For the last few years I've watched the Fussy Cutting Sew Along on Instagram. It's hosted each year by @naomialicec and each year there is a different EPP shape used for the weekly blocks. I've loved seeing what was made, but never joined in. Until this year. This year shape is houses - slightly elongated pentagons which tessellate together to form a cross - add four squares to the corners and you get a square block. I liked the idea of this as for each week I only need to cut 4 pieces (in the past it's been 6-7 pieces which results in lots of holes in fabric - something I still struggle with when fussy cutting). But four pieces is manageable - it doesn't wreck an entire fat quarter. So I dipped my toe in the water and started.
And you know what - it's addictive making these little 4.5 " blocks each week. We're now half way through the year and I've made at least one block each week - I've made more blocks some weeks, as at the end of June I had 36 blocks.
Each month there is a theme, such as botanicals, stripes, animals, food... and then each week the theme is broken down, mostly by fussy cutting techniques: motif, kaleidoscope, pattern matching - and then freestyle weeks too, where you can pick your favourite technique. My favourite themes so far have been the second - All About Me - where I really enjoyed picking out fabrics which represented different aspects of my life - including using some of the fabric with my grandmothers' handwriting on. And the June theme, which was "when this is over" - perfectly tailored for this ridiculous year. I'm not going to lie - most of my blocks were about the holidays I'm missing!
I decided now that we are halfway through that it's time to start sewing the blocks together - otherwise, I'll get to the end of the year and the idea of sewing them all together will definitely not be appealing. I've made good progress - few more seams to go!
This project has been a fabulous learning curve and I'm so much happier now with fussy cutting than I was (at least for EPP) - it's given me the confidence to start a long-planned Tula pink fussy cutting project which is really exciting - watch this space. I'm looking forward to what the next few months bring and hoping my fabric stash can stretch to meet the challenges!
#fussycuttingsewalong
#jenniesthreadsfussycuttingsewalonghouses
#englishpaperpiecing
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