Travel Sewing, a New Project, and Irresistible Yarn
I have a problem. I love to start projects I know I will take forever to finish. (Yes, I’m looking at you, funky Jane-Eyre-inspired quilt I started at 6am one morning and abandoned a few days later.) It seems I never learn from the past, because I just started an EPP quilt one night a few weeks ago. I was wishing I had some EPP to sew, so I dove right in and started cutting up the paper templates.
Thankfully, we were out of town last week and I was able to work on the EPP on the plane and in the hotel. I’m using the free Flock of Stars pattern from Tales of Cloth. I’ll need to cut up over 900 paper pieces for this quilt! I’ve been printing them at home on cardstock and then cutting the diamonds out with scissors. I’m over halfway to 900 now, but each of those diamonds then needs to be basted to the fabric and sewn together. Its a big project! And I have no idea how long my motivation to finish will last. It could be three more days, it could be three more months.
I’m working mainly with scraps and four or five fat quarters I picked up from the quilt shop. I was inspired by the example quilt colors and wanted something bright, scrappy, and fun. Scrap quilts are not always my thing so I have accumulated a good amount of scraps - many of them in colors that fit this quilt. Using up all those little pieces and weird strips is making me very happy! I still need to pick out a background color for behind the stars. If you have any suggestions let me know in the comments!
On our trip I used the hand sewing folder to organize all my supplies. It made sewing on the plane so much easier! My favorite part of the process is the actual sewing part, so I’m trying to get through as much of the paper-cutting and basting as I can right at the beginning. As I sew around different friends, I’ve asked them to arrange some fabric combos for the half stars. So different parts of the quilt will have been “designed” by different friends. I love having a quilt that you make layout decisions for as you go along. Deciding where to put what fabrics and which fabrics go together is my least favorite part of quilting, but it is easier with EPP.
While in Canada, my sister and I visited the coolest little yarn shop called Sweet Threads in Squamish. As usual, I walked into the yarn store with no pattern in mind and had to buy yarn with only a vague idea of what I would use it for - because I absolutely could not just walk away without buying something. I got the light grey wool cakes for making a sweater, but it could be a while before I get around to it. The mini-skeins are for making colorful granny squares to use in zipper pouches - I just couldn’t resist the color choices they had there!
Linking to Finished or Not Friday linky party.
