Inspiration or Obsession?!
A short time ago I was scrolling through the beautiful photos of Instagram, when all of a sudden I gasped out loud! Now, just to give you a bit of context…I’ve been sewing, quilting, teaching others how to sew/quilt, have seen every quilting trend out there for a very long time, so there’s not much that stops me in my tracks. That’s not to say that I haven’t been impressed and inspired by many other quilts and techniques that I’ve seen over the years, but this quilt seemed a little different for me personally. Maybe it was because it was done in my favourite wild colour palette…maybe it was the fussy-cut patches…whatever it was had me mesmerized and I knew that I had to make one just for me.
Did I mention that it was made using English paper piecing (EPP)? Now, I haven’t done EPP in almost 20 years, and I’m not known for my patience with hand sewing…as a matter of fact, I really dislike doing hand appliqué…but I was willing to give the EPP a go if I could get those kind of spectacular results.
The last time I did EPP was when my children were much younger and we spent every second weekend of the summer at my MIL’s cottage in eastern Ontario. The kids were constantly in the water so someone had to watch them at all times…that’s when I decided that I needed a portable, hand-sewing project so I could sit on the lawn under the trees sewing and watch them at the same time.
At that time, nearly anything to do with EPP had to do with hexagons in the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. It’s an old traditional pattern that I’m not particularly fond of, so I decided to make mine with a colour wash effect instead of the usual hexagon “flowers”. My finished piece isn’t very large, but I thought it looked like the sun filtering through a garden. I quilted a metallic spider web and added a beaded spider to finish it off.
You can also see from the photo above that the hexagon edges were painstakingly hand-basted…what a pain-in-the-butt slow process! After recently watching a couple of tutorials from Tula Pink and Sue Daley I saw that the pieces are now glue basted using a glue pen which is soooo much faster. It makes the process much less annoying, but stock up on glue refills…you’re going to need them. Once patches are sewn together the papers are very easily removed and the glue is water soluble.
Now…back to the take-my-breath-away quilt. It is called Prudence (made with Tula Pink fabrics) and is designed by Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations in Australia. Once I saw it I ordered my kit right away, but because it was coming from Australia it took about a month to get to me in Ontario, Canada.
Sharon had fussy-cut the little birds for the squares of the “cross” block from Tula Pink’s Fairy Dust and I loved the look of it so much that I did the same, but using only the purple, turquoise and teal birds. I had just enough of that fabric (in the colour “Whisper”-pale grey) in my stash to do the entire “background” with a little left over. Then any and all bright, happy fabrics (scraps and yardage) as well as those that would look great fussy-cut were pulled from my stash. My sewing room is still a disaster, and it probably will be for a while!
my messy cutting table
“swiss cheese” fabric
a bajillion more to go!
To say I’ve become obsessed is a bit of an understatement. It’s only been a week and a half since receiving my kit and I haven’t touched my sewing machine in that entire time! What has come over me? My friend, Gail, has become equally obsessed with her Tula Pink EPP Tula Nova. Patti, Becky and Marg think that we’re both nuts!
Once my project is complete I’ll post about it here and maybe I can talk Gail into sharing hers too. Is there a quilt or technique that has stopped you in your tracks? If so, what did you do about it? If you’re on Instagram feel free to follow my progress @quiltish.corner. Happy quilting everyone…and enjoy your own obsession, whatever that is!
my progress so far…aren’t they fun?!
*** Even though I have included links for those of you who do not have easy access to stores, I highly recommend supporting your local brick & mortar quilt/sewing store by shopping there. If they don’t have these notions in stock they should be able to order them in for you if they are available from their suppliers.