WIP Wednesday - EPP-palooza!

It's been a hexie and EPP filled week here at A Quarter Inch from the Edge!

So much hand stitching!

One of my FAL 2016 Q3 goals was to do  something with my wee little paper pieced fox. He clearly needed friends, starting with this robin. I learned from the last go round and coloured my pattern.

The nice thing about making teeny tiny things is that you can use your favourite scraps from your stash and still have lots left!

 Voilà!

That cute little robin flew up to hang out with the fox on my bulletin board!

I really do love this little wooden roller. It saves me quite a few trips to the ironing board.

 I'll find a home for this gnome!

A day or two later, I managed to do the last two hexies - the mushroom and leaf. You probably can't tell, but there are two green prints in that leaf.

DT and I took a little road trip to my parents' cottage over the week-end. It was lovely to unplug (for the most part) and sew the evenings away after DT went to sleep. Now if only they had stayed asleep.

 

I managed to turn those paper pieced woodland critters and their bright 1 inch hexie pals into this EPP blob. What will it become? Who knows!

I jumped from project to project.  These little hexies just hang out in my project bag for when I have nothing else to work on. I have no earthly idea what they'll turn into. Perhaps a pincushion or two for my guild's upcoming swap?

I also spent a little time on Le EPP. Those fussy cuts make me smile each and every time I work on them.

This blob is destined to become a retirement gift for one of the French teachers I work with. I'm thinking mini quilt or pillow or tote. Ack. Decisions. Feel free to leave me your ideas in a comment!

I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as Mid Week Makers @ Quilt Fabrication! 

J

4X7 Challenge - Week 3!

What's this, you say? Did you miss the post from Week 2? Nope, you didn't. I completely and utterly flubbed Week 2 of Berry Barn Designs' 4X7 Challenge. In my defense, I was on vacation. A ski vacation. Our first vacation in a long time. And it was awesome! Week 3? Also awesome, but with less skiing and far more sewing!

Sunday
Starting out slowly. Stitching for today consisted of some EPP in front of the TV. ☺ I turned these Kona squares into basted squares! Alas, the basement rec room in the evening... not so good for pics!

Monday
Back to DT's I Spy Polaroid quilt! I managed to finish 4 red blocks today and made a few more centres. 

Tuesday
DT had an awesomely long nap, so I continued working on Polaroid blocks. I even finished the green and purple blocks today.

I think I mentioned it a few posts back, but I've added a few blocks to each row. And now I feel like the quilt needs to be longer to balance things. But I can't see me making a gagillion more blocks. Off to my scraps I went!

I made 3½ inch high improv panels to insert between rows of Polaroids here and there. It'll add the length and some visual interest! Purple's done. Just five colours left to go!

Wednesday
Ah... orange! I knew I'd have to lock the doors since Anja @ Anja Quilts had a vacation day and I posted a pic like this one on my guild's FaceBook page!

Thursday
More rainbow goodness! Sunny yellows for Thursday!

I even banged out some more stitching on Le EPP during my Bee meeting. Again, evening stitching and no pics!

Friday
I decided that the improv panels needed a little something more to "spy" so I'm adding some words. I'm sure BT will have fun finding his name some day down the road.

Saturday
And on to the blue! GT can't be left out...

Though I finished absolutely ZERO projects this week, I sewed each and every day. I made incredible progress on DT's I Spy Polaroid quilt and am feeling energized about working on it. It definitely helped me deal with a stressful week featuring twin 15 month olds learning to climb on couches and chairs. I haven't taken to drinking and only cried a few times. I credit improv piecing of wee bits of Kona.

I am, of course, linking up with Berry Barn Designs for the Week 3 link-up. Who knows? Maybe I'll even have a finished top to show off next week?

J

P.S. Many thanks to Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs for organizing this link-up and for the lovely giveaway prize I won in Week 1!

4X7 Challenge - Week 1!

February's here and the 4x7 Challenge @ Berry Barn Designs is well underway. I knew it would be a true challenge for me to manage some sewing every day, but I managed fairly well this week. Here's my day by day breakdown!

Monday
Ah... the first day of February. Not just the start of the 4x7 Challenge, but also the first of the month. So my "sewing time" was more like stash time.

I spent a fair amount of time rummaging about in my stash cutting 2½ inch squares to form a lovely rainbow palette for the February Birthday Queen of the Birthday Bonus Club.


Tuesday
I managed two sessions of sewing on Tuesday! The first was preparing fabric, templates, and notions for an EPP demonstration. And the second was spent passing on some sewing skills. As I've before, I'm a leader with the oldest Branch of Canadian Girl Guides, Rangers. We watched an eye-opening documentary, Misrepresentation, and stitched while watching. I'm pleased to say that at least one of the Rangers in attendance was well and truly bitten by the EPP bug!

Wednesday
I counted this as a banked day as Tuesday had me in my studio a lot! I did spend some quality time with my MMQG Executive Peeps planning our first ever retreat. I am over the moon excited about this opportunity to sew all week-end long!

Thursday
My sewing involved a little computer time to whip up a Kona Palette using Play Craft's Palette Builder 2.1.

I found an image on-line of this print from my stash, Dear Stella's French Lessons by Jack & Lulu and got to building.

I ♥ that selvage! Off I went to my Kona stash. I'm always amazed at how well the Palette Builder matches the colours in one's image. I had to make a few little substitutions in keeping with The Year of the Stash.

 Now I've got bits and pieces all cut out for my vacation EPP project!

Friday
Does fixing my Himself's ski mitts count as selfish sewing? ☺ I'm going to say it does!

Saturday
Alas, a day's driving with DT left absolutely zero in my personal tank for sewing. Not even a few stitches of EPP.

I'm linking up with Sarah @ Barn Berry Designs.

To sum up Week 1, no projects finished, but definitely some sewing play time. Week 2 is going to be all about EPP and cross-stitch.

J