Monday 16 July 2007

English Paper Piecing




Here is the quilt I started a few weeks ago and have mentioned before ! It is from one of my favourite magazines - Australian Patchwork and Quilting. It is all done over papers and is actually surprisingly quick to do.


What I've been doing is when I've got a spare hour cutting a load of papers and then tacking the fabric to them another time. Then when I've got a lot prepared I sew the blocks until I run out and then start again.


There are 2 different blocks - I need to do 20 of the small star blocks and 30 of the other kind which are called Castle Wall blocks - so the magazine says. So this is my castle quilt - appropriate as we are surrounded by castles ( or remnants of them) in Wales. I have 20 Castle walls blocks made and 9 star blocks.


I have started to sew a few together to get an idea of what it will look like. I don't want to do too much of this though until all my blocks are made as I may have to add a few more fabrics. These are all cut from fat quarters. I have seen the fabric I want for the borders and will be ordering that tomorrow. It's from www.thousandsofbolts.com I've ordered loads of stuff from them and have never been disappointed. It works out so much cheaper to order from USA even with shipping and tax. Our quilt shops are really expensive.


I tend to sew on this in the evenings -nice and relaxing ! I will also take this to my little quilt group on a Tuesday. I have a load of the background cream shapes ready to tack so that's what I will be doing later - no doubt with one of my kitties snuggled up on my knee !

19 comments:

Belvie said...

I really like the blocks you are making. Castle Wall is such a traditional looking pattern and I like it very much. Your quilt is going to be lovely! Can't wait to see the finished top.

Someday I'm going to try the paper piecing. That's one technique I haven't tried yet.

sewkalico said...

I love English paper-piecing, so relaxing. I have a rose print hexagon on the go at home in South Africa. Yours looks very interesting.

BTW, you are not supposed to link us addicts to ANY fabric stores! LOL

Wendy said...

That's an ambitious project. I can't even imagine how you put those together. I look forward to seeing them finished. Thanks for sharing

Floss said...

You seem to get a lot done. These look like fun. I can see where the name castle walls come from. Can wait to see them together.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful ! Can't wait to see more ! In which APQ magazin did you finnd the pattern ?

Chookyblue...... said...

don't know how to do paper piecing....looking forward to what you project turns into....like to blocks so far.........

Doodlebug Gail said...

I love English paper piecing and that's a really interesting setting, one which I haven't seen before.

Enjoy drooling over your order from Thousands of Bolts - I've ordered from them a number of times and have never been disappointed.

Helen in the UK said...

I've not seen that pattern before. Bet it will look great when you have several units assembled together :)

weirdbunny said...

I find patchwork with paper and hand sewn really theraputic. And yes we are totally short of quilting shops in Wales, infact we are totally short of fabric shops !!!! - love Julia x

swooze said...

Neat blocks. I don't think I have ever seen this pattern before. I will be watching with great interest!

Sarah Nopp said...

I agree, I really enjoy EPP for the exacting piecing you can achieve. And you tend to remember the rules on inset blocks ever so much better that when zooming along with a machine :) very pretty

Anne Heidi said...

Your work is beautiful! I've tagged you for the seven random things game! Vistit my blog to see the rules.

atet said...

Those blocks are absolutely lovely. I can't wait to see them begin to come together!

Unknown said...

This will be a great quilt. It looks like that fabrics are expensive everywhere except USA.

Jeanne said...

Your blocks are wonderful. That is one of my favorite magazines, too.

Bea said...

Can you please tell me the number of the magazin? I just want to try to sew this pattern.

Jenni said...

You are doing well to have so much done already. I would baste the templates in front of the TV or on the ferry, then sew them together when the light was a bit better. I did a bit on my hexagon quilt recently, but it is too big now to comfortably sit in front of the TV. I really need to sit at the table with it.
Funny about the magazines, isn't it? The grass is always greener - I live in Oz, and prefer the US magazines. Something different I suppose.

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh my gosh I love these blocks! I am drooling all over myself! I've never found the time to do english paper piecing, but when I see quilts like this I always want to!

loulee said...

Hi there I'm new to your blog, just linked in from a link, from a link! LOL I'm glad I did though. I love your blocks, I'll be coming back to see what you do with them.
By the way, I'm from just across the water on the Isle of Man.