January 25, 2017

Making Lots of Slow Progress

I'm doing a lot of secret sewing right now, which I always find hard. Sneak peeks are fun, but it's even more fun to share the full project!

Around all the secret sewing, though, I have been making small progress on some other projects, so I thought I'd share some of that.

One of my goals for 2017 was to finally start quilting my hexie flowers quilt. I say finally because the top has been finished since 2014. Well, I guess I can mark that goal as complete as I got it basted (thread basting seemed to take ten times as long as pin basting!) and so far I've spent part of one evening hand quilting. Right now I'm thinking I'll go around each flower twice, but I think it's going to need more than that. I just don't know what the more will be. Since there are a lot of flowers, I figure I have a lot of time to figure that out 😊 I'm guessing that this will be a multiple-year task, but I'm good with that. Jasmine, at Quilt Kisses, talks about having a WISP (work in slow progress) and I guess this is mine.
Hand quilting detail | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
The blue thread shows up much better on the cream backing fabric.
Hand quilting detail | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

I now have 120 diamond epp stars for my Scattered Stars quilt, up from 90-some the last time I counted. I'm thinking I'll soon be finished making stars, but I want a few more yellow and orange stars first. Then I'll move on to making the diamonds for the background. I want the quilt to have a fair bit of negative space, so there are still a lot of diamonds to baste. I guess I actually have two WISPs.
EPP Stars | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

I've also been basting hexies for my rainbow hexie quilt. I need 1661 and so far I have... 56 😊 Good thing I was planning for this to be a long-term project! I'm just basting these as I come across scraps in rainbow colours or black and most of the actual basting is happening when we're driving somewhere, so progress will remain slow. I would like to make an effort to find more red scraps to baste enough red hexies that I could actually sew the middle of the hexie rainbow together, but we'll see when I get to that...Umm, three WISPs?
Hexies | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

As for the secret sewing, here's a little peek at the flow quilting I've been spending hours and hours at lately. I tried to convince myself to do something simpler (I am on a deadline, after all), but the quilt insisted it needed this flow quilting. Of course, that was what I envisioned on it when I designed it with a big expanse of negative space, so I'm not really surprised I couldn't talk myself into something else 😉
Flow Quilting | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

That's what I'm up to lately. What are you making progress on?

6 comments:

  1. That is a whole lot of epp, but man oh man, are they going to be beautiful projects. I love the little teaser shot of the flow quilting, I just want to reach out and touch that texture. I need to follow that lead and get the quilting going on in my sewing room. Someone needs to take my piecing machine away from me :)

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  2. You are the EPP queen! Hand quilting the first one will give it so much texture and character! And as always, your quilting on the secret project is amazing. I probably say this every single time, but I'm in awe of your skill! And yes, one of these days I'll give in to the FMQ madness in a project like this! I'm excited to see the finished project...

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  3. I think your three WISP projects sound like they fill in gaps for different times. Do you find yourself taking small portable projects on the go much? I have loved seeing your flow quilting progress, and I hope you have fun and meet your deadline without too much worry or stress.

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  4. Your three WISP projects are beautiful and will be worth the time when finished. I also loved the sneak peek at you flow quilting. Enjoy the process. :)

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  5. Only 1,600 more hexies to go....yikes.....that's definitely going to be a WISP...

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  6. Such pretty projects! Do you have a layout planned for your new hexies? I like all the rainbow colors.

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