when I can focus on adding motifs to the existing project and freeing up the templates that I need for the other project.

If you are making motifs or joining motifs together, I hope that you are seeing progress. Next month I hope to have a bit more progress on these projects, but time and weather will determine what I get done.  Have a good month, and I will see you at the beginning of September.
 

A small bit of progress

 

Here it is the start of another week and now to see how it goes. It has been hot and humid here so that means that I haven't got a lot of crafting done. Also, the last week was a very crazy work week so that also meant not a lot of time to spend working on projects.

Summer is Coming - here is a project that did get started over the weekend as it was finally cool enough that I wanted to pick up some cross stitch again. This is in the same series as Winter is Coming so it isn't a huge project and something that I am going to be trying to work on over the next little while. 

I do have another project that I will be starting on Tuesday, so this piece won't get a lot of attention but at least I have it around for when I need a bit of a change from the other project.

Table runner - yes, I am showing you some English Paper Piecing and it isn't the first of the month. The reason this project is here is because this is what I was working on most of the week. It was something that I could pick up and work on for a few minutes at a time and I could see progress on it.

This project also was a great one to work on while sitting on the balcony, trying to stay cool. I am happy with the number of motifs I was able to add to this piece over the last week because again I didn't have a lot of time to work on things. I hope to be able to add some more motifs to this project before the end of the month so that I can show you how much further I got on this piece.

Other projects - I can honestly admit that I didn't work on anything else this week. It has been a crazy week with regards to work and then the heat and humidity made it hard to focus or want to do anything.

This coming week I hope to be able to spend some time working on some projects and I will see how it goes. I hope everyone is finding those little bits of time to do something for yourself because it really does make a difference.

I hope to have something to show you next week, but I will just have to wait and see how things go. Have a good week and enjoy the time you have doing whatever you do.