Adventures in Paper Piecing

Revisiting the EPP Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In my November 2025 post Easing Back into Quiltmaking with a T-Shirt Quilt, I stated “I’d like to always have some quilt, whether traditional or art, in progress on my design wall.”

Now that the T-shirt quilt for John (see post T-Shirt Quilt Assembled) and sent to the Longarm Machine Quilter for professional quilting, I realized I need to start working on ANOTHER QUILT in order to meet this goal – ha!

So I decided to pull out a dusty old project – my English Paper Piecing (EPP) hexie flower quilt top that I started in 2016 after seeing this quilt on the cover of the premiere issue of Quiltfolk Magazine – Issue 1: Oregon (I was living in Oregon at the time):

I finished paper piecing 99 hexie flowers (which each contained 7 paper pieced hexagons) in May 2024 from fabric scraps (that I sort of tried to coordinate).

Okay so let’s summarize:

  • Began project in 2016
  • Finished EPP flowers in 2024
  • Now in 2025 decide to finally make it into a quilt top…

I pull the project out of my UFO (unfinished objects for the non quilters) pile:

After auditioning a bunch of options, I decided to set them in my collection of scrap denim, using various shades of denim. Here’s one example:

But before I can machine applique (using a blanket stitch) the hexie flowers to the denim squares (I will cut the squares initially to 7×7 inches and then trim to 6.5 x 6.5 inches after they are stitched), I have some less than pleasant work to do 99 times…

REMOVE THE PAPER FROM THE BACK OF EACH HEXIE FLOWER!

I’ve set up this project as a sit-in-front-of-the-TV project for evenings and put them all in a basket in the living room:

I’ll update you on my progress and hope to soon have some appliqued square up on the design wall in my studio.

(By the way: you might be curious about my choice to set them in denim, which is heavier than a quilting cotton. Well I plan to use the quilt as a wallhanging, not a cuddle under/utility quilt. I have a bed I plan to hang it above.)

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Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

13 thoughts on “Revisiting the EPP Quilt”

  1. I like your idea for putting them together. I have some and realised a long time ago that while I like making the flowers, hand sewing the flowers together in long rows is not for me.

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  4. It will look so nice on the wall. Will you use heavier material on the back as well? I only made one paper piece quilt and I thought it was so much fun. Every square was a different design like baby grand piano, notes, music stand etc. My mom hung it on her wall (she used to teach piano) and I never thought about how a heavier back would make it hang even better.

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  6. Although it’s tedious, I quite enjoy the process of removing the papers, since it shows I’m that much closer to finishing the item. Also, I’m joining loads of hexies together, which means it’s easier to remove them as I go or the item becomes horribly stiff and difficult to work with. Are you planning to cut away the denim behind the hexie flower to reduce bulk and weight?

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