EPP Wafers Finish

It's that time of year again here in Northeast Ohio -- the gloomies have officially arrived -- one gray day after another.  The grass is quite green thanks to lots of rain this fall, but soon it will be covered with snow. 

 We know the sun is still out there, it peaks through the clouds every so often but until that big body of water (Lake Erie) to the north of us freezes over for the winter, we have to make our own sunshine. 

This is my newest bit of sunshine!  Just finished the binding last evening!

It's an EPP pattern named Wafers from Nellie's Niceties (see it HERE).

I came across the pattern late this summer and was intrigued by the arrangement of the shapes.  

This is the third piece in my series of small projects challenging myself to get comfortable using a wide assortment of Kaffe Fassett (and associates) prints together. 

In this one, I combined batiks with them and focused on a warm versus cool combination of fabrics to achieve contrast in the piece.

I apparently didn't take many pictures of it during the piecing but this was handpieced EPP style and then appliqued to the background print.  It was suppose to be a large pillow to use in the living room with the first two finishes I made (see HERE and HERE) for this personal challenge.

There was a change of plans after the piece was appliqued to the background.

This "naked" ottoman became it's destiny! 

The top cushion lifts up just enough that I can tuck a small quilt over the top of it allowing me to change the look of the ottoman.  That's perfect since I rotate the quilts in the living room with every season.

Willie would like to show you some more close-ups?

The gray of the background and the borders makes the colors of the motif shine which is a relief because every fabric choice I made for this piece required lots of auditioning and finally going with the best option available in my stash!  The only new fabric purchased was the border print and thanks to Cori at Olive Grace Studios, that was the easiest fabric pick!!

I hand quilted 1/4" inside each shape with pearle cotton

I enjoy "big stitch" quilting more and more -- I love the relaxed nature of the process and the finished look! 

I machine quilted a basic 1" grid for the background and border quilting - easy and a nice contrast for the central motif.

Using this print for the binding was a stretch -- my first thought was a darker gray . . . . but did you know that not all grays are the same??  Of course, I knew that but now I really know that!!  This print was in the "Kaffe" stack and it had all the colors, so . . . . .

I did it and it works!

Here's all three pieces (being modeled by Willie of course) hanging out together -- they won't live on the front porch but that's where the best light exists this morning.  This is finish #3 from my 2016 Finish Along 4th quarter list (HERE) -- so pleased about that!

Time to get back to the UFO's! 

There are only 7 blocks left to piece (between decorating and baking for Christmas) for this version of my Mississippi Mud pattern and it will be ready to layer and quilt. 

Have a blessed week!!

Mary