Holy cow! You ae meticulous and organized.  Is that from being an accountant?  Me? All my friends and family have a quilt (not always a big deal to them) so now I just make them and donate them.  Mostly they go to a chemo center or a children's home.  I've never kept track, but it has  been a LOT.  I do however, take a photo of each quilt and keep them in a file on my computer or in the "cloud", so I guess if I really wanted to know I could go back and count them.  Same here with the kids.  They could care less about the quilts I have made in the past so my photos will be left to float around in cyberspace.

Again--your organizational skills are impressive!

Girl, you've made hundreds i not thousands. If u can't remember, it's ok. I do love looking at the online pix of them, tho! your work is beautiful and varied...

Ever since I first saw the Sparrows quilt at a quilt show I was smitten. I finally got ahold of the pattern and decided to make a small test piece. Since I have been trying to organize stash, as well as make some stashbuster projects I cut fabric for 3 birds. I only have small scraps left of the blue background as it was a large scrap. I sewed this little top up today and just love it. I definitely want to make the bigger quilt and will make all the birds scrappy. I will one solid for the background ( love the blue). So now while I am cutting and organizing I will have a project bin for birds.

Turned out very cute!

Thanks. I think I might try making some half scale ones just for fun.

Ami_Quilts (sewingupasto) said:

I will make some notes on what size and how many I cut so if you want to do one you could prep your first step before retreat. You could also just use a layer cake of precuts.

That sounds good.  I will add that to my retreat prep list.

I love those birds.  I've seen them made by others on FB.  

I'm not sure where I originally saw this 3D EPP pattern, but it's from a small Australian (1 woman) company.  She has designed a number of interesting bowls (some with lids).  They were all intriguing but I settled on one, called "Trove".  These are instant downloads so you don't need to wait for a mail delivery.
 

Due to the nature of the design, I'm pretty sure that all of the templates are odd-ball sizes.  Standard EPP shapes, just larger sizes.  This means that the first step is for you to *make* all the templates.  Included are pages of "to scale" templates that you print off onto paper.  Since the templates **stay in** the finished project and gives the project its structural strength, she advises to either use copy paper+laminations or print the templates on cardstock.  I combined the two: I use my sturdy scrapbooking cardstock and laminated the sheet before cutting the templates apart.   

Aside: no fancy lamination machine was needed!  I just happened to have a package of "self-applied laminating sheets" by a company called JM.  These are 8.5x11 sheets of heavy duty, clear plastic (?) with adhesive on the back.   Think clear Contact paper on steriods.  I think I found this package at a thrift store, but the stuff can probably be found in office supply stores.  Or just use clear Contact paper.  :-)

Initially, I was a bit miffed that I had to take the time to make the templates, as I'm so used to using my Fiskar punches to make the hexies that I need.  But, a readjustment of my point of view caused me to simply think of making the templates as Step 1.  :-)   Having said that, since the templates remain in the finished project, if you want to make another one, you need to return to Step 1 and make a brand new set of templates (i.e. you can't reuse templates; they are one-and-done.)

Included in the pattern are printable pages for cutting templates, as well as the actual templates for the project.  Personally, I think the cutting templates are completely superfluous.   Anyone who as done any EPP at all will know to take the actual templates and leave a seam allowance around it.   Even if this was your first EPP project (which I don't really recommend), an instruction to do exactly that would be sufficient.

She also includes 2 pages on how to wrap the fabric around the different shapes.  Again, if you've done EPP before, you know how to do this.  I don't think those instructional pages are necesssary.

The instructions themselves are all contained on 1 page, which is nice.  I didn't find any problems with them.

BUT ... here is where I had the biggest problem: while each template piece is clearly labeled, the **assembly** diagrams for each piece (the lid, the bowl, and the bowl dividers) do NOT have the labels printed on the diagrams.  While it is true, each template can eventually be identified by its shape, I would have liked a little hand-holding at this step.   I put the template pieces together in a dry fit, just so I could see how each piece went together.   From the dry fit stage, I pulled my fabrics because it was easier to SEE which template was where in the final project.

The actual stitching was no big deal ... it's just another EPP project, although the pieces are quite stiff.  She has drafted the templates so that they all fit together perfectly!  Pieces that are supposed to join to another piece are exactly the right length ... no fudging was needed!  It took me several nights of watching TV to get it done, but I wasn't in any hurry.

I'm pretty pleased with the final project.  What am I going to do with it / use it for?   I haven't a clue!  I just liked it.  :-)   The finished size is 7.5" wide x 8" deep x 5" high.   I used a remnant of a Jinny Beyer print that had ribbon stripes on it (that's where the bands on the lid came from).  The rest of the fabric was also scraps that coordinated with the Jinny Beyer fabric.   If you like the bands on the lid a/o bowl, any ribbon stripe fabric would work.

Although this pattern has the interior of the bowl subdivided into 3 compartments, you could opt not to sew that and just have one big bowl.

This pattern is "Trove" from Cake & Ale.  Her Etsy shop is here: https://www.cakeandale.com.au/etsy-shop

Pretty, pretty, pretty! 

Pardon me while I drool!

judyinohio said:

Pardon me while I drool!

a handkerchief, perhaps? :-)