Wednesday, July 10, 2013

epp-ing along

i've washed my fabrics. ugh! i dislike doing this, but jessica insisted in The Book that it be done. i'm one to follow rules, so i did it. the reason i don't prefer washing:


 all the nasty knots! any way around this you washing-first people know of?

i'm going to be making the ferris wheel pattern with my epp. i'm copying katy the ginger monkey's idea of black and white (lots of text) prints for the hexie centers and colorful wheels surrounding.
katy's beautiful wheels, copied from her blog
i  had lots of fun picking out prints. i didn't bother to do the math first, just bought 1/2 yd of everything i liked.


 once my paper pieces came in the mail, they looked a bit smaller than i expected. i went with 1 1/2" pieces and now sort of wish i went with 2". but it is as it is and i'm moving forward. the size looks pretty good in the photo in the book:

 i have a lot of hexies, which are slowly growing on me. i know it's not very kosher to say, but i'm not a huge hexagon fan. i have found some patterns i like latey, though, so i guess i'll be using some. the lined up ones in the book, above, are to my taste, so maybe i'll be using some of the larger prints in this pattern when i'm done with my wheels.



 my color palette is very mixed and is based on the great print from  "pb & j" by basic grey for moda that you see on the top. navy, red, light blues, bright pinks, and spring-y greens. but not really yellows like the print's background.

navy and red wash pile
 because i bought the fabrics before my pieces came, some of the prints are going to cut up funny since they are so large. live and learn, i guess. i have dropped just one print because i don't want to use it in such small bits.

even the hexies wouldn't accommodate the ellies on the blue print, so my 5 yr old has requested it for her "next quilt." we'll see when that gets made!

7 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure I like all of those fabrics. Mmmmmm. But I HATE washing them. For big pieces, I use mesh laundry bags, but I confess I haven't pre washed fabric for ages. Eeeek. I'm too lazy

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  2. ohh fun!! Great pattern choice! Don't tell Jess but I don't prewash. ever. can't be bothered!

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  3. Your ferris wheel blocks look awesome! I love the fabrics and the pattern. I'm right there with your on the hexies though- love the look, hate hand sewing. You're not alone!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  4. I have heard that one method for preventing ravels during washing is to cut the ends with pinking shears/wheel. I have not tried it but I believe it would work.

    I love that yellow fabric with the red, white, and pink flowers. Very fun!

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  5. Lovely fabric choices and that picture of the lined up hexies in the book was the one i immediately liked too. Blue madhuri elephants are the best!

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  6. I always wash and iron before using fabric. With small pieces (anything under a yard) I usually hand wash then spin only as a group in the machine. For most pieces of one-two yards I machine wash in mesh laundry bags. Larger pieces I wash without a bag. As with all our washing, we line dry. I iron while my fabric is still damp to help remove the creases easier.

    I hope you enjoy your plans as they come together.

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  7. I only prewash when I am making garments. I get some of that stringy mess but not as much as that! Maybe because I wash large pieces individually, not a bunch of cuts at once.

    A wealth of lovely fabric photos in this post! So many of my favorite colors. I can't wait to see your EPP projects evolve.

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