"in hand" epp link party #4

this is my epp work for the month. pretty slim. but every time i pick up this project, i fall in love with it all over again and want to do nothing else. however, i have half a dozen or more wips that really need to get out of the way, so epp takes a backseat unless i can't work on anything else.

this sunday, i had a sick baby or two at home during church hours. so i listened to some talks (sermons) from my church's most recent general conference and worked at my epp. i got some form of churchin' done and almost two wheels, too. (there are two wheels because i had started each separately already. i keep more than one "on the go" box, thus the two different pieces.)

this time i approached my project a bit differently. usually, i lay out a wheel and then stitch it together. for a change up, i experimented with just selecting the next piece as i went along to see if it affects the look any. so far, it doesn't' feel any different.

what process do you use when putting together your pieces? do you layout first or make it up as you go?

and here's another question, posed by heidi of red letter quilts last month: how many stitches do you use per inch?

when i began epp this summer, i was stitching so close together that my whipstitching was resembling a satin stitch. a bit too much. there were times when i counted 60 stitches per side, which is 1.5" long. that's about 40 stitches per inch! at least i know those pieces aren't coming apart, right?

well, i've relaxed some since then. my average is more like 30 to 45 per side, or 20 to 30 stitches per inch. that's still a lot, from what i gather. maybe if i could let up some more, my project might go faster, right?

enough about me, let's look at what our party people are up to. here are some highlights from last month's link up:

karen at pieces of contentment shared her process for selecting the background colors for her stunning diamond stars project. i have quite enjoyed watching this lovely work come together.

heather at based on a true story shared her version of the ever-popular hexie flower pattern. she was also looking for some swap partners for her hexie swap.

ivani from arte em casa, all the way from brazil, linked up her tutorial for making a star ornament. there are so many pictures that even if you don't read portuguese, you can still follow along! her method is probably adaptable to a variety of epp shapes. if you get started now, you can have a tree full for next year. or lots of gifts made.