Apple Core Epp quilt

I finally got my EPP back in the zone to finish off my giant apple core quilt as inspired by Fiona Poppy Makes' quilt from the very first edition of the Quilt Now magazine.

All of the apple cores have been pieced together by hand. I made my quilt a bit larger than Fiona's using 99 apple cores in 11 rows of 9.  It finishes up approx 56.5" x 66.5" which is big enough as a topper for a double bed with no overhang and starting just below the pillows.  For me it's big enough to wrap up well in on the sofa because the nights have been freezing here this week!

I know this quilt would have been a nice one to hand quilt with cotton perle but honestly, I just don't have the time at the moment and really, really not wanting to carry this over into 2015, I decided I would just get on with quilting it in some echoing lines about 0.5" from the seams.

I did take my time over the biased binding to keep the lovely shape of the apple cores (mostly) in tact.  This was my first effort with bias binding a quilt and making my own bias binding. Let's just say it worked better than I expected but I'm not in a big hurry to be "bendy binding" again.  There wasn't really anything wrong with the process, though perhaps I have just been a little impatient due to lack of time and it did take longer trying to ease around those convex and concave curvatures.

Here's a wee picture of the back of the quilt just because I quite like how modern it feels in comparison with the front fabric selections and because I love the quilting lines on it.  Reminds me of a loose rope weave effect.  This is a fabric I picked up in Ikea a couple of years ago and never had the opportunity to use until now.

Anyhoo, enough to-do, except to declare this as another finish for my Quarter 4 Finish Along Goals.  Tickety tick!!

All in the preparation

It's been a while since I've had a paper piecing project on the go.  I have been tempted by some other patterns I've seen lately but when I spotted Fiona's Apple Core quilt in the first issue of Quilt Now it was a clincher.

I like the large size of the pieces and decided to trial two apple cores just to be sure I could manage it before committing to cutting all the fabrics.  Seemed to go together well, though it's definitely different from stitching 1" hexies!

When I was deciding what fabrics to use for this project I wanted something soft and pastel (possibly inspired by the sorbet theme of the Quilt Now magazine) and I wanted to use what I have, not have to go buying more fabrics.  As I pulled, I realised that my selections were beginning to look much like the fabric pull for my Farmer's Wife Sampler a few summers back.

So, I pulled down the FW box and rescued those fabrics from languishing unloved and unused.  It was a spur of the moment thing and in a funny way, I feel a slight sense of relief about them.  I have been trying to decide if I will ever pick up the Farmer's Wife blocks again.  I only made about 20 and haven't known if I should do more to finish or just move on because my motivation for it vanished.  So, it seems I've decided to move on and think the apple cores will be lovely in my previously FW fabrics.

As always with EPP there's a lot of preparation, so this week I've been cutting and cutting and cutting templates and fabrics, and I know there's a lot of basting ahead, but once I get that done I will have a lovely relaxing handwork project.  I really am looking forward to seeing it progress.