Monday, June 23, 2014

Layout and English Paper Piecing....

Hopefully, you have been pulling out some fabrics for the Flowering Snowball...I know there are a few folks who have not only picked their fabrics but are on to the quilting!  Ahhhhmazing!

Today I will quickly go over pattern layout for cutting the template pieces...and then Clare will share her EPP method for putting together a stunning Flowering Snowball!   

Whether you are using acrylic templates that you purchased or the downloaded template from here...

there are a couple of things to remember when cutting out your templates.

The most important thing to remember is that the straight edge of the template needs to be parallel to the straight of grain on the fabric.


and, again, on the straight of grain...


I know this is exciting stuff!  But it is important to have the outside edges of the block on the straight of grain.  That pesky bias on the outside edge makes for a wiggly block!

If you are cutting acrylic templates with a rotary...it may be easier to use a smaller rotary.  I used my 45mm rotary because I was too lazy to look for the smaller one, but I do think it would help.   If you prefer to trace around templates {and I often do}... you can simply use a sharp pencil.  And for dark fabric, if you can't see your pencil mark, you can use a silver gel pen or a chalk pencil.  The templates are cut on the drawn line, so no need to worry about the mark.  

   
 Before I turn this over to Clare....I wanted to share with you a couple of amazing Flowering Snowballs!

Have a peek here and here!
and you can follow the entire group here!

So now, please pop over to Clare's place! Clare is the go-to girl for EPP!  And you can't even imagine how beautiful her Flowering Snowball quilt is!  Well, maybe you can....because everything Clare does at Selfsewn is amazing!

You will find Clare here....   
happy monday!
keep posting those pictures...these quilts are fabulous!
mary 

SCHEDULE
Post schedule- June 11th.
Yardage - June 13th.
Templates and options for making Templates - June 15th.
Choosing Fabrics::with a special guest Susan@PatchworknPlay- June 20th.
Cutting Fabric using the templates or choosing to make an English Paper Piecing Version::with a special guest Clare@Selfsewn- June 23rd.
Sewing Curves and Piecing - June 30th.
Putting the Top Together - July 14th.
Quilting and Binding - July 18th.
Show Off your Finished or Almost Finished Flowering Snowball - Aug. 8th.
 

5 comments:

  1. Flamingo socks? Sweet :) And your quilt - I have no words...so beautiful!

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  2. What a great reminder to put template on the grain. I love the photo of your quilt, it's just so beautiful!

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  3. I'm a little late in the game for this, but may jump in anyway. I simply love it!

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  4. I have 2 quick questions:
    1) I was going to order the templates as I saw in your post. However, the only one I saw was for: Flowering Snowball Use this background template to mark blocks 8 to 12 inches. Includes applique templates to make an 8 inch block. Clear acrylic. Is this the correct template?
    2) I have never EPP. I am working on Grandmother's Flower Garden and I am hand piecing it. Can this be hand pieced or do you recommend that I try to EPP?
    Thank you for a lovely post and it will probably be about a month before I can seriously start - I am taking a quilt tour to England. I am taking some GMF flowers with me for the trip on the plane. I'm taking some books on my Kindle reader. I'm planning to take some rework (cut down on the amount of floss I take). I'm trying to plan things so I won't get bored in the "down" time and yet not have lots of weight and volume
    Again, thanks for the lovely blog. I hope to join at some point.

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