Our New Puppy - Scrappy

Here is our new edition, Scrappy!  He is a five month old miniature schnauzer and very playful. He loves to spend time hanging out while I sew :-) and he forces me to take breaks for a quick walk here and there!

I had not thought of it, but one of my sister's asked if I named him Scrappy because I like to make scrap quilts. I laughed, but thought how ironic is that?  He really did get his name because of his personality and the way he was a scrappy little fighter with the other pups. :-) he is a funny little character!

English Paper Piecing - This Week's Update

Here is my first star stitched together. It probably doesn't seem like a lot of progress, but it actually is!  I also cut the background fabric for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt so now I can start stitching those together. 

So considering juggling multiple priorities - family, work, school (working on my MBA), training our new puppy Scrappy - I feel pretty good with this week's progress.  Hopefully I can make more progress next week!  

My First EPP Diamonds

Okay! Here are my first English Paper Pieced (EPP) diamonds!  I used the 1 1/2" sixty degree diamonds from Paper Pieces and fabric from the Happy Go Lucky line by Bonnie &Camille. It was very fun and I am looking forward to stitching them together. More to come and very soon I hope!

Love this book!

Quilting On The Go is an awesome book!  Jessica Alexandrakis offers the basics along with great ways to 'travel' with your quilting obsession.  I love her travel quilt and although I have not finished by hexagon quilt, I bought 1-1/2" diamonds from Paper Pieces and jelly roll of Bonnie and Camille's Happy Go Lucky and I can't wait to get started on my diamond stars! 

I purchased the kindle version of her book as it sort of falls in line with my 'on the go' English paper piecing habit :).

Check out Jessica's blog to see her work or even join her Diamond EPP quilt along! I hope to post some progress later this week.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Supplies

Since I first tried paper piecing hexagons, I tried many needles and threads. I finally settled on Milliners Needles (size 10) made by Richard Hemming & Son, which I use for basting and whip stitching.

For basting I use all of my old thread since it gets removed any way.

For whip stitching thread I tried Superior Bottom Line, Essentials (100% cotton), YLI Silk, and Superior So Fine (#59/3 ply). While I love the way the Bottom Line disappeared, it was tricky to thread and slippery to work with. My favorite to work with is Superior So Fine. 

I get all my paper templates (hexagons, diamonds, etc.) from Paper Pieces. It saves a lot of time and I find the quality to be very good. I use the 1 1/2" hexagons.  If you choose to use the 2" hexagons, then you could use a 5" charm pack for fabric.

My favorite online fabric store is Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Sunday Morning Design Results!

Here are Gracie and Carter's designs.....Finally stitched :-)