English paper piecing anyone?

Mmmm... yummy, yummy! Here I am at Liberty of London last Saturday. Looking at all the gorgeous Kaffe and Amy Butler fabric. I was down for my neice's Hen Do, and staying for an extra day with my best friend, Liz.

Here's Liz looking quite excited about the wool Sale! Yes, I timed things just right, as Liberty's are having a SALE!!

Lovely wool... But I had arrived with one task in mind, so I managed not to be diverted by cut price wool, and headed over to the Liberty fabric Sale table...

Here we are. Look at all those whole metre pieces of Tana Lawn for only £11.95 each!!! I had some birthday money to spend and so I chose 6 pieces. I had come specifically to buy some more Liberty fabric, so I was so pleased to get a good deal! And maybe even enough to share with my dear readers at some point in the future (that's got your attention, hasn't it?!). I had a nice chat with that blonde lady, who is a fellow quilter, and may be reading this now *waves!*

Here's my sister Jane inspecting the Liberty shirts (unfortunately not reduced), Jane was down for the Hen do as well.
My purchases secured, we had a lovely lunch at the cafe in the Mamas and Papas shop on Regent Street. Not an obvious place to go, but it was quiet and the food was lovely and reasonably priced. I thought I would include this as a useful tip for anybody else visiting Liberty.
And then it was time for Legally Blonde the Musical followed by some Karaoke! It was as fun and exhausting as it sounds!!

And here are my beautiful 1 metre Tana Lawn pieces. Aren't they stunning?

I have acquired quite a collection of Liberty fabrics over the years (none of which I have paid full price for I am happy to say!). A couple of local dress fabric shops often have designs for sale for around £13 a metre and I always buy them when I see them. The last time I was playing with organising my fabrics I pulled all the Liberty ones out together and put them in a shoe box. Here they are all tipped out again.

They looked so good together that I decided to make a quilt just with these. I also decided it should be a paper pieced project as something about the delicate quality of these fabrics lends themselves to some hand sewing. And when I say 'paper pieced' I mean the traditional method for making a hexagon quilt by tacking fabric around paper templates and sewing together (often called English paper piecing), as opposed to foundation piecing using paper which, confusedly, also seems to get called paper piecing these days!

But it wasn't until I saw this quilt that I knew which design I would make. 

At this point I hoped to feature a photo of the actual quilt and asker Summerfetelove's permission, however I think she is on holiday at present and so hasn't got back to me. Please click on the link and have a look at it - you won't regret it!

I love this quilt so much! I love that it is still a hexagon quilt, but with stars in the middle! And they are actually all diamonds. It reminds me of my African Flower Blanket. 

So, when I have cleared a bit of a backlog I am going to get started. It will be a very long project, something that I can pick up and put down over the months. Something portable that I can take on train journeys or on trips away from home.

So does anybody fancy accompanying me on this long journey? I am not really suggesting a QAL as this will be too drawn out a process, though I would be happy to do an initial tutorial. But we could get a little group together, and then we can inspire and support each other. And SHARE our lovely quilt progress!

Let me know what you think...