New X-Plus English Paper Piecing Templates!

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? Last year I made an X-Plus quilt for my friend Austin when he and his husband adopted a beautiful baby girl; as I was making the quilt I started thinking about how the X-Plus block could really lend itself well to English Paper Piecing. So I did what any self-respecting quilter would do and drafted my own templates.

And, because I couldn't keep the templates to myself once they were all done up, I've posted them to my Craftsy shop (for free) Templates currently unavailable due to Craftsy shakeup! The blocks finish at 10" square (which is another modification I made to the original X-Plus pattern) meaning that if you want to make a 40" square baby quilt, you need to make 16 blocks.

I made two samples (and had some lovely pattern testers make some more - which we'll get to in a later post); the first one I grid quilted and bound just for fun, and this second one... well, I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Maybe the beginnings of a brand new quilt?!

Now, what you can download from Craftsy is not a pattern per se, but is rather all the templates needed to make a block, so you do need to know the basics of EPP as there are no instructions included. The templates are spread across two pages and you need the pieces from both pages to make one block. That means that you can make as few or as many blocks as you want without having to worry about not having the right number of pieces.

If you decide to make a block, and you're on Instagram, please share using the hashtag #xplusepp - if you check it out over on IG you'll see other blocks that have already been posted - fun fun!

I really hope you guys like the templates and can't wait to see what you make!

Bella Skill Builder: Blocks 2A & 2B

Hey y'all! So, it's the beginning of a new month and that means some new blocks for the Bella Skill Builder!

This month's blocks feature Orange Peels - which is something I have never attempted before! So, since I've never tussled with these blocks, I decided to test out two different methods. Why not, right?

The first set I did utilizing the larger of the Orange Peel templates. For these ones, I decided to use the fusible interfacing method outlined in this tutorial. While I liked the turned under edges you get with this method, I found that I had a hard time getting nice sharp points. It was also a bit more time consuming because there are more steps involved. This method also gives a slightly puffier look because the fabric itself isn't fused to the background.

For both blocks that utilized the smaller Orange Peel templates, I used fusible adhesive. I don't have any tutorials to point to since I love fusible for sketchy applique and have used it a bunch! This method is definitely faster and everything is nice and sharp because the peels are simply cut out and fused. A lot of people don't like the look of this type of fused applique because they think it looks "unfinished" but I adore it actually!

As I mentioned before, I'm switching up the colours for this quilt. So for these three blocks I used Moda Bella Solids in Boysenberry, Marigold, and Clementine. At the end of each post for this Quilt Along, I'll be posting links to my previous posts, so check them out if you so decide:

Introductory Post

Blocks 1A & 1B