English Paper Piecing and an Early Christmas Present

I've been hankering after doing some English Paper Piecing for a while now. Each time the thought entered my head I told myself not to be silly, I didn't need another new project, and certainly not one as long term as hand sewn paper piecing. But eventually the urge got the better of me and I cut out and tacked a few hexagons.

At the time I didn't have a project in mind. I just enjoyed the process. This week I put them to good use in my strip for the Bee that I'm in.
Now we are only supposed to give teasers until the strips are finished, so I hope I'm not giving too much away here. I hand sewed a single flower out of some of the hexagons and then machine appliquéd it to a quilt block. Just enough to keep the EPP urge at bay, I think!

I do enjoy appliqué and the strip was great fun to make. Hopefully the final owner will like it too.

I've also been happily playing with a new addition to my sewing room this week.

My sewing machine normally just sits on the desk top. For most sewing this works just fine, but when I'm quilting the drag on the quilt as it moves up to the height of the machine has been making me very frustrated and disappointed with the quilting that results. I really wanted a flatbed table.

I had looked at perspex extension tables (which seem very expensive for what they are) and sewing cabinets with a flatbed, which are even more expensive and I haven't got room for, and then I stumbled across a fold away version at a very reasonable price at Sewing Online

I watched their hilarious video showing you how sturdy it is. I measured and re-measured to check my machine would fit in it and then I hit that "Buy Now" button.
It arrived 48 hours later !!

 I soon had it set up and my machine fits very nicely in it. I can place it in front of my L shaped desk whilst I'm quilting and the desk will support the rest of the quilt. When I've finished quilting I can fold it away.

So now I'm practising my free motion quilting on scraps of fabric. It is such a luxury to have a nice smooth surface to work on.

I don't mind if I don't get any other Christmas presents this year. I'm a happy bunny, just playing with this one !