Contemplating Another Hand Stitching Project...or Two!

I'm not sure of this is wise, but I've got another EPP project on my mind and it's being kind of bossy about me getting started on it. This quilt is the culprit:


                         

I found it on Pinterst and it links back to this blog: Plain and Simple.

This one caught my eye as well

                                         

I'm not a swooner, but WOW.  Those little 1/2" hexies kind of scare me. but I think the 1" hexies are too big. I may just have to make one star and see how it goes, but right now, something like this is definitely on my bucket list.

And then there was this one! The link goes back to FB.



I don't do FB. Pinterest steals enough of my time! :) Gosh, what a fun way to use scraps! Now if I could only devise a way to add more hours to the day. Wonder if I can paper piece these stars in my sleep.

English Paper Piecing Projects

I've always been drawn to English Paper Piecing projects. The only one I've ever done is this Irish Chain version. It allowed me to make hexie flowers without committing to an entire Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. It was a good way to test drive English Paper Piecing. :)

A few years ago, Bonnie Hunter shared a hexagon project. Here's the link. I didn't want to use her picture without her permission and I know how crazy busy she is. And I started cutting hexies in blues and browns and creams:

I liked having a portable hand stitching project and worked on it in spurts:

This is where I left off early last year:

And there it sat, abandoned on the back of a shelf. Now the hand stitching bug has hit me once again, but I've lost my passion for this one so I think I'll find a stopping point and finish it off.

When I was visiting my Mom back in February, we visited with friends of hers and the wife is a quilter. She took me upstairs and showed me some of her quilts. I'll share some at a later date, but she shared this one particular quilt top that I fell in love with:

This was pieced by her grandfather's first wife who passed away during childbirth in 1899. It was passed down to June and I was simply charmed by it. Old quilts like this are truly a testament to 'making due'. Not only are some of the stars made up of different fabrics:

But some of the points are even pieced using impossibly tiny scraps:

June is at a  loss as to how to finish it, or even if she SHOULD finish it. Parts of it are so fragile where fabrics have deteriorated.

I was so touched that she shared it and the story behind it with me and I am now on a mission to make one.

I am using a package of these Quilt Patis templates that I bought 2 or 3 years ago

 and pulling fabrics:

                                                

One down. Umpteen more to go, but this is a project I intend to savor one stitch at a time.