A couple months ago I designed my first EPP pattern using a geometric coloring book page as a starting point (find out how to make your own with my tutorial here).  Well, I finally finished the block.  It's basically a nine-patch block since the design repeats nine times in three rows (or columns depending on how you look at it).  I thought about making it bigger, but I only had a fat quarter of the purple, and I used it all (or as much as is possible with fussy cutting).  My next thought was to make a small quilt of all the EPP designs I make and sew.  It's a long-term goal, of course, so there will be plenty of time to change my mind several times over.

This design was a great learning experience.  I figured out lots of tips to get the pieces together, which I'll share in a future post.  I still gotta work a bit on lining up corners, but I think I figured out a technique that will help.  Eight narrow angles is a lot to fit into a small point, but the effect is pretty neat.  I'm thinking of calling the pattern "Burst" since the design on the dark purple fabric looks a bit like an explosion where the pieces come together.  I'm working on designing printable templates for this and other designs to put in my Etsy shop, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.

​In the mean time, I'd love to see what you're working on (EPP or otherwise).  Comments or Instagram tags are always welcome.

With the start of a new school year, the typical illnesses have made their way into our family.  One after another, we have all come down with a slight cold.  Nothing major, luckily.  But it certainly makes life a little harder for a short time.  My husband's cold is just gearing up while my little one and I are on the mend.

Speaking of mending, I did a quick fix on a hat this week.  Although Goen has many hats, he has only one sun hat, and it has seen a lot of wear this summer.  It got to the point where the binding on the brim was shredded in places and threatening to tear right off.  I removed the old binding and put on some bright, cheerful binding left over from another project.  The hat looks so much more "him" now than it did before.  And it certainly gave the hat new life.  I thought about writing a full tutorial, but it seems so easy that I decided a picture tutorial would be enough.  If it's not, just drop me a line or leave a question below and I'll answer.  Of course, as soon as I finished that fix, I noticed another hole wearing through at the top.  But that's a fix for another day.

Ever since I found out about swaps on Instagram, I've been following some of the organizers and waiting for them to announce swaps.  When I saw the artist trading card swap organized by Ali at Very Berry Handmade, I knew I wanted to be a part of it and signed up.  The theme for this (the seventh) Very Berry ATC Swap was "My Favorite..." and everyone was encouraged to put on their own ending and come up with their own take on it. 

My card is titled "My Favorite...Place."  And where else would my favorite place be but the town where I grew up, where I spent the first 25 years of my life.  I grew up in Santa Paula, California, in Ventura County.  As you can see, the sun is always shining and the clouds are always perfectly white and fluffy.  There are mountains on both sides that are green all year long (well, in my memories at least).  The ocean breeze comes through and keeps everything quite temperate and the worst weather is when the Santa Ana winds blow.  It's a small town, but one I'm proud to have lived in.

At the bottom of the card I stitched three sights that I remember vividly.  On the right are three trees.  Santa Paula is known for its citrus and avocados, and orchards dot the landscape as soon as you reach the edge of town (which is never far from where you are in town).  These three trees represent the agricultural industry of the town. 

At the center of the card is the building that houses the clock tower, which is located in downtown.  The building itself isn't much to look at, but it always drew my attention whenever I went by.  I'm pretty sure the clock didn't work.  I remember it frequently showing the wrong time.  Perhaps they've fixed it in the years since I moved away.

On the left is an image of the train depot, which includes a small art museum on one end and still has trains stopping by regularly for tourists and produce export.  I loved walking on the raised wooden pathway because I always felt like the empty space underneath was echoing with the memories and long history of the place.  Okay, so maybe that's more descriptive of how I feel now rather than how I felt as a kid, but still. 

On the mountains behind, I embroidered a little texture and stitched the town's initials just like they appear in person.  I love the dotted print that adds a bit of subtle color to the background.  Oh, and the sky fabric?  It's the same fabric I bought for my first ever swap.  It makes me want to sing every time I see it, which is fitting for "my favorite place."

And here's the back of my card.  I used my sewing machine's built in alphabet to write the letters, though I had to add the @ symbol and slashes by hand.  I kind of amazed myself with the way it turned out.  So professional-looking!  I'm thinking of doing the same thing for mini quilt swap labels from now on.

I love the ATC I received.  The front is pieced together like a quilt.  The center square is a fussy cut print of a patchwork quilt that has been stitched around to give it more focus and interest.  I love the phrase "make some quilts" that the maker included.

Here's the back of the card.  You can see that the front and back threads around the border and star stitching are different colors, which I think adds a lot to the design on the back of the card.

I'm so happy with my experience for this swap.  I had so much fun making an ATC to send and the opportunity to meet makers like myself.  And Ali was such a great swap moderator.  I'll definitely be signing up for the next round of ATC swaps.  Check it out if you like making small art pieces.

Have you done an ATC swap?  Have you done a fiber ATC swap?  Let me know in the comments so I can join in on the next one.