Hi everyone,
Today the spotlight will be on Rosemary and her wonderful English Paper Piecing…
Dear Jeanne, You can post these any time you feel up to it, no hurry.
I am done with English Paper Piecing. I love it but not so much hand sewing and literally fighting with twisty thread. Each single block measures 7.5 inches with seams.
Imagine some people make huge king size quilts like this. Not me. all of this hand sewing actually made my fingers kind of sore.
All done, 9 blocks! This was not easy sewing for me.
This is the back, see all of the paper pieces. The punched hole in the middle is my invention but I am sure others do it. I just need a hole to pop the papers out when done.
Many of the seam meet ups looked like this.
Any time more than 4 seams meet together, in this case many seams collected together with 8 points. Oh there is a special way (you know “twirling” them in the same direction all around) to make these seams look neat and tidy, and I really did try…
7 1/2 inch test block (I will make something with it)
A close up of all of the papers and seams
It measures at 22″, some of the seams are still folded in on the paper
I will give it a good pressing
This morning, all of the papers removed….
let’s do some math here: 8 for each star 72 diamond papers
and the half squares 12 for each block so 12 x 9 is uhmmmm 108!!!
Now I will press this and hang it up ready to be moved
with my other works in progress. Thank you Jeanne for letting me share
this tedious hand sewing project
WOW! Rosemary that is just gorgeous! I absolutely LOVE the colors of your blocks… but I can see how really tedious this would be. I bet you’ll be glad to get back to packing after doing this. Packing up books and figurines and teacups will be a joy now, won’t it?
Thank you SO much for sharing this project of yours with us. You should finish this and hang it up and then place it some place special in your new house with a note under it saying, the last project in my old house! :o( :o)
Thanks again,
Blessings, Jeanne
I am impressed, Rosemary. Those diamonds aren’t easy to sew, even on the machine; EPP would be all the more difficult.
My EPP project is all hexagons, and they are all sewn together now, and the basic clutch is finished, just waiting to be sewn into the frame! I did take a few pictures along the way, too, so when I finally finish it, I will send pictures to Jeanne, too.
I love the blue you chose for the background; it sets off the blocks nicely.
I enjoyed the hand sewing on mine, but I don’t know that I will make another project that way, as it was, as you said, rather tedious. It did take me a while to get the “feel” of it, as sewing the pieces together is a little different from hand sewing a hem, for instance.
Barbara, in thinking about your sewing for your Sylvia Natterer dolls, since the patterns don’t already have seam allowances, my thought would be to trace them onto template plastic, which is see-thru (or onto paper which you then glue to cardboard), cut them out, and then trace around them with removable pen or whatever method works best, then cut them out, “eyeballing” the 1/4″ seam allowances. Stitch on the traced lines.
Thanks for your thoughts on how to make the seams “happen” on my patterns from Les Cheries de Vaniline (of which I have many for several different dolls). Each time I’ve used a pattern I’ve tried different methods of adding the seam, including adding the seam before I cut out the pieces and when the pieces are too close together I printed the sheet twice. Everything I’ve tried is time consuming but I really love the patterns from them so I endure the process. I do have some template plastic so I will give your idea a go. I just made a dress for my Mini Bella and it called for putting the dress fabric and lining fabric together right side to right side and tracing the bodice pattern onto that then stitching on the traced line and then cutting out the piece and turning it. This worked well and sounds a lot like what you suggested. Thanks for the tip.
Rosemary, what beautiful colors you used for this piece! Everything is so precise and wonderfully sewn! You must have amazing patience, not to mention excellent eyesight! While I loved hand sewing in my younger days, I seem to have lost the patience for it the older I get. Do frame this and show us the results!
Yay, thank you for sharing Jeanne.
Happy Tuesday dear friends. you know you can make this exact block on your machine.
I did make one previous to embarking on this hand sewing “experience”
I believe the only reason I stuck with this hand sewing project was because I could avoid addressing the packing and down sizing haha seriously, view this from a mental stand point
😀 and it is clear as a sunny day!
I am so happy that you enjoyed this creation.
I am rushing out the door now to go to pre closing inspection with the inspector, tomorrow we do the same with the builder.
I will be picky
I hope all of you enjoy sunshine. Thank you so much for viewing this project.
Love, Rosemary
Dear Rosemary, your handwork is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Wow, Rosemary! I thought my hand sewing of vintage hankie pinafores was tedious, but it was nothing compared to yours! So beautiful and precise! It will be so lovely to hang up in your new home. Thank you for all the photos and for sharing it with us.
I am amazed at this hand sewn masterpiece. Love the colors. It will be a lovely addition to your new home, Rosemary. Good luck with the inspections. And being picky is definitely necessary. 🙂
Yesterday, I had a delivery arriving by USPS. We were about to start out the door for a walk, when other person and I both spotted the mail truck about to stop. Other person was going to go down and get the mail from the mailman, saving him a trip up the stairs, but I managed to distract him with some random thing on the dining table. Then, I changed the subject to how we might redo our chimney. There was a guy on the roof across the street repairing the neighbor’s chimney. That took some time so when we came back inside from the deck, I made a bee line for the front door arriving before other person. I opened the door and found my doll box sitting there, but with all of the other mail on top. Fortunately, there were a couple of large envelopes and other stuff that I grabbed and brought inside leaving the box behind. I handed the mail to other person who had a lot of entertainment opening things. With no time to waste, I went back to the door, opened it, and stepped back outside stealthily picking up the box and stepping back inside with one motion. I semi closed the door with one hand while clutching the box to my chest with the other and turning away from any prying eyes that might glance up from mail reading so nearby. With my back to other person in the kitchen, I walked to the hall and plopped the box down out of view. Whew! Then, I quickly returned and finished closing the door. Other person did not suspect a thing as he was still reading his mail. 🙂 Then, we went for a walk. Upon our return, other person was intent on trying to get on to a site that was alluding him and quickly returned to the office. I following right behind, grabbed the box which had gone unnoticed, and of course, carried it to the secret location for later opening in private. Ha ha, did it again. 🙂 Success. Now, I hope to find some free time today to spring little Evelyn from her trappings. She’s a special one.
Joy, you are the queen of subterfuge, LOL! I love hearing your stories.
I would love to see your roomful of dolls!
Dear Joy, another success caper. Mr. Phelps would be so proud! (smile)
Great job, Joy! Another successful dolly caper. I agree with Sissy that I would love to see your room full of dolls. The RRFFs alone would be quite impressive.
Wow! i was on pins and needles throughout your whole narrative. How you managed to do what you did with Other Person so nearby is really a tribute to your sneakiness (is that even a words). Anxiously awaiting the next episode in your adventures.
And another successful dolly “mission” is in the books!! I love it!
What a gorgeous English Paper Pieced quilt square, Rosemary! The fabric you chose is lovely and the blue sets everything off to perfection. This will look so pretty displayed in your new home.
Rosemary, you have created an absolutely beautiful wall hanging for your new home. I love the colors. I still don’t totally understand the whole process of EPP but when it comes to hand sewing, I think I will return to smocking. I like hand sewing but EPP does sound pretty tedious. But I definitely admire those who are willing to go for it.
I hadn’t even thought of COVID. We all had it in the beginning but David was the only one who had a respiratory version and he didn’t cough much at all. We just had him checked because that was what was going around. Mine was like a really bad sinus infection.
I will definitely be sending pictures of my recent sewing endeavors as soon as I complete the last of the ones I have lined up. I will call them spring/summer frocks rather than Easter outfits.
Oh perfect. Spring/Summer frocks. Love it. And pictures please, if you can. 🙂
Sure plan on doing that. I definitely want to share what I’ve been working on.
I love your quilt Rosemary, I do hope you finish it and display it, it will look lovely in your new house. I have made several EPP quilts my favourite one was the Lucy Boston one I gave to my brother and his wife when I visited in 2019. The trouble with Lucy Boston is that you do a lot of fussy cutting and it does waste a lot of fabric. You end up with fabric that has holes all through it. I have always taken a project to work on when I go overseas but I now have a very swollen and painful arthritic middle finger on my right hand and hand sewing for any length of time is quite hard on it.
I just finished a baby quilt with a giraffe for my friends first grandchild. All machine sewed and quilted except for the binding. She has quite severe fibromyalgia (amongst other things) so I have been knitting for her as well.
Joy, it was fun hearing about your dolly capers. One day other person is going to open the door where all your dollies live and wonder how they all got there.
We have had three days of sunshine though very cold, quite a change from the week of heavy rain so I managed to get all the washing dried (we don’t have a dryer) then I get up this morning and the washing basket is full to overflowing. However, it was clean washing but Sam will have to take it to the line it is too heavy for me to carry down the steps.
Ah well, better get on and start my day