Yes, I know: it's English Paper Piecing Week. And I have a little teaser block I made with these lovely fabrics that I'm going to share so I can stay true to the week's theme. First Amanda's fabrics: First Frost by Amanda Murphy for Benartex. Her Cotton Shots are the solids shown here, too Here is my teaser block made from a few of these fabrics. The traditional name is Star Bouquet. I used a 1" hexagon center, six 1" jewels and finished off with 2" diamonds. This is one of my very favorite EPP blocks to make. Tomorrow I'm going to show the steps. And, yes, those little hearts are made from 2 jewels. Here's my Little Buddy in the garden helping me show my EPP blocks: In the garden with First Frost blocks And here they are on some splendid Grass Green Cotton Shot of Amanda's. Star Bouquet and 3 Little Hearts NOW for what I made using First Frost . I immediately thought of 60 degree diamonds (because that's one of my favo...

I have been working with shot cottons for over ten years. The first ones were those of Kaffe Fassett. While the colors were great, the "hand" was pretty flimsy. They were quite pricey, but so thin that I honestly didn't enjoy sewing with them. Here are a few of my quilts made with the shots. Beautiful to behold, though! My Zig Zag quilt My Cobblestones Quilt is a combination of shots (for the solids) and the bold Kaffe Fasset florals. Two easy blocks alternate using a variety of textures. You really need "solids" to showcase the beauty of print fabrics. Cobblestones Quilt And my "famous" Princess Feather (a free pattern, btw). That ochre colored background for the feathers is a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton. This appeared in my Supersize 'Em Quilts book and is a remake of one I made for Windham a few years earlier. The free pattern is on the Craftsy site and was made with the Regency Dandy fabrics by Windham. Princess Feather, beaut...

Congratulations to Lynn S. of Arlington, VA (just "down the street" from where I live). She is my winner for the fat quarter bundle of Storybook Christmas fabrics. Storybook Christmas fabrics by Windham It seemed that most of you did not realize that a 60 degree ruler could cut whole hexagons! While that thought is not original with me, I love to share it. There will be more on that subject in the coming weeks as I share some other tricks using what I call my Power Tool. I have been busy working with some shot cottons these past few weeks (and off and on for a few years). What, you may ask, are shot cottons? They are a special woven "solid" fabric with two different colored threads. Notice the selvedge edge of the "purple" shot cotton below. Where did those red threads come from?! Bundle of Windham Fabrics Artisan Cottons And I purchased 3 one yard cuts of Pepper Cory's Peppered Cottons a few weeks ago. I am using these to make some Windi...