Question for all GFG quilt makers
 

In about 9 1/2 months it will be the time to leave Japan and move on. Where to you asked....we will find out in the Summer. But I was thinking, in order to keep my hands busy without a sewing machine I want to start a GFG.
What do I need? What can I do now to prepare? And any other tips are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for all your help.

I would think it would be nice to have all those hexagon fabric and paper pieces already cut out and in a pouch, ready to English paper piece. I recently cut my small scraps of fabric up into 2" squares, and am hand piecing nine patches. I have never tried hand piecing before, and am really surprised at the pace at which I am progressing, because I keep the small bag of pieces in my purse and get a bit done at lunch time, while waiting at the doctor's office, at night time while watching tv, etc. Good luck to you!

I can't imagine cutting a GFG without my Accuquilt Go! I am about half way through mine. I carry all of my supplies in a plastic 4 layer tote I got at the fabric store. It takes a lot more thread that I expected. Not only the variety of colors for the flowers, but lots of white and green as well. I am almost through my second spool of white. It blows me away to think of that much thread done by hand. I hold my fabric to my templates with paperclips until they are basted, so I carry a magnetic paperclip holder in my tote. I use kindergarten scissors since I figure that way I can't be accused of carrying a weapon with sharp pointed ones. LOTS of templates. I use cardboard for my templates so I can reuse them, but still have about 400 of them to work comfortably. Extra needles, I loose them, frequently. Those things, and fabric, are all I use. Have fun. I'm really enjoying mine, my first hand project.

JustAbitcrazy, I've started to cut the fabric into hexagon, going through my stash, don't want to buy any fabric for this project. As for the paper pieces, I am going to order them from paperpieces.com.
Feathers-N-Fur, that's a great idea to use paperclips until the fabric is basted. Thanks for the tip. I guess I will have to stock up on thread.

Hallo from Germany! I did a lot of English paper piecing before I had a good sewing machine. Anyway, I used a metal template from ardco to cut out the papers, using a Sears catalog or any other catalog (I like my papers thin), and a paper cutter. Ardco has the hexagons in a variety of sizes and styles, either solid (that's what I use) or window style. I pin the fabric to the paper, and then baste around. And I use leftover thread for the basting, so I won't waste thread.
Hope that helps! Sayonara! Tirolgirl

I ordered all my hexagons from www.paperpieces.com. I used old thread for basting and good thread to sew the hexagons together. I cut my fabric into squares with a rotary cutter and then when I sat down to stitch, I used one of the paper pieces as a guide to cut the corners off the fabric. I also used Thread Heaven when sewing. It might be a good idea to carry a needle threader with you too. And carry something along to put those scraps in that you are going to cut off of the fabric squares. I folded the fabric over the paper piece as I basted.

I just sewed mine together with 1/4 inch seams, by hand, just like I would anything else, starting and stopping 1/4 inch from each end. I have never seen the fun or difficulty of whip stitching them together using the paper shapes. I guess call me old fashioned--that's how my mom and grandmother's did it and how I did it. They had never heard of English paper piecing. If your pieces are cut accurately, it's a snap to just seam them together. My MIL actually pieced one on the sewing machine like that--but she had a bit more patience than I do!

I'm working on a king size GFG. I rather enjoyed cutting the papers. I went online and found the 1.5" hex template, copied and pasted, grouped them together very closely and filled the page. Then I used one printed page on top of several sheets (all reg copy paper) and cut. Then I made a template, adding the seam allowance onto poster board. I stacked several pieces of fabric together, held on the poster board template and cut. If it wasn't exact, it didn't matter, because I put the exact paper template into the center of the fabric and pinned it on. At first, I was basting the seam allowance down onto the paper. Then I found the instructions here on the board to just stitch it in the corners. That way I could just pull out the papers without snipping any threads. The corner threads stay in. Taking out the basting took a good bit of time. You can reuse the papers. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this quilt... I'm working on the outside boarders now. I've been working on it almost a year -- but I've also done some other things as well. It's a great take along project -- well, until it starts getting bigger by putting it together.

I too will be starting to piece a GFG. I have never done English Paper Piecing, so I am quite excited to get started. I actually joined a GFG Club at my local quilt shop two weeks ago. I have not started yet, because I promised myself I would finish the twin size quilt I was already machine piecing.....just a few more days and I will be done with it. Yoohoo, then I will start my GFG. One thing I learned at that meeting was that my friends use a glue pen instead of basting....it can be purchased at a quilt shop. I will let you know how well that works! LOL

Hi Gaby! I'm actually working on one now :) I bought a few charm packs *batiks since i'm keepin this one!* and I cut them in half both ways to make 2.5 in squares. I also bought 1,000 1in. hexies on ebay. The squares fit the hexies with the perfect amount of extra for basting. I've done the freezer paper method to and love it. I just dislike cutting the hexies out! Honestly, you may want to try a sample flower using both methods to see what you like best. There's nothing worse than getting everything ready and finding out you don't like the method you already paid for!!
Best of luck I hope you post your progress! :) Happy Quilting.