English Paper What?

Crafting hobbies don't live alone, do they? People aren't "just" quilters, embroiderers, knitters, or whatever. Once you start quilting, well, it's only a matter of time before you do one of those nifty quilts that include bits of embroidery, which gets you to just embroidering things to have something to do in front of the tv, and so forth, right?

I guess my new hobby is sort of quilting, but it feels different so I'm going to say it is. I've recently taken up English paper piecing - fed up with seeing all the OTHER bloggirls make adorable hexagons, I wanted to make some for myself. I combined the beginning of this venture with my attempt to organize/sort scraps, which really has worked out pretty well.

I bought the die-cut papers that I'm using off eBay and they included a handy tutorial (including pictures!), but here's one that I found online that you may find useful: summerfete's the basics of english paper piecing.

I haven't gotten to the point where I'm sewing any together yet - right now, I just have this pile of scrap candy.

 Which includes favorites from projects past - the red from this finish, the purple stars from the quilt on our bed that I never properly posted a "finished!" post for, and the flowers...I think from these placemats? Yup, it's in there.

 There are also ones I just think are pretty - the leaf print from buntings I haven't finished yet; the pink flowers from another WIP; the turtle from a baby quilt I finished for a friend, and those cute birds that ended up just so - both from fat eighth bundles I got at Joann - the brown was in another set of placemats, the pink just left over. :)

Then my cat decided to get involved. Hopefully she doesn't think they're toys and scatter them everywhere by the time I get home from work!

Next on the project list - a pouch to keep my supplies in! All the OTHER girls have one, maaaaaa (Who knew I'd end up saying that about things like this!? Haha!)

In other news - this is my 201st post! Okay, not a big deal, but hitting 200 was, regardless of how sporadic my posting has been. Quilting Gallery is hosting a blog hop / giveaway party this weekend in celebration of Saint Patty's Day, so I figured I'd join up with that to give away something (haven't figured what yet!) in celebration! Check back for it later this week! :)

If you'd like to join in on the hopping, follow that link right up there - you do have to pre-register for the hop...which in a way is really nice, because you get a handy e-mail sent to you so you don't forget the rules and the dates and all that!

Have a great day, readers!