This is my first try at English Paper Piecing. :) I think I'm hooked.

I'd like to make a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt.. this silly flower took me over 2 hours to do. I can only imagine the time that's going to be required for a queen size quilt. Maybe it'll be done when my 2 year old goes to college...

Really nice! I am just going to start one too-got a ton of hex's cut and a nice kit made up for traveling (see my post a day or two ago). I think it will go faster as you get going. At least, I hope so!

me too! At least I can do something productive on my lunch now. :) I have a whole bunch of hexies cut out, and I'm cutting up fabrics now to use. Hopefully this'll put a dent in my 2.5" square tub!

Looks beautiful! 2 hours of very worthy work!!

Really nice work! Looks like a beautifully sewn one. Worth every minute.

Very nice!

Looking good. These go a lot faster than you think. You'll be done before you know it. :-)

Gorgeous work!

Hi Jennifer,

Your GFG flower looks great!

You will find this is a long term project. It makes for a great take along project to have hand work to fill up any time you need to be sitting and waiting.

Work up a project bag with the necessary supplies so that it's always ready to grab and to have with you as you head out the door. You can work to have a stack of material pre-cut, along with the hexagon pattern pieces.

Then you can work them in stages. One stage is sewing the fabric around the hexagons. Another stage is sewing them together. As you complete each flower, have another set project box at home to keep them as they're completed. The next stage is laying out the flowers as you wish them to appear. Number them or pin them together so you know which to sew together.

Then as you progress lay out each section, marking how they go together. As the project gets bigger you will probably prefer to sew the large sections together at home. Before you know it you'll have a bed quilt all sewn!

Also I just wanted to share a luxury item for GFG projects. It's called Quilt Patti's. They are plastic pattern pieces, that can be flipped out after a flower is sewn together to use for the next flower section.

Following is a link for information:

http://quiltpati.tripod.com/id12.html

A tip for using the paper pieces is to punch a hole in the middle of each hexagon. This makes it easier to remove the paper.
Also don't sew through the paper as you wrap the fabric around each hexagon pattern piece.

Pam M

I use squares and havn't seemed to notice too much bulk. I also ran across something called quilt patties. I got them half price at a quilt show, but I would gladly have paid full price for them! If I were on a bujet like I am trying to be I would try to make plastic templetes out of butter bowl lids, The plastic made a huge diffrence for me!

I have hundreds of paper templets ran off in a couple diffrent sizes. If anyone wants them for the shipping I will gladlt forward them to you. It will save on ink and paper for you. I just hate to waste paper,

Beautiful work!

I have this going as something I can pick up watching tv or sitting in a waiting room. I keep it all in one of those little plastic boxes that snaps two or three boxes together. . .the ones at Joannes with the little blue handle. . .

thank you all so much for the positive comments.

So far, I'm using cardstock for the paper, and it's working well. I've not yet managed to sew through the paper, so I'm glad about that. And my dollar store pencil cases are getting use - for holding the completed flowers and the other for the hexagon papers and squares.

This is going to be a lovely quilt. I'm making a red and white GFG and I tell everyone it will be a wall hanging or a quilt. Just depends on when I get tired making them. But I love having it as a take-along project that is easy to do. You will get faster as time goes on. It takes me about 1 hr. to do what you have done so speed will come.

I too am working on one....my flowers are three levels (double ringt) and then I plan to connect them with white hex's...... I have quite a few finished and now need to get the rest done.

I also saw a pattern that I printed where it shows how to sew 8 whites onto each flower before you sew the flowers together. I went and looked and it was at www.paperpieces.com under "classic hexagon quilts HEX100Double Ring". It helped me visualize how to get the interior whites connected between the flowers!

2 hours today, 1.5 tomorrow, 1 the next day, and so on, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how fast you get to going once you develop your routines and rhythms. Most of all: Have fun!

Your first one is very pretty and it looks great! You'll be a pro in no time!

great job, that' pretty!!

This is a great site! That is what I used when I started. My avatar is my first flower that I made.

How's the hand piecing going? Still hooked? Still producing GFG flowers? Inquiring minds want to know!

OH yea.. I've got tons done now! :)

Here's some new links -
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-136132-1.htm
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-127812-1.htm
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-118712-1.htm

Thanks for asking! :) I've got so many hexies made up, just now to get them into flowers and then into a quilt.

Thanks so much for the post updates.

As stated in my avatar, I really want to do a GFG quilt before I die, but, unlike you, I WON'T be paper piecing it. I will either do the strip method (create strips of 50 to 100 single hexes joined by machine on 2 parallel sides--top & bottom) joined to another strip of 50 to100 hexes (demonstrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQG0V...eature=related) or Marci Baker's 'hexalong' strip method.

You're totally awesome and arguably insane, but you definitely can't hail from the "state of confusion." That's my territory.

Your fan,
Fran

Well done - it is time consuming, but super to have HANDWORK as well as machine.