As we come to the end of the year I thought I would share my top posts of 2022…. This one is definitely one of the most popular! 🤩 . 💕Sewing hexies on with the machine can save so much time on your...

hand-stitched & quilted hexies fused & stitched to recycled wool, with hidden magnetic snap closure - yay!

Free downloads and designer projects for sewing, quilting, crochet, and knitting enthusiasts.

EppSAVE & SEND to someone who loves EPP (English paper piecing) but doesn’t like to hand sew! This tip changed the game for me. I avoided EPP for years because I don’t enjoy hand stitching. I also...

As I mentioned in my Friday Favorite Post last week, I’ve been working on some English Paper Piecing projects and finished them up this weekend! When I decided that I was interested in learning how to English Paper Piecing, I do what most of us do these days – I turned to the internet of […]

If you’ve never done English paper piecing or EPP this is an easy project to start with. For this I printed a sheet of 1 1/4 inch hexagons (pdf). You will only need 8 templates. How to make English pa

I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite thing to make: the giant hexie flower lap quilt! (Also affectionately known as the big-ass hexie quilt.)

Replying to @meatloafsmom55 a basic tutorial on English paper piecing (EPP) to create hexagon quilts if you have any questions just leave me a comment 📸rachii_roo #englishpaperpiecing #hexiequilts...

13+ quick & easy english paper piecing patterns with EPP tutorials and paper piecing patterns to hand sew with fabric scraps.

It's nice to have a small project to do while on vacation, or even just sitting outside enjoying the weather. This little hexie pincushion is a fun little project. I first saw it on facebook and fell in love with it. This pattern is part of the Sew Over The Rainbow quilt along hosted by Victoriana Quilt Designs. You can check it out on her Facebook Page. The FREE pattern can be found HERE.... Benita, Thank you for the great pattern, it's adorable when finished and you can never have too many pincushions. It would also make a cute little gift for one of your quilting buddies. So here is my spin on her awesome pattern.... I printed up the pattern and traced out the hexie just as it printed up. You could make this cute little project with just about any size hexie. Using the hexie template I cut out several foundation papers out of a paper bag. It's a great way to recycle an old paper bag! Cut fabric a 1/4" or so bigger than the hexie shape.... Wrap your fabric around and pin using sequin pins. (They are tiny) My hexies are all ready to piece together. I am using three different fabrics from the 'Gallery in Red' fabric line from Marcus Brothers. Sewing using tiny little stitches.... right sides together. Here's the layout to form the pincushion. Here I am sewing the 'sides' of the pincushion... remember to remove pins and hexie papers when all sides are 'sewn'. Continue to sew until you have all the sides sewn up, except for one. Remove the last of the pins and paper and then turn right side out. Then use stuffing or leftover batting and stuff. Finish sewing the last seam. Remember to use tiny little blind stitches. I think it's adorable with an added button! I hope you enjoy this cute little project. Remember this cute little hexie project from last year? My tutorial for this project can be found HERE. Happy Quilting!

EPP quilts don't have to be complicated to be worth the effort. They don't have to use small pieces or be fussy cut. You can just let the fabric do the talking.

It's just about time! Are you getting excited like me? On January 1st the Millefiore Quilt Along will get started designed and hosted by Katja. Using the hexie patterns from her new book, we will be creating rosettes using the english paper piecing method. This is my 'thing'. I have done hexagons since I started quilting years ago, and have never lost my love of hand work. These are the fabrics I'm starting with. Lots of bright prints and a couple of large prints perfect for fussy cutting. I went through my supply of papers and pulled a few I thought we might be using. If not, I will copy the patterns from the book onto card stock and cut them up myself. Something else new to me -- this time I am going to glue baste. I have always thread basted but sometimes removing those threads takes a long time. It's faster to glue I'm sure........ Also, Paper Pieces is going to be offering Rosette packages monthly for each of the rosettes if you don't want to copy and cut your own. How great is that! Here is a sampling of what Katja has done so far Isn't it fabulous??? My fingers are getting itchy. Over Christmas I plan to go through my stash and pull all kinds of fabrics that I think might work for this quilt. What a great way to use up stash : ) The quilt will be 78 x 78 and you can find all the details on Katja's website. The link is up at the top of her web page by the green bow : ) You can click here to have a look I hope you will join in. It's going to be fun!

Florence of Flossy Teacakes made this stunning 17 1/4 x 17 1/4 inch quilt, then framed it as wall decor. She fussy-cut the floral fabrics and joined them to solids via EPP (English paper piecing). …

Six months in the making and the hexagon charm quilt top is finished! I have hand pieced 1,033 pieces of 1 1/2" hexagons to achieve the required size. The top measures at 72" x 73" There are no straight borders for this quilt as my daughter loves the hexagon shaped edging and wanted me to leave it as such. I'll be adding more hexagons for the backing edges once the quilting is done. It'll be backed with Topiary from the Parisville line by Tula Pink - it's one of my daughter's favourite prints. I'll be hand quilting following an outline flower design using pearl cotton thread. On another note, I have resumed knitting, it was my on-the-go project prior to piecing the hexagons. I've picked up where I left off on the Mediterranean Lace Shawl - a pattern from 'A Gathering Of Lace' knitting book by Maureen Egan Emlet. I have a few more rows before I get to the edging then on to blocking! Hope to have more pictures of it soon! Have a great week, everyone!

Welcome to the magic of EPP. Leanne - she can quilt asked me, if I would make a tutorial as a guest post on her blog on the 7th of January this year. I am so thankful, that she asked me, it was so much fun to write this. It´s a very long post, so take a cup of tea or coffee and I hope you enjoy it. Willkommen zur Magie von EPP. Leanne von she can quilt fragte mich, ob ich einen Gastpost auf ihrem Blog schreiben würde (erschienen am 7.1.2014). Ich bin so dankbar, dass sie mich gefragt hat, denn es hat unglaublich Spaß gemacht, diesen "Artikel" zu schreiben. Es ist ein langer Post, also nun einen Pott Tee oder Kaffee geholt und lesen, ich hoffe, er gefällt euch auch. I thought this is the right moment for an EPP-QAL. There will be no rules, just starting new projects together or finishing WIP´s or UFO´s. Get inspired and motivated to start or go on :). Here you will find the flickr-group to share all your pictures, questions and tips. Ich dachte, das wäre der richte Zeitpunkt einen EPP-QAL zu starten. Es gibt keine Regeln, einfach nur neue Projekte beginnen oder alte beenden. Lasst euch inspirieren und motivieren beim Anfang oder beim Beenden :). Hier findet ihr die flickr-Gruppe, um Bilder, Tipps und Fragen zu teilen. English Paper Piecing (EPP) is an old traditional technique to sew parts together by hand where the parts are reinforced with paper-templates. English Paper Piecing (EPP) ist eine alte traditionelle Methode, um Teile mit der Hand aneinander zu nähen, wobei die Teile zum Zusammennähen mit Papiervorlagen verstärkt werden. Why do we sew by hand in times of modern machines? What's the magic about EPP? Well, I can tell you why I love EPP. This is the most relaxing way of sewing to me. You can take your project or parts of it with you where ever you go and do some stitches. Even if you only sew one seam, it is worth to take it with you. I do EPP sometimes in the car while waiting for my daughter picking her up from basketball exercises. It is a good way to kill the time. Warum nähen wir mit der Hand in Zeiten modernster Maschinen? Was ist die Magie um´s EPP? Nun, ich kann euch erzählen, warum ich EPP liebe. Das ist die beste Art zu Entspannen und gleichzeitig etwas Kreatives zu erschaffen. Man kann sein Projekt überall hin mitnehmen und ein paar Stiche nähen. Auch wenn man nur eine Naht zusammennäht, war es schon wert, es mitgenommen zu haben. Ich nähe EPP oft auch im Auto beim Warten, bis meine Tochter Trainingsschluss hat. Es ist ein genialer Zeitkiller. And you see your project growing slowly and getting more and more beautiful. Maybe it's even a kind of therapy or meditation - it's just you and your little project in your hand. I find myself pausing from time to time and looking on my sewing or even stroking it. Well, seams as if I am a sewing nerd :). Und man sieht das Projekt langsam wachsen und wachsen und schöner und schöner werden. Vielleicht ist es sogar eine Art der Meditation oder Therapie - nur du und dein kleines Projekt in deiner Hand. Ich finde mich dann und wann auch mal am innehalten und schaue mir mein Genähtes und und streichle es sogar. Tja, sieht so aus, als wäre ich ein Näh-Nerd :). If you have done some EPP projects, this is not new to you, but if not, I will tell you roughly the steps of making EPP. If you are starting totally new, I would recommend hexies or pentagons, because here the angles are wider and easier to sew. The main focus of this post will be to find a pattern for an EPP project. Wenn ihr schon ein paar EPP-Projekte gemacht habt, dann wird das nächste nicht neu, aber falls nicht, findet ihr hier die groben Schritte des EPP. Der Fokus dieses Posts liegt jedoch bei der Musterfindung für ein EPP-Projekt. Templates/ Vorlagen So if you know what pattern you are going to sew, you need the templates for the parts of your pattern. When I started my fist EPP-project, I used thicker paper and drew my templates on it and cut them out. This is not the way you should do it, only if you have very random shapes. That was before I saw any quilting books or the quilting-world-wide-web. Then I discovered, that you can buy paper templates as precuts which is a very comfortable, but maybe a bit expensive if your project is a bigger one. You can also use plastic templates which you can reuse a lot of times, but I have only seen them as hexies. I have to confess, that I never had a chance to try the plastic templates yet. I just print my templates on normal paper and cut them out. Wenn ihr wisst, was für ein Muster ihr nähen wollt, braucht ihr Vorlagen für eure Teile. Als ich mein erstes EPP-Projekt anfing zu nähen, hatte ich noch keine Ahnung, was sich für eine Welt im Internet zu diesem Thema verbirgt - geschweige denn wusste ich, dass das EPP ist, was ich mache. Ich habe meine Vorlagen selber aufgemalt und ausgeschnitten. So solltet ihr das nicht machen, außer ihr braucht ungewöhnliche Vorlagen. Dann habe ich entdeckt, dass man Vorlagen auch schon fertig geschnitten kaufen kann, was sehr bequem, aber auch recht teuer und unflexibel. Auch kann man Plastikvorlagen kaufen, die kann man immer wieder benutzen. Ich selbst habe diese aber noch nicht ausprobiert - hat sich nie ergeben. Ich drucke mir die Vorlagen einfach auf normalem Druckerpapier und schneide sie dann aus. There are pros and cons for each of those methods and you have to find your own best way. I use only self printed paper templates, because they give me more flexibility in time and size, and it is much cheaper with the basting technique I use. I only glue my parts (next step). The precut templates made of paper are easy to use, but you cannot get all shapes in all sizes and you have to know what you exactly need. The plastic ones are great, if you make lots of projects and reuse those templates again and again, but you are fixed with your size and shape. If you want to print your own templates you can find them for example here on incompetech. You can vary the angles of triangles or diamonds on this page until you find the right template. Es gibt für jede Methode Pros und Kontras und ihr werden euren eigenen besten Weg finden. Ich benutze nur selbst gedruckte Vorlagen, weil sie günstig sind, mir mehr Flexibilität in Bezug auf Zeit und Größe geben. Die Vorgeschnittenen Vorlagen sind extrem bequem, aber man kann nicht alle Formen in jeder Größe kaufen und man hat sie nicht immer sofort vorrätig. Die Plastikvorlagen sind genial, umweltfreundlich, weil man sie unzählige Male benutzen kann, aber auch für mich zu unflexible und zu wenig Auswahl in Größe und Form - man ist hier schon recht festgelegt. Wenn ihr eure eigenen Vorlagen drucken wollt, könnt ihr Muster z.B. bei incompetech finden. hier kann man Form und Winkel verändern, bis man die richtige Vorlage gefunden hat. Fabric Cutting/ Zuschneiden So if you have your templates, it´s time to look for fabrics. EPP is predestined for fussy cutting, but of course fussy cutting is not necessary. If you like to fussy cut your parts, you should cut one of each template on a harder plastic so you can use them as master-templates. You can also make a frame while cutting your template out of a bigger piece of paper. This little Tula-Creature-Mugrug is an example of how to fussy cut. The head of the frog is made of two hexies, so I needed two motifs of the fabric to make this one head. Fussy cutting is a beautiful way of showing motifs, but it is also a fabric consuming way. Just beware and think before you cut into you precious fabrics ;-). Wenn ihr die Vorlagen habt, wird´s Zeit nach Stoffen zu suchen. EPP ist hervorragend geeignet, um Motive aus Stoffen zu schneiden, aber ist natürlich nicht notwendig. Wenn ihr Motive ausschneiden wollt, könnt ihr entweder eine Vorlage aus härterem Plastik ausschneiden oder eine Vorlage basteln, bei der ihr genau die Größe der Vorlage in der Mitte ausschneidet - dann seht ihr das Motiv wie in einem Fenster. Motive sehen toll aus im EPP, sind aber auch eine stoffraubende Variante. Und immer schon vorsichtig, bevor ihr in Eure besonderen Stoffe schneidet :). Just lay your plastic template on your fabric to find your right motif and cut it out - don´t forget the seam allowance. Cutting the fabrics for EPP is done in very different ways by different people. Some people precut squares for hexies, triangles or diamonds, and some cut strips. I have to tell you that I am very sloppy with cutting fabrics for EPP. I always take more than 1/4 Inch for the seam allowance so it will not matter too much if my fabric is not always parallel to the template. I cut the fabric in my hand with scissors or with a rotary cutter on a mat (sometimes with a ruler). I just use what's handy. Legt einfach die Plastik-Vorlage auf den Stoff, um das richtige Motiv zu finden und schneidet es aus - bloß nicht die Nahtzugabe vergessen. Wie man den Stoff für EPP zuschneidet, ist Euch überlassen, es gibt so viele Wege. Einige bereiten erst Quadrate für Hexies, Dreiecke oder Rauten vor, andere schneiden lange Reihen. Da ich selten viele Teile von einem Stoff nutze, schneide ich meine Teile einzeln oder mit Stofflagen übereinander mit der Schere und dem Stoff in der Hand oder manchmal auch mit dem Rollschneider, wenn ich eine Matte da habe. Ich nutze das, was ich gerade dabei habe. Manchmal habe ich Stoffreste unterwegs dabei und dann sieht das wie auf dem unteren Bild aus :). Wrapping the Fabric around the Template / Das Verpacken der Stoffe um die Vorlage Now you have your templates and your fabrics cut. The next step is to wrap the fabric around your template. There are three methods to do so. Well, I have tried a fourth one with my first EPP Project, but that was because I didn't know better :). I pinned all six sides of the hexies with needles and so I was always pierced by the needles while sewing together. Of course this is nothing you should do. It hurts, I can tell you. The easiest and quickest way of basting the fabric around the template is to glue it. This is the way I prefer, because this is the part of EPP I don´t like to much. Of course you can only use this method with paper templates and you have to buy the glue pen. I use the Sewline Fabric Glue Pen, but there are others too. You can remove the templates afterwords, but the templates cannot be used again. Nun sind die Vorlagen und Stoffe geschnitten. Der nächste Schritt ist, die Vorlagen mit dem Stoff zu verpacken. Dafür kenne ich drei Methode. Nun, ich habe auch eine vierte ausprobiert, die ich aber nicht empfehlen würde. In meinem ersten Quilt vor meiner WEB-Quilt-Zeit habe ich meine Hexies mit Stecknadeln fixiert, das hat oft hier und da gepieckst :). Die einfachste und schnellste Art (daher meine hihi)ist, den Stoff mit Kleber zu fixieren. Ich mag diesen Teil des EPP am wenigsten, daher ist das eine geniale Methode für mich. Hier könnte ihr die Vorlagen aus Papier meist nur einmal verwenden. Ich benutze den Sewline Fabric Glue Pen, aber es gibt auch andere Kleber. Später kann man die Vorlage gut vom Stoff mit der Hand ablösen. Another method is to sew through the fabric and paper template (see the two photos below on the left). Here you have to remove the thread before you can remove the templates. The last method is to sew only the corners of your folded fabric without going through the templates (see the photos below on the right). This is the only method you can use with plastic templates. The advantage of this method is that you can remove the templates without removing the thread. Eine andere Methode ist, Stoff und Vorlage zusammen zu nähen. Der Faden wird ganz am Ende herausgezogen und somit kann dann auch die Vorlage entfernt werden (linkes Foto unten). Die letzte Variante wäre, den Faden nur an den Ecken zu kreuzen und nicht durch die Papiervorlage zu nähen. Der klare Vorteil hierbei ist, dass der Faden nicht entfernt werden muss und die Vorlage einfach so herausgezogen werden kann, ABER die ganze Sache ist daher auch deutlich unstabiler, wenn man den Faden nicht wirklich unter Spannung rundherum näht. For all three methods, be careful not to pull the fabric so tight over the template edges that the paper bends or warps. You still need some space to sew the parts together. It can help to use clips to fix the folded fabric around the template - some recommend paper clips or Clover Wonder Clips. I haven´t used them yet, because I glue my parts. Whatever method you use, you should fold the fabric always in the same direction around your template. This makes it easier to sew the parts together and to get neat points. This is very important, when you have pointed angles. In addition it looks nice from the back. Bei allen drei Methoden sollte ihr aufpassen, den Stoff nicht all zu sehr unter Spannung zu setzen, da man immer noch ein wenig Stoff an den Kanten braucht, durch den man dann zwei Teile aneinander nähen soll. Es kann helfen, Clips zu verwenden, um den Stoff um die Vorlagen zu falten, ich habe solche noch nie benutzt, andere schwören drauf (z.B. Clover Wonder Clips). Welche Methode auch immer ihr benutzt, solltet ihr Euren Stoff bei allen Teilen gleich um die Vorlage falten, damit die Teile sich schön ineinander fügen. Das gibt dann schöne Punkte beim Zusammentreffen der Teile. Außerdem sieht es von hinten toll aus. It´s up to you, whether or not you finish basting all your parts before starting sewing the parts together. Usually that´s not me :). I prepare some parts and sew them together and start with the next parts. Let me show you some steps of my ferris wheel pillows. Es liegt ganz bei euch, ob ihr alle Teile vorher fertig faltet oder Motiv für Motiv. Ich gehe meistens Stück für Stück vor, aber das hängt bei mir immer von Laune und Zeitdruck ab. Hier ein paar Schritte beim Entstehen meines Ferris Wheel Kissen. Sewing the parts together / Zusammennähen der Teile Now it´s time to sew your parts together. Take two parts together right side facing the right side at the seam you want them to sew together. Nun ist es an der Zeit, die Teile zusammen zu nähen. Legt zwei Teile rechts auf rechts und näht sie an der oberen Kante mit kleinen und knappen Stichen zusammen. When you sew your parts together, you have to note some things: Use a colour for your thread that is the most unobtrusive - of course this depends on your fabric choice. If you have only dark fabrics you should use a dark thread. I use off-white colors with lighter projects and darker grey for darker projects. Of course you can change the color of the thread for every seam. Cotton, polyester or silk? This is a philosophy and I will not solve this question. I use polyester for my EPP, because I think it´s stronger. Some say silk goes better through the fabric, while others only use cotton. Avoid knots and stitch some stitches at the same place for fixing the thread at the start and do so from time to time and at the end of a seam line. Start the same way at the next template. Use a thin needle. Sew small stitches (there are different methods to sew the seams). Don´t sew through the paper templates when joining the parts. If you do, your stitches will be to big once the paper is removed and you will see them later on the right side. It also makes the templates harder to remove. Corrections: If you see that your next template will not fit in neatly, you can manipulate it if you have paper templates. Just pull or push or fold the fabric in the right direction. Of course you can only manipulate differences up to 1/8 inch or a little more. Here you can see the one stitch I made bigger for you with orange thread. Wenn ihr Teile zusammen näht, gibt es ein paar Punkte zum Klären: Nehme beim Faden eine Farbe, die am unauffälligsten ist - hängt natürlich von eurem Stoff ab. Ich benutze meist sandfarbigen Faden, von weiß habe ich mich fast gänzlich verabschiede - zu leuchtend für mich. Natürlich könnt ihr auch für jede Naht die Farbe des Fadens wechseln. Baumwolle, Polyester oder Seide? Das ist dann wohl eher eine philosophische Frage, die ich nicht werde beantworten können. Ich benutze Polyester beim EPP, weil ich für mich denke, es ist am stärksten. Manche sagen, Seide geht besser durch den Stoff, andere sie nähen nur mit natürlichen Fäden und nutzen Baumwolle. Versucht Knoten zu vermeiden und näht einfach ein paar Stiche an der selben Stelle, um den Faden zu festigen. Das solltet ihr eh von Zeit zu Zeit auch auf einer geraden Naht machen, Kommt ihr zum nächsten Teil mit dem gleichen Faden, solltet ihr ihn hier auch mit ein paar Stichen an der gleichen Stelle fixieren. Benutzt eine dünne Nadel. Näht kleine Stiche (es gibt unterschiedliche Methoden, wie man die Teile zusammen nähen kann, darauf gehe ich hier aber nicht ein). Näht nicht durch das Papier - dann sind die Stiche eindeutig zu groß und das Entfernen der Vorlagen wird schwieriger. Anpassungen: Wenn ihr seht, dass euer nächstes Teil nicht ganz ans andere passt, könnt ihr beim EPP ein wenig ziehen und schieben. Die Abweichungen sollten nicht riesig sein (nicht viel mehr als 1/8 Inch). Auf dem Bild unten könnt ihr genau erkennen, wo ich einen Stich zu groß gesetzt habe. Putting the parts together / Zusammensetzen der Teile There are also different ways to put your parts together. You can finish one motif (e.g. a flower) after the other and then bring them together at the end or you can sew one motif to the next and see your project growing. Some sew EPP in lines and some sew it in motifs. Just find your way. It depends on my mood and the time I have for a project. If I have enough time I sew in motifs. If it has to be quicker, I sew in lines. Sewing in lines will be faster, but sewing in motifs satisfies me most. Hier gibt es wie immer auch unterschiedliche Wege, die Teile zusammenzusetzen. Ihr könnt ein Motiv nach dem anderen fertig nähen und das ganze am Ende zusammenbauen, oder in Reihen oder Runden. Ich bin eher eine Motiv-Näherin, aber wenn ich keine Zeit habe, dann näh ich auch mal in Reihen, das geht wesentlich schneller. Removing Templates / Entfernen der Vorlagen The templates will be removed only when the parts are surrounded by other parts, or when you have finished the whole project. I remove only some parts and iron them before removing the next ones so the seams are fixed neatly. Die Vorlagen solltet ihr bei großen Projekten so spät wie möglich entfernen und auch erst, wenn das Teil komplett umgeben ist von anderen Teilen. bei kleineren Projekten wie Kissen, solltet ihr die Vorlagen erst am Ende entfernen. Ich bügle das Projekt immer an den Stellen, wo ich danach die Vorlage entfernen will und im Anschluss nochmal, damit die Nähte auch wirklich dort bleiben, wo sie hingehören. Quilting / Quilten Now to quilt your Project. I prefer to quilt my EPP´s because I am afraid that a seam could open. This has never actually happened to me but I am very careful. You should avoid quilting in the seams with EPP. When I make pillows from EPP I always use fusible interface to fix it all. And I wash my EPP´s only by hand. Nun ans Quilten. Ich quilte meine EPP-Projekte immer, weil ich einfach Angst habe, dass sich doch Nähte öffnen könnten. Das ist bisher noch nie passiert, aber ich bin da übervorsichtig. Ihr sollte vermeiden, in den Nähten zu quilten. Bei Kissen benutze ich sogar Vliseline mit einer Klebefläche, um meine teile vollends zu fixieren. Außerdem wasche ich meine EPP´nur mit der Hand. Tutorials for Sewing EPP / Anleisungen zum Nähen von EPP You can find lots of tutorials for all the steps of EPP and this tutorial should only show you a quick overview. Now lets start finding our EPP-Pattern for the next Project. I promise you, if you go through your everyday life you will see so many EPP-Patterns. Get inspired by your flickr and internet friends. My daughter used to go to a Painting Artist School and they had a great teacher and that´s her philosophy: copy or cloning doesn't exist, you only get inspired by the work of others. Ihr könnt unglaublich viele tolle Anleitungen zum Nähen nach der EPP-Methode im Netz finden, wo Euch diese Schritte nochmal viel ausführlicher erklärt werden. Aber nun auf zum Suchen nach dem geeigneten Muster für euer Projekt und zu eigentlichen Thema dieses Posts. ich versprechen euch, wenn ihr durch euer alltägliches Leben geht und die Augen aufhaltet, dann werdet ihr mit EPP Mustern überschüttet. Last euch inspirieren bei Flickr und euren Internetfreunden. Meine Tochter war mal in einer Malschule und sie hatte echt eine tolle Lehrerin. Ihre Philosophie war ganz klar: Nichts ist kopiert, du bist einfach nur von anderen inspiriert worden. The floor of a shop. And to tell the truth, you see so many beautiful and stunning projects in the internet, that your brain is full of all these impressions so that you cannot always distinguish or remember where you saw each idea....... Just go for it! Of course it is nice to mention the person who inspired you if you can remember. There are lots of books showing you how to make EPP - two of them I would love to introduce to you: Und um ganz ehrlich zu sein: Es gibt so viele schöne Projekte im Internet, dass unser Hirn voll ist mit Eindrücken, so dass wir uns nicht wirklich immer erinnern können, woher unser Eindruck kommt und wo wir die Idee für ein neues Projekt her haben... Einfach machen! Natürlich ist es schön, wenn man die Quelle seiner Inspiration kennt, sie auch anzugeben. Es gibt außerdem viele schöne Bücher zum Thema EPP - zwei davon möchte ich euch gern zeigen: The one of them is from Hilde Klatt and Liesel Niesner called "Liesels Sechsecken-Technik". Ok, you will say: now it is crazy recommending to us a book in German, but there are so many useful pictures it might be helpful, even if you don´t understand the text. Have a look in this book: Das eine ist von Hilde Klatt und Liesel Niesner, "Liesels Sechsecken-Technik". Das ist eine wahre Quelle der Inspiration: And the other book is the one from Tacha Bruecher called "hexa go-go". She is a quilt friend of mine living in the same city as I do and an absolute EPP maniac. Her book is lovely and she gives lots of tips sewing hexies. Und das andere ist von Tacha Bruecher: "hexa go-go". Sie ist eine Quilt-Freundin von mir und lebt in der gleichen Stadt wie ich und ist ein absoluter EPP-Maniac. Ihr Buch ist echt schön und gibt eine Menge Tipps zum Nähen von Hexies. Shapes for EPP / Formen für EPP To show you the range of shapes you usually use in EPP, I put them together for you. So this is nothing new, it's geometry and it's a good reason to listen to maths in school, that´s what I tell my daughter ;-). Be aware as I don´t want confuse you. On the next picture you see all shapes being in a 6 pointed diamond. You always use the same side length or a multiple of it. In my drawings you will find (0.5), 1, and 2 inches. All the drawings are made on prints from incompetech. Hier habe ich Euch mal auf einem Blatt die gängigen Formen des EPP aufgezeichnet. Es ist nichts Neues, einfach Geometrie und ein guter Grund, in der Schule in Mathe aufzupassen, das sage ich auf jeden Fall immer meiner Tochter ;-). Ich hoffe, ich verwirre Euch hiermit nicht. Ihr seht auf dem Bild alle Formen, die in einem 60°-Diamanten stecken. Man nutzt immer die gleichen Seitenlänge oder ein Vielfaches davon. In meiner Zeichnung habe ich 0,5, 1 und 2 Inchen Seitenlöngen. Alle meine Zeichnungen basieren auf Ausdrucken von incompetech. For making an equilateral pentagon you need a compass and a set square. Um ein gleichseitiges Fünfeck zu zeichen, braucht ihr einen Zirkel und ein Geodreieck. With these shapes you can make lots of patterns. This is my recent EPP-long-term-proect: My Flower Garden. The connecting fabric will be grey and there will be all kinds of flower shapes to become an irregular flower garden. Mit diesen Formen könnt ihr schon eine Vielzahl von Mustern generieren. Unten auf dem Bild seht ihr mein aktuelles EPP-Langzeit-Projekt: Mein Blumengarten. Der Stoff zwischen allen Blumen ist ein hellen grau und es wird die unterschiedlichsten Blumenformen haben. Here you can see the shapes I used: Hier könnt ihr genau sehen, welche Formen hier drinstecken: My latest EPP Project was a pillow for Swappen auf Deutsch 3. I saw this cover of a book and I knew I wanted to make it with fabric. Mein letzten EPP-Projekt war das Kissen für Swappen auf Deutsch 3. Ich hatte dieses CD-Cover gesehen und wusste, dass muss ich mal mit Stoff machen. First I had to find my motif, because this pictures gives you so many possibilities. In this case it is easier to copy it in back and white, so the origin colours will not influence you so much. Erst musste ich das richtige Motiv suchen, denn das Bild gibt einem unglaublich viele Möglichkeiten. Hier ist es leichter, sich das ganze schwarz-weiß auszudrucken, da die Originalfarben zu sehr beeinflussen. Then I had to think about the templates I needed here. These are not the usual 6 (60°) or 8 (40°) Point Diamonds. 5 Point Diamonds have an angle of 72° and you cannot find them easily to buy as precuts, but you can find them on incompetec, where you can vary the angle. Also I needed 10 Point Diamonds with 36°. I can tell you, this is a project I really had to pull and fold my shapes because it isn´t that easy to get so many points together with different angles. Dann musste ich über die Vorlagen nachdenken, die ich brauchte. Normalerweise benutz man ja 60°- oder 40°-Rauten (6 oder 8 in einem Kreis), aber hier sind es 5 in einem Kreis = 360°: 5 = 72°. Außerdem braucht ich dann auch noch 10 in einem Kreis (36°). Ich kann euch sagen, dass ich hier schon gezogen und geschoben habe, damit die Punkte schön aufeinander treffen, weil hier auch Teile mit unterschiedlichen Winkeln aufeinander treffen. Doesn't this look cosy? Sitting on the sofa covered with lovely quilts doing some EPP - that´s magic ;-). Funny, but my pillow for Swappen auf Deutsch 2 was also a EPP pillow. I sat at the table and started to draw an pattern. Later I realized, that I must have been inspired by a picture taken by Brioni-flossyblossy I saw on flickr, but I really had forgotten it. That´s why my pattern was totally EPP and hers was EPP appliquéd on fabric. As you can see my hexies here are not real hexies with equalateral sides. That´s a problem with drawing on squared paper. You will move your pen on lines or going from one corner to the other and that brings different shapes as if you make your pattern for example on hexie paper. In this case I drew my master templates on squared paper while increasing my layout in the size I wished and copied the master template. As you can see I had really pointed angles which is not a real beginner project. But if you know me a bit, you know that I am not afraid of anything in piecing. What´s the worst could happen? It doesn't work - so what? So you try again or leave it, that´s it. Nobody is going to laugh at you or even punish you. It´s my quality time and I decide what to do with it. It´s not failure, just the braveness, that I tried it! Sieht das nicht gemütlich aus? Auf dem Sofa sitzend, zugedeckt mit tollen Quilts ein wenig EPP nähen - das ist für mich magisch und extrem erholsam ;-). Witzig, aber mein Kissen für Swappen auf Deutsch 2 war auch ein EPP-Kissen. Ich habe am Tisch gesessen und angefangen auf kariertem Papier zu zeichnen. Später realisierte ich, dass ich von einem Bild von Brioni-flossyblossy inspieriert war, hatte das aber schon längst wieder vergessen. Daher ist mein Kissen auch komlpett EPP, während sie mit Lücken ihr Teil appliziert hat. Hier kann man auch erkennen, dass meine Hexies keine gleichen Seitenlängen haben. Das wird auf kariertem Papier auch schwierig. Für richtige gleichseitige Hexies sollte man sich immer Hexie-Druckvorlagen ausdrucken und auf ihnen experimentieren. Im meinem Fall habe ich mein kleines Muster auf Karopapier vergrößert und die Teile dann als Vorlagen für EPP genutzt. Das ist kein wirkliches Anfängerprojekt. Hexies eignen sich hervorragend für Erstlingsprojekte, da sie keine zu spitzen Winkel haben. Traut euch ran. Wer mich kennt, weiß. dass ich keine Angst habe, Neues zu probieren. Was ist das Schlimmste, was passieren kann? Es wird nix! Na und? Wer soll euch bestrafen oder gar auslachen? Kein Versagen, es ist mutig, dass ihr es versucht habt! Here are some other drawings of mine. Maybe I will make them into quilts or pillows some time. Feel free to get inspired ;-). Hier noch ein paar Zeichnungen von mir. Vielleicht werde ich mal ein Quilt oder Kissen danach nähen. Fühlt euch frei, inspiriert zu werden ;-). So dear readers of this post, if you really got to this point you made me so happy - thank you for staying tuned. Maybe I can see some of your EPP projects soon - even if you already started, this might be the reason to go on and finish it. Maybe I see you in my new EPP-QAL, and you are invited to come and join! Here more of of my EPP finishes... So meine lieben Leser/Innen diese Posts. Wenn ihr es echt bis hierin geschafft habt, macht ihr mich super glücklich - vielen herzlichen Dank, dass ihr durchgehalten habt. Vielleicht sehe ich euch ja bald mit eurem EPP-Projekt in meinem neuen QAL, ihr seit herzlich eingeladen mit uns neue Projekte zu starten oder alte fertig zu stellen! Thanks Aylin PS: Linkes with creadienstag, WIP Wednesday, Show and Tell Tuesday, Quiltstory

Happy Sunday, today I will attempt to show you how I do my EPP basting on shapes with points. In this case a 1" triangle. I use a dot of ...

If you are not yet on board with this english paper piecing, quilting-on-the-go thing, I think this is a great time to start. Have you seen some of the most amazing English paper pieced (EPP) projects

New to EPP? Or trying to improve your skills? We've rounded up some of our tips and tricks for English paper piecing.

Make a handsewn hexie coaster with this simple english paper piecing tutorial. Perfect fabric scrap project, no sewing machine required.

I’ve been in touch with numerous English Paper Piecers working on the La Passacaglia Quilt, and they have all said that getting started was the hardest part. In this post Ill provide a step by step…

Hi everyone! Over 4 years ago, I received an Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter and die sets from the wonderful people at the Accuquilt Company to try and see how I liked it. Well, I just didn't like it…I LOVED it and still do. It's fast, accurate and so easy to use. It is a permanent fixture in my sewing room and I have bought several new dies for it my self over the years. If you are not familiar with the Accuquilt Go! Fabric Cutting system, it is a portable unit with rollers and manual handle. The dies are shapes set in foam with the blades or cutters hidden in the foam. You place the fabric on top of the die, cover with a cutting mat and send it throughout the rollers. In a matter of seconds, your fabric shapes, strips or patterns are cut for you. Fast and easy. Well, a few months ago Ellen, from Accuquilt, contacted me again to try their new set of dies. They are amazing...so many new shapes and sets that every quilter will love. They are familiar, traditional shapes and patterns that would normally take so much time to cut, even with a rotary cutter. At the time I received all the dies, my schedule was crazy and then the holidays came in full force, so I haven't had the time until now to play with them. I'd love to share them with you today! Here are all fabulous new dies… Half Hexagon- 4 1/2 inch sides English Paper Piecing- 1 inch finished sides Bowties- 4 inches finished English Paper Piecing- 1/2 inch finished sides Clamshell- 8 inches finished Snowball- 6 inches finished Clamshell- 4 inches finished Hexagon- 4 1/2 inch sides Equilateral Triangle- 4 1/2 inch sides Hunter Star- 6 inches finished Wedge- 9 inches finished The half hexagon, hexagon and the equilateral triangle all have 4 1/2 inch on the sides, so they will all coordinated and go together to form more patterns and quilt designs! Come on in to see all the dies and today's tutorial for the English Paper Piecing... You know I love hexagons and English Paper Piecing is my favorite. I actually have the hexagon flower as my logo for my blog!! Before I begin the tutorial, here are some of the new dies for you to see!! The dies have light and dark foam, so you can easily see where to place the fabric. These are the 2 different sizes for the English Paper Piecing Hexagons...1/2 inch and 1 inch. English Paper Piecing is a method of quilting all done by hand. It is the perfect project when you are on the go. You can tuck it into your purse and hand sew a few flowers when your waiting at the doctor's office, on long car trips etc. The "paper" part of it is used as a stabilizer for accuracy when sewing the pieces together. Normally, you would cut the fabric hexagons, then cut your paper hexagons 1/4 inch small (on all sides) yourself, but not now. Now, you will cut the fabric and the paper at the SAME time with The GO cutter!! I will be working with the 1/2 inch die today. The 6 hexagons on the left are for your fabric and the smaller hexagons on the right are for the paper! Yes, this cuts the paper too. Outstanding!! Two toned foam, so you can see where to place the fabric. You can use any sturdy paper or card stock, but my ALL time favorite paper to use is Freezer Paper. I have used freezer paper for over 15 years now and will never use anything else. You actually buy it in the aluminum foil aisle at the grocery store. $2-$3 a roll. Just cut the pieces to fit over the template. The benefit of the freezer paper is the shiny side of the paper. When you place the shiny side DOWN on the wrong side of the fabric, you can iron it on and it will stay in place until you peel it off. You can use it over and over again too. The most important tip is…you must absolutely iron the shiny side DOWN on the wrong side of the fabric. If you don't, it will stick to your iron and you will hate yourself when you do. Next up is the fabric. You can cut up to 6 layers of fabric. The best part is you can use up all your scrap size pieces of fabric!! I used different reds for the petals to make several flowers at once and white for the center of the flowers. Just place the scraps over the hexagon die. Fabric on the left, paper on the right. Place cutting mat on top. Place die with mat on either side of the cutter. Hand roll it through. Until it gets to the other side. Within seconds, you have all you fabric hexagons cut and the paper to go with them. Perfect cuts every time! The paper is exactly 1/4 inch smaller than the fabric. If you cut regular paper, you will just hold the paper on the hexagon or pin in place as you're sewing, but for freezer paper you will iron the paper on…shiny side DOWN. See? It sticks and stays on until you peel it off. Paper Piecing Tutorial… To begin, fold over your first edge of fabric over the edge of the paper. Then fold over the next edge, holding them in place. Thread your needle and knot the end. Take a small stitch and back stitch again to anchor the corner where the 2 edges overlap…at that mitered corner. One corner done. Fold over the next flap of fabric and stitch again. With each corner that you stitch, you are keeping the thread on the wrong side of the fabric. DO NOT stitch through to the front. When you are done, each overlapping corner will be stitched down and the thread will be across the fabric on the wrong side. The old way of doing this was to stitch through the paper, to the front to anchor the seams down. However, when you were finished sewing all the hexagons and then sewing them together into a quilt, you had to pull out all the basting stitches that were showing on the front. Not fun. This way the stitches all stay on the back and you DO NOT have to pull anything out!! Isn't it so tiny? and so cute!! Now gather up all your hexagon petals and papers. Iron on the paper. Baste all the seams down. You will keep the papers on until you have sewn all the petals together. To sew the petals together, place them right sides together and take tiny whip stitches across, just taking up a little fabric without going through the paper. Stitch all the way across. Open it up. Add another hexagon petal to the flower. Fold it over, so right sides are together. and stitch again. You will be stitching over towards the left and up the petal each time. Keep adding hexagons until you have added all 6. One hexagon flower is done!! You can cut another coordinating fabric and sew another row of 12 hexagons on to this flower to make this little flower bigger. These petit flowers are great not only for making a quilt, but the tiny ones can be made into pincushions, name tags, magnets etc. Perfect little size! The Accuquilt site has so many great dies and patterns, I hope you can pop over for a visit. Click HERE for their site, HERE for the pattern section, HERE for their dies and HERE for their free patterns. They have great patterns for the new dies too! Thanks so much for stopping by and stay tuned for more tutorial for these great new dies. ~Karen~

I have a friend who is working on a Lucy Boston quilt - so pretty. She showed me how she stores her hexies. It's a Plano storage bin from Walmart - look in the fishing department by the tackle boxes. Be sure to get the one that says 3-28 on the label. I got a couple of these today. Now my hexies are very organized. I even have a spot for my thread, needles, scissors, and thimble. I'll be taking this to Chattanooga with me in a couple of weeks! My HQ Sweet 16 SOLD! Wow, that was fast! Someone from the Birmingham guild drove down last night, tried her out, and loved her. We packed her up in her original boxes and off she went to her new home. She'll be quilting lots of charity quilts and that makes me very happy indeed. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day long. I went to Walmart twice (bought the WRONG tackle box the first time!) and also to Sam's. I'm all stocked up on snacks and breakfast muffins for the weekend - yes, we're so excited we're having guests! One couple is staying with us Friday night and another couple on Saturday night. So good to share our home with good friends. We're looking forward to a fun weekend! Hexie love, Julia

A blog about modern quilting.

After 20 years, this UFO is DONE! It seems quite fitting that this is my last finish for the decade! You may remember that it looked totally different at the beginning of the year. I was never happ…

Today, Aylin, who blogs at ayliN - Nilya is here to explain English Paper Piecing to us. Aylin's EPP work, and all her quilting, is stu...

These lessons are largely still in their fetal stage, but I've come to understand a few things more fully. I hope you do, too.

Today is the first day of the Be a Hexie Queen Blog Hop; a big, huge 'thank you' to Madame Samm and Debby, who are hosting this fun event. I am very happy to be part of it. The hexagon virus affects more and more quilters and I am one of them. So here are my hexagon projects I made (or finished) especially for this blog hop. First, my hexy cubes are finally quilted! Could you see the cubes ? The quilt is made out of about 500 hexagons. Each cube has feathers quilted in 3 different directions, to help

Hexies! Hexies! Hexies! What's not to love? Even though I fell in love with EPP through 60 degree diamonds, once I started to hex seriously, I found that they're so soothing. When basted to templates, they are perfectly contained little morsels of my favorite fabrics, portable, pleasing, playful.. Today is my day on the 12 Hexies Blog Hop and I've got a little tutorial for how to make a pin cushion with just 8 hexagons. Though this is my tutorial, I can't take credit for coming up with the shape/pattern of the pin cushion. I actually saw it on flickr ages ago, and in the comments of that pic, the poster referenced another blog post that she was inspired by. Really folks, it's 8 hexies joined together.. there are only so many ways to do it. But they go together so nicely and you can turn them into a really substantial pin cushion, so let's have a go at it-- First cut and baste your hexies. I'm using 3 5/8" squares on 1 1/2" paper hexagon templates. There are lots of great places to learn how to baste, if you don't have my book, check out this online tutorial. Join the first 7 hexies into a rosette. I tend to go around adding one "petal" at a time, then backtracking through the seam allowance to get back to the corner so I can join the new petal to the center. I travel through the seam allowance on the back to get to another corner so I can continue sewing without cutting my thread. Next start sewing the petals to each other, making the whole piece curve into a bowl. Then add the last hexie to the "bottom". When you're down to the last two seams, remove the last of the templates and whipstitch carefully along the edge. Before you get all the way around, you'll need to flip the piece right side out. Before you complete that last seam, insert a funnel in the hole and fill the pin cushion with crushed walnut shells. You can get them at some quilt shops and most large pet supply stores (they are sold as reptile bedding). Carefully stitch up the last part of the seam and smoosh it around until the corners have popped out and the filling is evenly distributed. Then find two nice buttons and some thick thread. Tie a knot in the thread and push it through the center of the pin cushion and up through the first button. Come back down and catch the second button, covering up the knot on the bottom. Go through each button a few more times (3? 4?) then make a knot and bury it. Thanks for stopping by my post on the blog hop! If you make one of these pin cushions, I'd love to see it! And don't forget to visit the rest of the blogs on the 12 Hexie Hop! CraftyPod InLinkz.com

A quilt featuring 18 different (and I mean different!) designers was a challenge I did not expect to receive 6 weeks ago from my friend at Free Spirit Fabric. Could I make a modern Lucy Boston quilt, with lots of fussy cutting, in 3 weeks? It's funny how challenges like this always light something

Debbie in Jerusalem just finished piecing this wonderful selvage hexagon quilt top. I love the rainbow effect. Now she's looking for suggestions about how to quilt it. Debbie also has a new grandson! You can see both on her blog. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember the "Show us your selvage stash" series. Back then, Debbie's stash consisted of just one lonely selvage. That's progress!

**ETA-- Check out my completed Travel Quilt #3 here** I don't know about you, but I check my blogger stats a couple times a day. It's nice to see how readers find me, who has linked to me, and where they are. In the last week though, there's been a gap, a hole. I usually have at least a couple hits a week from readers in Japan, this week-- none. Of course with such tragedy, I can't expect them to take time out (and use valuable electricity) to check in on my little ol' blog here, but still, the absence makes me worry about them even more. I was thinking about how I can go back to posting more about quilts but still satisfy my need to talk about Japan.. Victoria took this great photo of me at her retreat last weekend and I've wanted to write a post about it, and then it clicked, "Oh Yeah~" let's go back to the quilt that started me off on my EPP obsession.. Here we go. Travel Quilt #1, aka "Ayane's Star" See, I was going to Japan to visit friends (and bring back as much fabric as I could carry) in the spring of 2007, and a couple days before the trip I was struggling to decide on what quilt projects to bring with me. I had a great huge applique leaf thing started, but thought I needed something simpler and easier to pick up and put down quickly. I had the Quilt Patis templates, so I combed through my scraps and cut a bunch of diamonds. I started piecing stars on the flight to Tokyo and decided that I would make a baby quilt for whoever got pregnant first, me or Makiba. She won. I pieced and pieced through the summer, taking it with me wherever I traveled. I was on a lot of planes that year and so I dubbed it my "Travel Quilt." Stitched into this quilt are memories of Atlanta (where the bright fabrics came from), Japan, Athens, Chicago, and Fall River, MA. It got me through months of infertility, the deaths of my sister and my father-in-law, and basically one of the worst summers of my entire life. I was grateful to have something to keep me busy that year, something beautiful to look at and to hold. In a way I was glad that it was Makiba who got pregnant first, because I was not just stitiching it for her baby, but also as a gift for a friend who helped me get through a very trying time. I finished the top in October 2007 but I had a lot of diamonds left over. What to do? Start another of course. And Travel Quilt #2 was born. I wanted to make something bigger, for myself. And though I've been working on it since October 2007, it's still not done yet. (In the first photo you'll see it has borders basted on the top and parts of the sides, but that's it). Travel Quilt #1 did get finished however, right in time for Makiba's baby shower. Of course I didn't get to take a picture of the baby with the quilt, but M sent this one to me a few months ago: Once Travel Q #2 was mostly pieced, I cut pieces for TQ #3.. started in July 2010, I've been working away at it steadily since then. I set up a Quilt Along on Flickr and currently have 4 friends IRL working on similar epp star projects. It's nice to have company. So, that's the history of my Travel Quilt collection, started because of a trip to Japan 4 years ago.. I never thought English Paper Piecing would take over my life like this, or that these quilts would end up shaping who I am as a quilter, but man, I do love them. Scrap quilts, every diamond tells a story. A fabric collection and display. I was tempted to cut into the new pile of scraps from Victoria to make more diamonds, but I think I might have enough cut already. Maybe I'll just throw in a few... Do you have any quilts with a Japanese connection?

You've stitched a beautiful English paper pieced (EPP) quilt top, now let's turn it into an actual quilt! This tutorial walks you through my best tips and tricks for pressing, trimming, how to make a quilt backing, basting, and binding! Your final stop for all things related to finishing your quilt.

Kingfisher Quilt Stitch Along

Make hexies in minutes with this easy no-sew method using Smooth™ Fusible Fleece. Hexies are an easy way spice up all sorts of sewing projects.