Let the English Paper Piecing Begin

 
                       See I'm not the only one using their dining room as a sewing room.

Oh my goodness.
I've given all my spare time to my Farmer's Wife SAL in the last couple of days.  I am using the English Paper Piecing Method mostly because it is what I am familiar with but also some of the blocks have very small pieces that warrant hand sewing. I really don't know how you'd manage these itty bitty pieces on a sewing machine.
The SAL administration has decided on Becky, Bonnie and Aunt for the first three blocks.  They are a little easier with fewer pieces.  In the book The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt, all the blocks are named after women by the way.
  I decided to set up a little assembly line to prep those first three blocks.  That way, my materials, on the dining room table, would be all there together, ready for use and I could start just where I left off.

First Hubby downloaded the patterns.  I traced the pieces onto Freezer paper, cut those out, and ironed them onto my fabric.  Trimmed those and then came the gluing.  Yes, gluing.  I decided not to put in basting stitches.  I have read that it can be a problem removing the thread from the paper and some of these pieces are so small, a little glue would work better instead.  A couple of episodes each of Longmire, Suits, and The Hour saw me through the gluing process.  This was not hard, just a little fiddly. 
Upshot is...I've put in all this time and not made a single stitch...yet.  I can see why this method is called slow sewing.  But then that is what makes some people love it.  They find it relaxing and soothing to handle the small pieces totally by hand.  I guess now I will be honing my whip stitch which is what I'll be using to join my pieces.  Haven't used that stitch in awhile so this should be interesting.
Already envisioning some unsewing in my future. Sigh

On a sadder note, my orchid is finally giving up the ghost.

The petals from one of the branches.  And the other is about ready to drop too.  February, these blossoms would have been 2 years old.  Oh well, it had a good run.  I just hope it was nothing I did. 

Here it is in what was its' pinky glory...