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Friday, August 22, 2014

EPP did not get the best of me

Hello and welcome to finish it up Friday!
I'm sooo very excited...I finally finished my "Oh My Stars" quilt top!! Isn't that an appropriate name for it? It is English paper pieced (EPP for short), which means that it is completely stitched by hand. I never ever thought I would completely hand stitch a quilt top, but hey, I've done a lot of things that I seem to have fallen into! Ha! Looking back, I'm quite pleased with my choice of fabrics (30's and polka dots) for this quilt, because it should continue to get better with age. I am so thrilled that I saw this to completion!

Specifics:

2" 60 degree diamonds (2" is the measurement of each side of the diamond)
Cardboard templates (I cut my own)
Video tutorial here
Quilting On the Go by Jessica Alexandrakis is also a great resource
Started: April 2011
Top Finished: August 21, 2014
Fabrics: 30's prints and polka dots, various white backgrounds, but mostly Kona cotton
Finished size: 63" x 83"

Now I get to baste and hand quilt it. That will probably take me another 2 years and 4 months! But for now, I will celebrate the fact that the top is DONE!

It's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!

78 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!! Absolutely stunning!!! What a beautiful finish. And 2 years is nothing when you are doing all hand piecing. Gorgeous!!

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  2. Wow! Wow! Wow! It's absolutely beautiful! Will you be hand quilting it? I'd love to see the quilting progress.

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  3. Beautiful top, I also love EPP :-)

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  4. This is so beautiful! Congratulations on the fabulous finish!

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  5. Congratulations! What a great accomplishment. It looks wonderful.

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  6. HOLY MOLY!!! I am bowing down! What an accomplishment!!! Congrats on a job well done!!

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  7. Congratulations on your finish. Yes, lots of people have hand pieced a quilt, but in this day and age they are few and far between. It looks beautiful, and no doubt the quilting will just enhance it..

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  8. congratulations on an epic finish! It is so beautiful--30s fabrics are a perfect choice for this design.

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  9. Oh yes. This is absolutely marvelous. And marvelously done. Congratulations an your wonderful finish!

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  10. It's just incredible Amanda!!

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  11. Beautiful and gorgeous colors.

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  12. Absolutely beautiful!

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  13. Anonymous12:24 PM

    Completely worth celebrating!! Congrats on the finish.

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  14. Anonymous12:26 PM

    Oh my goodness, how beautiful is that top! I have seen a few EPP quilts lately and have loved them all, but I haven't had a go myself yet.

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  15. This is gorgeous... so pretty and sparkly!

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  16. HAND quilted too?! It's official, you're an over-achiever ;-) Love it. Congrats on an amazing finish!

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  17. So beautiful. I followed your blog posts about this quilt. And of course was inspired to do one too. Well I have the fabric and the templates, lol! Congrats. It turned out so lovely.

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  18. It looks fantastic! Thanks for sticking with it~ you'll be curled up underneath in no time.

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  19. Ermahgerd! I love it!!! I'm working on a similar one. I'm so glad you plan to hand quilt it too!

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  20. Congrats! It is a beautiful top, Amanda. Love the fabric - so appropriate. I invite you to link it to Hexie Weekend where we love to see any kind of EPP eye candy.

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  21. Oh it's lovely!!! Can't wait to see how you quilt it.

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  22. YAY! I got to see this one hit the top stage. Good job! This also means there is hope for me yet.

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  23. So beautiful! I'm so glad you're going to hand quilt this as well!!

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  24. This is so gorgeous and is such a great accomplishment! Congratulations and good job!

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  25. Congratulations! ! I am so happy to hear you are going to hand quilt it!! It will be amazing!!

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  26. Pretty! I just did a post this morning about the Grandmother's Flower Garden I started waaaaaay back in 2007. It'll hopefully be a finish by the end of the year.

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  27. Just beautiful. There's nothing more satisfying than hand piecing a quilt top. And nothing more painful for the fingers...lol
    Wonderful!

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  28. It's so amazing! You should be very proud!

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  29. Wow, what a master piece! I did a blink in a sampler once that was EPP and that was enough for me. Kudos to you for sticking with it.

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  30. Fabulous accomplishment! Having a hand quilting project will be nice if we have a cold winter!

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  31. Congratulations!! It's simply gorgeous!!

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  32. It's absolutely beautiful! I love dots and 30s prints and agree this will just get better :) I finished my first EPP quilt top last week and it already feels a bit strange that I won't be piecing it anymore but I'm excited to start hand quilting it over the winter! Do you know how you're going to quilt it?

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  33. Congrats on an awesome flimsy! I love 30s prints and just finished hand quilting my second bed sized quilt and ready to do another! I learned a lot in the process...how to use a thimble for starters! Good luck on your journey.

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  34. Nice job. What thread do you use?

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  35. Congratulations - I just love hand piecing and hand quilting it is so meditative. Your quilt is just gorgeous - Love it! Enjoy the next stage. As always, thank you so much for hosting the linky party. Have a great weekend. xxx

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  36. I just love it. The first ever quilts I did were EPP as I did not know anything else. No longer though. But seeing this inspires me again.

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  37. Gorgeous, gorgeous! Have you seen the EPP Insanity Quilt? One more tantalizing project! This finish of yours inspires me to get back to mine.

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  38. Your quilt is beautiful! Congratulations on actually finishing, and I'm sure it will be a real treasure for you and your family. I also wanted to say I appreciate you hosting the link-up every Friday. Have a great weekend!

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  39. Now THAT is a FINISH!!!!!!!! Well done you. :-)

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  40. I fully appreciate how much time and effort this quilt took you! Such a lovely finish and your choice of fabrics are wonderful :)

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  41. It's fantastic. Congrats on the finish!

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  42. This deserves another WOW!

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  43. So beautiful - it will be a precious family heirloom, I'm sure of it!!

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  44. oh yeah..... this would be reason enough to call you "crazy"....
    absolutely beautiful...
    when did you start it??
    ever so proud of you!!!
    xo
    eva

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  45. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's soooo pretttyyyyyy! :)

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  46. WOW, just WOW. It is stunning! And congratulations on finishing the top. I'll look forward to see it quilted and bound no matter how long it takes you.

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  47. That's got to be a sweeet finish! Enjoy the quilting...it is a super cute top!

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  48. Beautiful. I hope it doesn't take 2 years 4 months to quilt because it needs to be shown off. I admit I have tops older than 2 years still waiting.

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  49. Oh how beautiful! I love it!

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  50. Oh, wow, it is beautifu. Congrats.

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  51. Beautiful top and worth the time! There is hope for me to do a hand pieced quilt!

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  52. Congrats, it is beautiful. EPP is my favourite way to sew and I am slowly working on a Liberty fabric quilt at the moment. x

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  53. Beautiful! There's a far greater sense of achievement from finishing slow projects, don't you think?
    How did you find the diamonds? I am happily piecing hexagons by hand, but I have a diamond project in mind. The closer I get to starting, the more the skinny points make me nervous. I'll probably have to make a cushion as a test piece first.

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  54. This quilt is going to have satisfaction written all over it. Imagine, a quilt all by hand! Yes, I know that's the way they used to be made but in any day and age, it's admirable.

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  55. Yay! you are now part of the 'slow quilting movement'.

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  56. OH my gosh!!! Just love this and would love to try one...but think my grandkids would have to finish it...HA! Such a beautiful quilt and one to cherish!

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  57. What a labour of love and perseverance. You have done an amazing job, Amanda Jean! Lovely work!

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  58. Now THAT is the kind of quilt you HAVE TO SHOUT from the HOUSETOPS about! Beautiful.

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  59. this is amazing and beautiful. In two years I have been doing hexes I have enough for maybe a pot holder!! :) i am so impressed!

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  60. Goodness!This is absolutely beautiful!

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  61. Your quilt is so lovely. You did a lot of work in a short period of time to complete it in just a couple years. Love it!

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  62. WOW! That's amazing!

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  63. Congratulations on the finish of your amazing EPP star quilt top - it is gorgeous - I hope you are going to keep it as a family heirloom when you are completely finished. Colours are gorgeous.
    Pauline

    perry94022 at hotmail dot com

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  64. Congratulations on the finish. I would be so thrilled too to finish that hand piecing. I am really impressed that you are going to now hand quilt it. I have ambition to hand piece but not hand quilt. This is a beautiful fantastic wonderful job of a quilt!

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  65. Fantastic! it looks amazing!

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  66. WOW! That star quilt is a classic. Your tribute quilt (one patch) is also timeless, not to mention such a lovely tribute. :) Good job YOU!

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  67. It's BEAUTIFUL CrazyMom! I LOVE it! I've started one too -- but I like regular hand piecing more than EPP, so I'm a little worried that I'll never finish LOL! I'm SO pleased that you'll hand quilt it -- I cringe when someone machine quilts a hand-pieced quilt!!!

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  68. This is just beautiful. What an accomplishment!

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  69. Love it! Well done lol I may well have given up and made it half the size!!

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  70. Can you link to where you did the math for the edge pieces? I remember reading about it, but can't find it on your blog! Thanks so much! It's beautiful!

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  71. Gorgeous!! That quilt will be a treasure :)

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  72. Lovely stuff! I stitched little white shirt buttons in the middle of the stars to join my layers when I made a similar quilt. I didn't have the patience to handquilt!

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  73. That's amazing! All hand stitched? That's a huge accomplishment. Great job on the completion!

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  74. I love it! It is so beautiful... Great job!

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  75. This is so beyond fantastic and SO inspiring, especially as a new to EPP fan. I just love it and would love to do something like this one day. What an heirloom this will be. :)

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  76. I remember when you started this, I loved your fabric choices right off and look how beautifully it has turned out. I'm catching up on several of your posts and commenting as I go--you've been doing such interesting stuff!

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