Saturday, January 11, 2014

"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.



9 comments:

  1. The beauty of a monthly link up for pep is it can take that long to have something to share. Something of a slow sewing movement.

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  2. I average 25-ish stitches per inch. Nothing much to share on my epp project as I'm pretty much just basting hexies right now. Hopefully by next month there will be some progress worth taking a picture!

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  3. So pretty. On my list to start this year

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  4. What a big surprise Hydee!! love seeing the Star ornament in your post of Link Part #4. Thanks. This month I found a EPP UFO. Well about your questions I lay out my pieces first, and I use around 18 stitches per inch. Have a great weekend. Hope the kids are feeling better now. Hugs from Summer time in Brazil.

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  5. Hello from Australia. I'm still fairly new to blogging and trying to get up the nerve to join in! But I love epp, and when I get my head round it, I'd like to join in... I average about 14-16 stitches per inch, I'm doing 1" hexagons and I have about a square yard finished so far on my portable sewing project. I create the individual flowers, and then lay them out till I'm happy with the colour distribution. My biggest epp project has been my heirloom quilt, queen size, thousands of hexagons and hand quilted in a clamshell pattern. I'm really enjoying your blog! Kate :-)

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  6. Your wheels are exciting and bold! I received almost all my centre flowers in the IHF swap. Now I am receiving second round hexies for the flowers but also making some of the second rounds myself (otherwise it would take another five years for me to finish this quilt!!). I make up or receive the sets of hexies, then choose a flower to match them with. I can't be too fussy or matchy, matchy because I am receiving others choices for the most part. And I use very small stitches when sewing. Probably too small but that's just what I do and I can't be bothered to make myself change.

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  7. Your wheels look beautiful Hydee, it is like an adult I-Spy for fabric lovers:-) MMM! I mostly do lay things out before piecing, but I am trying to get more relaxed about it!

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  8. I aLways love stopping by your blog: I'm a new GFC follower as of today! YAH!

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  9. Hi, so many gorgeous EPP Projects here to see. Maybe you want to join my EPP QAL on flickr and open a thread to publish your EPP linky Party :)

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