I'm Back with Rose Stars

 Hello!  It's so nice to be back among quilty friends!  I was completely swamped with Girl Scout business for all of March.  It was good stuff, but it didn't leave much time for sewing.  I'm back now and ready to catch up!

The first deadline to meet is the 4X5 Swap and I'm actually ahead of schedule!

 I made Rose Star blocks using English Paper Piecing.  It was wonderful to have a portable project to tote around.  I even decided to hand applique them to the backgrounds.

The pink, orange and yellow block is mine.  I like to think I was slightly ahead of the tangerine tango trend!  I pieced mine twice because the test block was a little too big.

Aqua with a touch of orange and yellow for Hive 11's caretaker, Kathleen.

 

This one for Anna was a little tricky.  Plum, cerise, coral and papaya.  Did I get it?

This was one of the first ones I made.  Pale blues and Denise Schmidt for Christine.

Black, red & yellow for Leona.  So fun!

Cool blues and greens for Amy.

 I can't wait to see all of my 4X5 blocks together.  I've decided to pass on the next round, so I'll end up with 18 blocks to play with.

It's been s long since I've posted anything, I almost forgot about Sew Modern Monday!

See you again soon!

EPP Demo

 This week, I was happy to present a demonstration of English Paper Piecing to my quilt guild.  There were 6 presenters, so groups of quilters moved round-robin style through the stations.  That meant I had to do my demo 6 times!  There was a lot of starting and stopping and half-sewn seams and thread tails hanging! 

I brought several examples of different shapes that can be made with this method.  Of course, I brought the Rose Stars.

When I taught EPP to a small group in January, we talked about this interesting pattern with hexagons, squares and triangles.  I later discovered it is called Ferris Wheel and you can download a free design sheet at Paper Pieces.  The sample is made with 1" pieces.  (The raggedy owl pincushion is for scale.)

An additional note about that January group...  Nancy, the overachiever, has made 500 hexagons in one month!  Have I mentioned recently that hexies are addictive?

Megan at Canoe Ride Creations posted last week about using leftover HSTs for hexagons.  Brilliant!  I just happened to have a little baggie full of leftovers from a Weed whacker class sample.  I have enough to make 3 more hexie flowers.

The star flowers using a jewel shape and hexagon were going to be my FTLOS swap piece, but I completely changed gears and did some foundation paper piecing instead.   I've been dying to do some embroidery on a hexie.  This pearl cotton heart is a pretty lame attempt.  I need to find my copy of Doodle Stitching to make something cuter.   Julia had it last, so it may have been sucked into the black hole!

I prepared a handout with my favorite EPP links.  Enoy!

Technique:

Sew Many Ways Tutorial 
Quiltville Hexagon Tutorial - Take a look at Bonnie's hexagon medallion!

All People Quilt

CD Designs - Instructions, free patterns, grids to color

Paper Shapes:

Paper Pieces (the company) - lots of shapes and sizes, Free Pattern Sheets, Free Design Sheets for coloring in and Cutting Guides to calculate yardage.

Incompetech - Graph paper generator allows you to create triangles, diamonds or hexagons to your size specifications.  Print on card stock or freezer paper and cut out.

Possum Blossom Patchwork - Helen pointed me to this Australian shop that carries die cut Rose Star packs and lots more!

Photos & Inspiration:

Flickr EPP Group

My Pinterest EPP Board

Rose Stars

 Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  I'm off to a slow start, but I really need to kick into high gear soon!

I've been playing with the Rose Star block this week for a couple of reasons.  I will be demonstrating English Paper Piecing at a guild meeting on Wednesday, and I thought it might work as a bee block.

 Did you already recognize my colors here?  (pink, yellow & orange)

The test block was based on a 2" hexagon, but it is just a bit too big to fit into a 12" square.  12.25" from point to point.  Really?!  I might remove the dark pink triangles from my block to make it fit.

Take 2: 1.75" hexagons.  

The pretty blue block will be for Christine in the 4x5 bee.  She asked for some Denyse Schmidt prints that she can't get in the UK.  I will probably hand applique the star to the white background.

I print and cut my own paper pieces on card stock. Visit Karen's tutorial for basting instructions.  Since these were bigger pieces, I needed to take a few basting stitches through the paper.  I have been using incompetech to create accurate hexagons in various sizes. 

I think the backs look so cool!  You can see that I haven't removed any paper yet.

 

To see more Rose Stars, visit Self Sewn for Clare's linky party.  She also has a tutorial and a flickr group dedicated to this sweet block.  Thank you, Clare!

In family news...

Julia recently performed in her school's production of Anything Goes.  Here she is making the pre-show announcements in the cutest costume.  She was one of Reno Sweeny's Angels, Purity.  She has a gorgeous singing voice!

That's Pete on drums with the high school Jazz Band.  We are so proud of him for being chosen for the All-State Jazz Band!

It's time for more stitching!