Wednesday, 27 March 2013

b(ol)locks

My man gave me a new nickname last week.  Not content with calling me "toddler", he decided that apparently I am toddler Borg.  I have been assimilated by the quilty Borg and cannot function without plugging in to the collective....   (if you have no idea what I'm on about, be glad.  Be very glad.)

Yes, I really struggled with my first week of being offline and "no service".  So much so that when ever we were out and I got a flash of a 3G bar I was straight on Instagram...  Yeah yeah, I should be ashamed of myself.  But I had to....  If any of you who may not be on IG missed it, I posted this awesome pic.



It comes from here.



Possibly the coolest tea room I've been to, the Greenhouse, up in the middle of nowhere picturesque highlands of Scotland.  It's two floors of charity shop cleverly decorated with things like a curtain made out of shirts sewn together, bunting from old comics, vintage dresses in frames on the wall... so cool.  That dude was sat right next to me as I had my cuppa.  I think its a costume bear head over a lampshade on a standard lamp, with a fuchsia feather boa too.  Naturally.


Little FUNCy did come on holiday, but I'm afraid my enthusiasm for taking silly photos outside with him did not.  Jeez it was BALTIC!  I did get one pic though, little FUNCy with my snow...thing.  It was going to be a snow dalek and I was quite chuffed with how it was starting to shape up and my man sabotaged it cos he said it looked like something else entirely that really shouldn't be left at the front door for all to see... Rotter.  However,  one snow fight later, little funcy did meet the snow thing.




There has been some sewing, but it has been immensely frustrating!   If anyone has EQ7, and / or English Paper Piecing experience, please please can you tell me where I am going wrong here?
I printed out EQ7 pattern pieces for some blocks.  We cut the pieces out, and we basted, and we joined.  First block, things seemed to be going together beautifully right up until the end, then we realised that no, things had not gone together "nicely" at all!  This will NOT sit flat, it has a swivel / bump in it.  Also, it is WAAAAY too big for the four corner pieces!

Block two was a non starter.  The first ring is way too big for the centre, and even too big for the second ring.  We've had the pieces out and fractionally trimmed them, and it still didn't work!  








Ideas?  Anyone? 

I will be back very soon with a fabulous (ha ha) tutorial for a block that DID work.  Eventually...  Anyone up for spiders webs?  

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23 comments:

  1. Canadian Abroad27 March 2013 at 17:31

    So good to hear from you here at the house of sick kids and crap like that. You have been missed. Love the FUNC photos, and I have no idea about the epp. Must be something to do with all those curves. Makes me think I had best avoid them.

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  2. Di27 March 2013 at 17:47

    Glad that you survived being off line and the snow. FUNC looks like (s)he enjoyed getting out and about. I'm afraid that I'm clueless when it comes to curves, EEP etc. Di x

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  3. Dianne Neale27 March 2013 at 18:30

    Resistance is futile!

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  4. cheeky monkey27 March 2013 at 18:51

    The bra looks fantastiqu! This is fun.
    No ideas for EPP but on the second star with the bra I just would put a little stripe in (like rays from the sun) maybe that works and looks nice

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  5. Lynz27 March 2013 at 19:39

    Wee dude. Do not diss the Trek. Geeks run the world you know (never mind girls, Beyonce!) just ask Bill Gates! Actually, I have no idea if he's a sci-fi guy. Maybe he's a nerd and not a geek.

    I digress. I have no idea what has gone tits up with the epp-ing coz I've never done it. But I do LOVE the circley one. Now, the last few episodes of Firefly are calling me on Netflix. Keep cosy in the frozen wastes, look out for Tauntauns incase of sub zero emergencies!

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  6. Julie27 March 2013 at 19:44

    Oh wow, I love that part of the world. Hang in there in the land of no plugging in. Juliex

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  7. Archie The Wonder Dog27 March 2013 at 20:25

    I love your EPP designs! I'm afraid I have no EQ experience and little-to-no EPP experience so can only think of one thing that might be wrong: did you definitely have the printer set to 'no scale' when you printed the templates? Can you print out the block outline and then cut it apart? At least that way you'd know it all went back together...in theory, anyway!

    Hope you're having a lovely time, even if you've been off-grid for far too long!

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  8. Isisjem27 March 2013 at 20:55

    Can't help with the sensible question bit. But I like what you've done so far. I am still smirking at the Borg reference. In a previous job and colleague and I had this private joke about the rest of the building having already been assimilated into the collective.

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  9. Alison in Germany27 March 2013 at 21:51

    Understand more about Borg than EPP! The bra is awesome, though!

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  10. Trudi27 March 2013 at 22:02

    uh, resistance IS futile! Tell the man he should be calling you Hue if he wants go all trekky! Love the EPP, can't help on the problems, only thoughts would be as Helen says - sorry! Stay warm!

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  11. Mrs Flying Blind...27 March 2013 at 22:15

    I guess that the extra width of the fabrics round the papers will make the pieces grow like little extra seam allowances, which, when all the prices are the same size and not curved won't matter; but the more pieces make up a section, the bigger it gets and for concave curves, it will make that edge smaller and it will all add up to a miss-match. That probably makes no sense, but I can see it all in my head!!!

    Hate that bear!

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  12. Annabella27 March 2013 at 23:15

    First Cindy's funny post and then yours! I remember that 'dog', which is in fact a 'bear' - go figure. The EPP is gorgeous!

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  13. Katy Cameron27 March 2013 at 23:29

    I have no idea what the man might be thinking about...

    The EPP issue is because you've added the thickness of the fabric between the paper pieces. For example where you have 3 pieces on that bottom block trying to match up with 1 outer ring of solid fabric, you've added in 4 extra thicknesses of fabric on the inner ring, pushing it outwards. In a straight line it's kind of easy to mash it together, but on curves you're stuffed. You need to trim the inner ring pieces a little on the sides only, not the top curve.

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  14. Judith, Belfast27 March 2013 at 23:38

    Make it so No.1! (no help whatsoever on EQ7 even though I have it!) Jxo

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  15. Shocking Hocking28 March 2013 at 00:21

    scant 1/4" seams - eq demands them or seams don't join......

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  16. Charlotte28 March 2013 at 09:29

    is that a bear head? Bloody hell!!!!!!

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  17. jeifner28 March 2013 at 10:21

    Yes for spiderwebs! Love the bra-centrique star one. Never used the program. It looks like some of the same pieces fit better than others so I'd probably try and figure out what I did differently. I have been assimilated and resistance as you know it is over.

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  18. Anonymous28 March 2013 at 17:07

    I have similar frustrations with EQ7 for anything but foundation piecing so I'm no help I'm afraid!

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  19. Nic28 March 2013 at 18:12

    Love your snow thing :)
    My only advice with the hand sewing is stick to hand sewing but ditch the paper. Use the EQ pattern to make templates to draw on your fabric (sewing line) and cut each piece with seam allowance then just sew the pieces together, matching seams. Probably not the advice you wanted though ;)

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  20. Strawberry Patch28 March 2013 at 20:58

    I hope you can get them to work as they are absolutely stunning blocks, love them!

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  21. Leanne29 March 2013 at 00:23

    I think that Katy is right, also remember that the seam allowance for a circle is more than for a line as you add all "four" sides together or 1" - Lynne sort of explains it here: http://lilysquilts.blogspot.ca/2011/03/qal-template-adjustments-this-is-very.html .

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  22. Benta AtSLIKstitches29 March 2013 at 07:34

    The tea room looks fab. I do EPP, but only boring shapes like Hexies and triangles, so I'm no help, sorry. The blocks look amazing, hope you sort them :-)

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  23. heart of charnwood29 March 2013 at 18:37

    He, he, quilting Borg, that made me laugh! And I can't help you with the EQ7 thing as I only just got it, but when you figure it out can you post about it for me! :o)

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