I made the Penrose Tile English paper Piecing Quilt Block for the Travellin Pic Stitch Blog Hop!
(Update: Travellin Pic stitch was a bloghop held by Laura in 2012, where I won the prize of a box of Aurifil thread for my entry. It was a challenge to create english paper piecing projects using an inspired photo taken from a recent travel)
So, it all began with a photo :
The photo was taken at one of the famous spring carnivals in Australia, Floriade.
Then, a few pulls from my stash.. Tula Pink – Birds and the Bees lines were among them. I didn’t use them all in the end though..
Picking up a pattern to do. I was inspired to create a Penrose Tile Inspired block.
Penrose Tile Inspired English Paper Piecing Quilt Block
So I started with the diamonds for the center pentagons. These are 72-degree diamonds.
Basting it to the tiny paper pieces..
Then the black stripy filler diamonds which is the 36-degree diamonds.
Here’s the middle part of my block is done. Not pretty happy with it, but I embrace the imperfection and move on to finish it off as planned anyway. I still have a lot to learn on how to really hide those whip stitches from being visible too much at the front.
I tried using a thimble as my fingertips were getting sore. But I think I am not used to it yet. It makes things go slower and a bit weird – I ended up pushing the needles with the finger with no thimble on.
By the end of this block, I did finally learned how to minimize the visible stitch.. maybe next time I’ll have a go again and leave a better tip to share.. as for now, I do think that I still need to practice more.. it is kind of addictive once you have a clear objective for the pieces…Sometimes I didn’t even realize the time when I start stitching – but I’d better be careful next time as it may cause injury for being too long in the same position.
For the penrose tile, you can actually just let it keep growing larger and larger by the round.
But I decided to keep it small as I wanted to make a mini quilt to hang.
Anyway, this block is going to be appliquéd to a hand-quilted mini quilt soon. I have been meaning to try hand quilting too. Wish me luck.
but before that, how about a messy back photo of it…
Time to remove those papers…
Here is another photo at Floriade from the top of the ferris wheel
Thank you for your visit here. Thank you Laura from Quokka Quilts for organizing this bloghop. Sure was a fun one. A great motivation to definitely start EPP too. Now hop on to Laura’s blog to see more fantastic EPPs with fun travelling Pic!
Some related EPP tutorials:
- How to cut EPP Templates
- 5 ways to baste EPP Templates
- 5 ways to stitch shapes together using EPP method
16 Comments
Wow, this looks great. I especially love how you fussy cut the centre pieces
Wow, this looks great. I especially love how you fussy cut the centre pieces
WOW! This is really beautiful! I love the pink and yellow together! I find if I use a thin, milliners needle and fine thread, the stitches are much harder to see! I learnt this from Sue Daley @ Patchwork for Busyfingers. This is the thread I’m talking about:
http://www.busyfingerspatchwork.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=155
good luck!
WOW! This is really beautiful! I love the pink and yellow together! I find if I use a thin, milliners needle and fine thread, the stitches are much harder to see! I learnt this from Sue Daley @ Patchwork for Busyfingers. This is the thread I’m talking about:
http://www.busyfingerspatchwork.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=155
good luck!
This is so beautiful! I love the bees in the middle, and your colours are fantastic. Handquilting is interesting and calming, so just you start. I’ll follow your progress. Have e nice sunday!
This is so beautiful! I love the bees in the middle, and your colours are fantastic. Handquilting is interesting and calming, so just you start. I’ll follow your progress. Have e nice sunday!
Your project is fantastic! I love the intricate piecing and colors.
Your project is fantastic! I love the intricate piecing and colors.
Voted for you 🙂 just love this!
Voted for you 🙂 just love this!
I love this!!! You’re high up on the votes it looks like! 2 more days..
I love this!!! You’re high up on the votes it looks like! 2 more days..
oh, wow, you tackled penrose tiles! I’m kind of obsessing about making quilts based on math/physics right now, so this is super exciting!!
oh, wow, you tackled penrose tiles! I’m kind of obsessing about making quilts based on math/physics right now, so this is super exciting!!
Gorgeous project – well done!
Gorgeous project – well done!