epp | WOMBAT QUILTS

What do you do when your get a creative idea in your head? Sometimes I am able to jot it down in my notebook and move on and other times I have to just see if I can make it work. My latest obsession started with some gifted Heather Ross fabric – some precious small pieces that I felt I needed to make good use of.

And so my latest EPP project was born…

pinochio octagon block

Last year, on a whim I picked up a Octagonal block kit during Paper Pieces sale. I wanted to have some hand work that was NOT hexagons but I am not brave enough yet to do a complex project… my long term goal is to one day be brave enough to try the La Passacaglia block! These Octagons seem a perfect step up from hexagons.

alien octagon block

Unlike my hexagons I am glue basting the sections of these blocks which is saving time… my Sewline glue pen is getting a good workout.

epp pieces

I have put together a little kit that I have been throwing into my handbag when I head out the door, just in case I have some down time.

my tools

Every good EPP kit needs some small sharp needles, a needle threader (if your eye sight is as bad as mine), wonder clips, thread conditioner, a good thimble and of course a nice thread. I have only just started using Aurifil’s 80 wt thread in my hand piecing and I am loving it. It is really thin but does not break or tangle. I may be in love.

Miss piggy octagon

This is really a fun little project and I have tons and tons of Heather Ross fabric to cut into. I got three blocks done during the Super Bowl party I was at and I am hopeful I can get a block done a week… and if I am lucky maybe more.

Last week, while drugged up on cold and flu medication, I decided to play with my small stash of Liberty fabrics. I started slowly collecting fabric just over a year a go, when a darling friend gave me two Liberty lawn fat quarters as a thank you present.

For those of you not familiar with the fabric it is a light weight, beautiful cotton that comes in the most fabulous designs and is made by the famous British store Liberty of London….Ironically I have bought quite a bit of stuff at Liberty in my time in England but never went to the fabric section!

I had originally popped my Liberty cherry with the sample pillow for my Introduction to Paper Piecing class at Modern Domestic (my main Liberty enabler!).

This 16 inch star used some bigger slices of my stash but I loved how the delicate Liberty fabric plays against the Essex linen.

Anyway this week I had the crazy idea to make some mini dresden plate flowers with my Liberty stash. I wanted to go small because I also had a collection of 21/2 inch squares that my darling BF had bought back for me from London…and I wanted hand work because it meant I did not have to leave the couch. The end result was this…

The finished 16 point flower is 5 inches wide.

Somewhere during this process my husband declared that I had officially gone crazy and I think he might be right. I have made up a little travel kit and I am now obsessed with making these things….

I found a pattern sheet on-line at AMC-Quilts that I used (LINK HERE)… their PDF pattern was the perfect size and I just printed it on card stock and cut out the petal pieces and started to sew.