The Lion, the stitcher and the new ruler

Ok - so the title is corny but I'm sure you know where I started and I'm sure, if you're here, that you know who the stitcher is. Work with me people...

Having "finished" the project I shared yesterday...I decided it was time to start a new project. That and Chantal is going to make the project at the same time. Nothing like a little sew-along to get a project moving!!!

My chosen project is the Lion by Violet Craft using the kit I bought from MSQC last fall.

It's really an ingenious way to do such a complicated pattern. Each fabric/color is assigned a symbol and the appropriate symbol is on each piece along with the number order to piece them. My only complaint so far is that I can't find a piece numbered 28. I'm sure that means it doesn't exist since it's not in the diagram but that little OCD corner of my brain keeps looking and looking and looking.

First I layed out the pattern (a heavier card stock than I am used to) and separated them into piles of similar symbols.

The bagged papers were then matched with the fabrics from the kit.

That's when I had to wait for my eagerly anticipated my new ruler. A girl's gotta have the right tools!!!

The 12" length is a little awkward sometimes.
 I had considered having Dad cut it in half but then I needed more than 6" the other night.

Anyone who's familiar with the add-a-quarter rulers for paper piecing (one of my previous obsessions) will recognize the new add-three-eighths ruler. Isn't it fabulous??!! I am all about ordering matching acrylic templates when I order papers from paperpieces.com but some times there are just too many paper shapes in a project to make that affordable or reasonable. With a little washable school glue to hold the paper in place it's super easy to trim out fabric as I need them.

The piece is worked from the back which can get a little messy
and you don't quite see how the pattern is evolving.

Next up was to start stitching!! For the most part it's been an easy process since the numbering tells you what order to stitch them in. It's just a little fussier with the thicker card stock to get the pieces to fit together since I prefer to stitch with a regular whip stitch and the pieces are right sides together. I suppose I could try the flat-back-stitch but I'm not always working at a table. It's worth a try tho...

A quick peek to the front side now and then is always interesting to see how the pattern is evolving.
Isn't it fabulous so far???!!!!

Be sure to look up Violet's other EPP patterns - there is a peacock and an owl so far. I'm hoping there will be a 4th (or more??!!) so that I could put them together into one quilt. Otherwise this is destined to become a ....drum roll ...... doll bed quilt. LOL.