June 16, 2019

EPP's and Quilt-As-You-Go - a match made in heaven!

After all my months of stalling, I have finished my Lucy Boston quilt!
As I've said before, the EPP (English Paper Piecing) process didn't turn me on at all, but I LOVE how my quilt has turned out. 


The compromise of appliqueing the blocks onto white fabric has been a good option that I am very happy with. It saved a lot of angst I would have had in doing dozens of little EPP squares, but still gives a good contrast for the blocks.


The sashing and border took lots of effort but it sure was worth it all. With five elements to each one, it was a lot of cutting and piecing and quilting but I think it has lifted the quilt out of the ordinary and given it the wow factor I wanted.


It's the first time I have done wide sashings using the Quilt-As-You-Go method. All my previous QAYG quilts have been with narrow sashing strips, so these had to be done differently, being so wide. Usually there are two blocks abutting, with a joining strip placed over the top, back and front, to cover the join. With these wide strips, I joined them in the same way as with a QAYG border, and that is to abut a piece of batting in between the back and front sashings. That way, there are no double thicknesses of batting to cause an uneven surface. It works brilliantly and all is held in place with the quilting. 


The thing that I was thrilled about was that I had enough fabric to complete the quilt exactly how I wanted. When I started out, I just grabbed what I had in my stash in blues, blacks and gold, with no plan at all in my head, other than to try some Lucy Boston Blocks. A couple of years later, and now with all nine blocks pieced, I had the bright idea to do this particular sashing from the Jinny Beyer 2015 Block of the Month Quilt. After lots of calculations, I figured that I would JUST have enough fabric. Would you believe all I had left of the main blue fabric was just 1½ inches across the width of fabric, plus a 10 inch square!!! I reckon once again that my God was looking after the tiny details of my life!


I'll finish up with this gorgeous bunch of roses that were given to me by lovely friends. Fresh flowers in the house are so uplifting, aren't they?

Happy stitching,
Val

6 comments:

gracie said...

A good looking quilt...nice job. The flowers certainly are beautiful.

Kaye said...

Such a beautiful quilt!

Sheila said...

I love how your quilt turned out.

KaHolly said...

Be still my beating heart! Your Lucy Boston quilt came out beautifully, and your efforts are well rewarded! Maybe someday I’ll pull mine out of the bin and get back to work on them. One thing for sure is they aren’t as stunning as yours! XO

Melody A. said...

It is an amazingly beautiful quilt, with lots of ingenuity involved and wonderful color selection!!! so Congratulations for a fantastic Quilt!!! Happy Sewing from Iowa

Betty the quilter said...

absolutely gorgeous quilt. the flower shot is just stunning.
Betty the quilter