Until a year ago, I had no interest in English paper piecing. I’m a girl who needs regular finishes to stay engaged, and doing anything by hand takes in the neighborhood of forever. Over time, however, I’ve seen one friend after another embrace, and create truly amazing quilts with, the technique.
Then, last summer, I was faced with some special circumstances: I had to occupy myself while my older son was taking a class an hour away from home. Because of the distance, I stayed near the class site, taking walks and reading books and starting some hand sewing. Pictured here are the fruits of my labor!
I made the Rosemary Quilt from Jodi Godfrey’s book, The Seedling Quilts. This project is not fully hand pieced and perfect for the EPP skeptic. I supersized the sample quilt from the book and made 11 EPP pieces, which I then hand-appliqued onto background rectangles. The remaining blocks without an appliqued EPP design provided an opportunity to highlight favorite prints, including some large-scale designs.
Those solid rectangles are a who’s-who of fabric designers: Kate Spain, Amy Butler, Lizzy House, Heather Ross, and Anna Maria Parry (formerly Horner), among others. For a lady who is famous (notorious?) for using white backgrounds, this Rosemary Quilt is my version of maximalism.
I handed this project to my friend Ophelia for quilting (she and I settled on an edge-to-edge pantograph called, most appropriately, Rosemary!). Then I used one of the featured prints again for the binding.
I so enjoyed making the EPP sections for this quilt that I started another Rosemary project. I didn’t make too much progress with that second project last summer, but I was in no rush and tucked it away until now. I have two trips planned in the next few months and look forward to whiling away summer nights visiting with family and hand-stitching more Rosemary blocks.
I know some of you are accomplished EPPers. I’d love to see your past projects! You’re welcome to upload them to this week’s linky along with your more recent finishes. : )
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Rosemary is beautiful! EPP is a good way to spend time away from home, happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun combo of EPP and colorful prints, Michelle!!! The Rosemary quilting is a nice finishing touch, too!!!
ReplyDeleteWith as much as our power keeps going out (it was out for hours on Saturday, last night, and again this morning), I think it might be time to pick up an EPP project myself!! I love that the pantograph is called Rosemary and I think your Rosemary quilt is beautiful. Enjoy the stitching time as you work on your 2nd this summer. :)
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