Today I’m excited to join Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations in celebrating her new book, A Stitch in Time: English Paper Piecing published by Tuva Publishing. I had so much fun making the Mummy Rosie Mouse pincushion from Sharon’s new book, and when it came time for the photoshoot, I just couldn’t stop at one. Was this part of what motivated me to get my “back to blogging” post up yesterday? Yes, absolutely. Whatever it takes, right!?

A few months ago when Sharon asked me to be a part of her book tour, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I had made Sharon’s block for the Splendid Sampler 2 and loved it, and English Paper Piecing (EPP) is quickly becoming my go-to style of quilting because of its portability and versatility.  A Stitch in Time is a fun book including 18 small  projects that combine EPP with vintage linens, embroidery, appliqué, patchwork and quilting. It’s a great resource for hand-stitched gifts that won’t require a year’s worth of stitching.

As I flipped through the beautiful book trying to decide what project to make, I fell in love with the mousie pincushions immediately. I opted to make the larger of the two, and thus my Mummy Rosie came to be.

I used a bunch of turquoise/teal scraps to piece Rosie’s back, and realized that this project would make SUCH a great scrap buster. I might just start making 3/4″ hexies and throwing them in a jar to make mousies!

Any project that involves cutting through a hand-stitched panel always is painful, but I forged ahead with gritted teeth and it was worth the pain of trimming. As you can see, I marked the template plastic with guides around some of the hexies so that when I cut each panel, they would be symmetrical.  It worked well!

I love how so many of the projects in Sharon’s book include little embellishments with embroidery, cute ribbon, and vintage lace. Rosie not only has a scissor pocket on the bottom, which makes use of a pretty coordinating ribbon I bought from my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply, but it also calls for some embroidery on Rosie’s head.

I decided to pull out the Embroidery Iron-on Transfers designed by Alison Glass and found a sweet little flower from her Diving Board Set. This was my first time using these Iron-on Transfers, but they worked SO well and were super easy to use! Now I’m itching to figure out what else I can add a bit of embroidery to!

Here’s a peek at the process. You can see how well the lines transfer onto the fabric. It’s reallllly easy to use, too. I used a selection of Aurifil 12wt thread to embellish Rosie’s head with the Alison Glass flower and some surrounding french knots. I used 4182-Dark Turquoise, 5006-Light Turquoise, and 5007-Light Grey Blue and they were perfect complements.

I think it’s a good look, don’t you?

The pattern calls for attaching 2 1/2″ scissors, but I opted to attach my 4″ Warm Crochet scissors since I use them often. Plus, when you are a mouse living in a jungle of turquoise that is prowled through by a cat and three kiddos, you need all the protection you can get!

Rosie’s ready for action, don’t you think?

Be sure to check out the rest of the folks participating in Sharon’s book tour. There are so many great projects! You can check the hashtag #astitchintimeepp on Instagram to get a peek of quite a few of them. There’s sure to be one you fall in love with!