English Paper Piecing

I'm having fun with English paper piecing (EPP) again.  I'm taking a class by (snail) mail.  SisterStitches is teaching it from the store she manages, Bear Patch Quilts in Minnesota.  I love this class!  Every month I get a nice packet from Bear Patch.  It contains some instructions from SisterStitches (and a recipe and a word-of-the-day and whatever else she feels like talking about!), some cardboard EPP shapes, and the appropriate plexiglas templates for those cardboard shapes.

I started doing some English paper piecing way back here.  Then I did more of it here.

Here are some of the hexagons I've made so far for the class.  I've chosen to use brown and light blue fabrics, with a couple a zingers thrown in alongside them.

When I first started with EPP, I was simply sewing hexagons to each other to make a design (a la Grandmother's Flower Garden).  But in this class I am making the hexagons from other shapes.  That makes it a lot more interesting.

All of our hexagons finish at 2 1/2 inches along the side.  When finished, we will have enough hexagons for a wall hanging sampler.

It's really interesting how I can make different designs by my choice of fabric.  In the above photo you can see how I made some concentric circles by placing my fabric in just the right way.

I'm really enjoying this class (did I already say this!?!?) and look forward each month to receiving that new packet in the mail.  I also have to tell you that SisterStitches is a great teacher!