Honestly – I am tired of the English Paper Piecing (EPP) quilt I’ve been working on since 2016 and posting about during the monthly ScrapHappy 15th of the month posting group.

In my June ScrapHappy post (ScrapHappy June 2026), I mentioned I’ve only gotten 6 more EPP Rosettes (a flower like combination of 7 paper pieced hexagons) since May’s ScrapHappy post.

Well last week I decided I needed to GET DOWN TO BUSINESS and just get the quilt FINISHED as I am tired of working on it, thinking about it, and writing about it!

So I went from 6 completed rosettes to now 20 by just making myself sit in my studio and finishing sewing sides together of rosettes for MANY hours!

Do you see the mess of papers to the left – well that all the EPP hexagon papers I had to pull out of each rosette so I can applique them to their background squares.

This is the really tedious part of EPP – removing the papers:

I think the problem is that I had my late husband help me with wrapping the fabric around the paper hexagons and he was very heavy on the glue. He did most of his work helping me create the EPP hexagons back in 2016 and 2017 so the glue on the fabric has been sitting since that time.

After removing the papers, ripping them away from the glue at times, they hexagons/”hexies” can get deformed and I have to iron them back into shape before adhering them with a little bit of fusible to their background block to be appliqued.

(20 done and waiting to be pressed back into shape with an iron)

The true problem could be that I am the “World’s Worse EPPer” – ha!

Originally I used the traditional technique of stitching/basting them in place on the paper hexies. Then another quilter showed me the faster glueing method (which has special glue pens you can buy to use) and I thought “this isn’t too bad”.

I was guilty of not demonstrating to Terry the “light application of the glue pen” and he got focused on helping me to get a lot done (production mode).

But if I keep up what I am doing – focusing on finishing – eventually it will be done. I’ve already arranged for someone to longarm machine quilt it. As soon as I have the top done I want the thing out of my house to be finished, ha! I am not domestic machine quilting it!

Okay that was my whine ;-). I will torture you to future updates on my progress…

By the way I have 2 other EPP projects I started in 2016 when I became obsessed with EPP but they are aging in the closet for now (perhaps forever?!?!?)

Postscript

You’ll probably see more blog posts from me the rest of the summer (fingers crossed) as we’ve sort of slowed down on traveling (one trip per month and sometimes just a road trip instead of the craziness we had in 2025).

I really enjoy blogging, connecting with my blogging buddies around the world, and of course reading your posts.

I am starting to run out of photo storage space on my blog though at 13 years of blogging even though I pay like $96 a year for a WordPress plan with expanded storage space. I know in the beginning I didn’t think about resizing my photos; and even though I’ve been resizing my photos for years I think I’ve just posted too many photos. I also pay like $18 a year to have my blog web address be “tierneycreates.com” instead of the free “tierneycreates.wordpress.com”.

I’ve been mulling over an overhaul and audit of my blog for a long time. It might be time to archive offline or delete my early posts. I doubt any one is going back in my blog history and reading my posts from 2014, etc.

Honestly I am challenged with revisiting the older posts myself as many of the contain stories about my fun life with my late husband who was also a quilter. I’ve been mulling over doing a summary of all the “Terry the Quilting Husband” posts in some type of memorial essay and just having that as a page on my blog and removing all the posts.

Same sort of challenge (though not comparing the passing of my spouse to my dogs) with old blog posts that feature my late dogs Sassy, Snickers and Mike. Sassy had her own blog “Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer” which I archived.

I am thinking about doing a page for the dogs also with some fun memories and stories and deleted all the old dog related posts.

I tell you memories, even if fun and wonderful, can be rough. However for my own benefit I’d like to figure out some way to keep their memory alive on my blog. Just stuff I am mulling over, no decisions made.

(This is sort of a long Postscript, it could have been it’s own blog post!)

Quilt Shop Tours

Taking a New Quilter on Her First “Shop Hop”

June 27, 2026June 29, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’m not sure if our day qualified as a “Quilt Shop Hop” since we only visited two quilt shops (the day got away from us) but on Friday I headed with two other quilters to Loveland and Longmont, Colorado for a day of quilt shop hopping, tasty treats/food, and a yarn shop.

My new community has a quilting group that meets monthly and I have new quilting friends in my life now! One of our members D is a brand new quilter (though she is a very experienced seamstress) and my buddy J and I decided we should take her on her first quilt shop hop to help her select fabric for her first quilt that she is making for her newborn grandson.

Now if you are a quilter, you know experienced quilters LOVE to get in other quilters “business” (ha!) and help them choose fabric for a quilt (just visit any quilt shop and you will see this is action).

So J (who has been quilting since birth I think) and I (since 1999) couldn’t wait for this road trip. Luckily D was of good humor and appreciated (being bossed around) the help to select fabrics!

J drove and I sat in back and worked on my latest granny square blanket:

(Previous post – Starting a New Granny Square Blanket – I’ll do an update on that post from April 2026 once I get a little further along on it.)

Quilter’s Dream

Our first stop was Quilter’s Dream in Loveland, CO (they don’t have a website but I linked their Facebook page) where we got to work helping her pull fat quarters and yardage for a beginner quilt pattern that D was making:

And we figuratively “held her hand” while she got her yardage for a quilt pattern cut from bolts for the first time:

(By the way the “Toilet Paper Quilt” I shared in the post The Funniest Quilt Concept I’ve Seen was in the loo at this shop!)

After all that fabric selection assistance and additional time wandering around this wonderful quilt shop looking for ourselves (it’s not like J and I weren’t going to shop too!), we were ready for a treat and headed to the ice cream shop next door to that quilt shop! (hmm…wonder if they get a lot of business from quilters, ha!)

Yes we were well behaved and did not tap on the glass…but we did longingly gaze at all the delicious sounding flavor options! (This shop also has a “liquor infused” ice cream selection but we thought that a bad idea at 11 am and fabric shopping!)

A couple ice cream cones later (only one person, ha) and we were ready to head to the next shop.

Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric

The second shop we visited (and fell into a hole in the space-time continuum because I think we spent a month there, ha!) was Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric in Longmont, CO.

We were greeted by an adorable pup as we walked in, which is also a good sign for me when I enter any shop!

They had quite the sense of humor in this log cabin themed quilt shop with fun displays like this Barbie fabric one:

A couple photos around this shop, which I really liked and didn’t want to leave:

Yes I spent some time visiting the Clearance section where they had some amazing modern fabrics for 30 – 50% off, as well as kits, panels and pattern. I ended up bring the kit (for 50% off) of this quilt home with me (hey, it begged me to take it home, not my fault!):

The shop dog saw us off after our long visit (which did involve some dog petting of course):

Yes we had ice cream (hours ago!) but we were now hungry for actual food and had a wonderful lunch at Teocalli Cocina in Downtown Longmont.

I had the most amazing salad with a spicy oil infused egg and lots of avocado (I love, love, love avocado).

As we came out of the restaurant we noticed that practically next door in Downtown Longmont was a yarn shop!

Longmont Yarn Shoppe

We couldn’t stop ourselves from wandering in since we all either knitted and/or crocheted.

While checking out (I bought a deck of granny square pattern cards) they had this awesome crocheted mandala on display behind the register, which reminded me I want to make one someday.

Believe it or not, we began our day with J picking us up around 9:00 am and it was now 3:00 pm! So it was time to head home and to wander how we didn’t have enough time to have fit in a 3rd quilt shop (unfortunately the one we wanted to go to next closed at 3:00 pm we discovered too late!).

Very fun day and it’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of quilt shop hopping with other quilters and bossing around new quilters on their fabric selections – ha!

(I posted that meme above with humor as J and I were very respectful of D’s choices on fabrics and just acted just as facilitators…okay rather passionate and insistent at times facilitators..ha!)

A Crafter's Life, Quilt Shop Tours

The Funniest Quilt Concept I’ve Seen

June 26, 2026June 27, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Today I went on a fun quilt shop hop with some new quilting buddies. I will blog about that tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to quickly share the funniest quilt concept I’ve seen to date – a toilet paper roll inspired quilt:

It was in the bathroom of one of the quilt shops we stopped at and I had quilt the giggling while visiting the bathroom.

One of the blocks of the quilt even had an empty roll of toilet paper!

Very creative but alas I did not ask for the pattern (if it even exists, ha!)

Special Events, tierneycreates

This is How We Create

June 18, 2026June 20, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am excited to share that an essay I wrote on creativity will be part of the anthology This is How We Create, edited by Dr. Yvette Prior of priorhouse blog and PRIORHOUSE WRITES.

Here is the draft book cover:

According to Dr. Prior’s Book page on her PRIORHOUSE WRITES it is scheduled for release in September 2026. Based on other books listed on that blog page, I think it will be available as a paperback from Amazon, a Kindle book and perhaps other mediums.

I can’t wait to see the published book 🙂

A Crafter's Life, Special Events

You Just Never Know…

June 17, 2026June 20, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

When you make something for someone you may never know what becomes of it…and you may be pleasantly surprised…and even DEEPLY touched when you find out!

Back in 2023 I did a post A Reminder on Why I Make Quilts in which I shared my surprise that a baby quilt I made (now) 16 years ago for my “Danish Brother”‘s first born son was being used as a “family heirloom” in their family – passing it around to all newborns in the immediate and extended family. I was blown away and very honored 🙂

Well recently I discovered that my long time (and at times long lost) friend’s daughter, who is now 24, has been dragging around the baby blanket I made her 24 years ago! It went to undergrad and graduate school with her and is always by her side.

I made this blanket back when the “no sew/tied fleece” blankets were very popular.

During my lunch hour at my job in Seattle a group of us used the conference room to teach each other how to make them! It seemed like I made at least 10 of them on year to give as gifts on Christmas!

Example of a “tied fleece blanket/no sew blanket”:

Image Source: https://createkidscouture.blogspot.com/2017/09/kid-project-no-sew-double-layer-fleece.html

I met my friend K when I moved to Seattle, Washington in 1997 and we became fast friends. I was her doula when she got pregnant and was there for the birth of her daughter. My friend K moved to Bend, Oregon and it was because of her I discovered Bend, Oregon and spent 14 glorious years of my life there.

A couple years of living in Bend, she and her young daughter and husband moved to Kodiak, Alaska and we stayed in touch on and off over the years but not as often as we’d both like (life happens when you are raising a family and/or building a career). We reconnected after my husband Terry passed in 2018 and stay in touch on and off.

Recently she notified me that her amazing daughter just graduated from her Masters program, just got engaged, and still carried around the baby blanket I made her over 24 years ago! It is her security blanket and although pretty shredded, it is still beloved.

My friend K, her husband M, their daughter, and her fiancé were going to be in the continental US for a week and John and I decided to meet up with them for a reunion.

K sent me a photo of the very loved/shredded/in tatters blanket her daughter carries with her:

I decided I needed to make her a replacement.

I searched and searched but the original fleece pattern was not available however I did find another cute dog themed blanket to make her for our reunion:

For the back of the blanket I chose a fleece that celebrated her growing up in Alaska:

So when we recently met up with them, I got to take a picture of her daughter and her beloved 24 year old blanket:

It looks even worse in person, ha! It is so well loved. She said she actually has a box of pieces that she rotates.

By the way, here is what the blanket originally looked like (I was able to locate a phote online but not any resource in which to buy this fleece pattern):

Although it could never replace the original blanket I made her, I think the new blanket I gave her daughter was a hit (she appeared to be deeply touched)!

After we returned home from meeting up with them, my friend K sent me a photo of her daughter with her new Tierney blanket on her lap!

You just never know what a handmade item you give means to someone else (and that for 24 years they would make it an intergal part of their lives).

Postscript

06/20/26

Going through comments on this post, one person’s awesome comments made me think of that famous passage from the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco (published in 1922):

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

(Source: Google AI)

Adventures in Paper Piecing, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy June 2026

June 15, 2026June 15, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Greetings from someone who has been away from the blogosphere for a little bit.

It’s the 15th of the month and I am part of the monthly ScrapHappy posting group hosted by Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia.

Here are links to the blogs of the ScrapHappy participants:

Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,Viv, Karrin, Alissa, Tierney, Hannah,
Maggie and Wizzy

This month I have little to report as I’ve been hosting out of town visitors; and traveling (3 trips in the past month) including a big emotional return to Bend, Oregon for my birthday in May. It was my for first time in 7 years since I moved to Denver after my husband suddenly died in 2019. I’ll blog about that return sometime in the future.

Following up on my May 2026 ScrapHappy post ScrapHappy May 2026 – Moving Along on the EPP Quilt , I did over the past month complete sewing together 6 more English Paper Piecing (EPP) rosettes.

Yes, that’s it for the past month since the May 15th post!

But I do have a couple random curious things to share to conclude this post.

Granny Square Shoes?

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you might note my obsession for crocheting granny square blankets like this one I completed in 2025:

During my recent travels I came across a pair of granny square shoes!!!! They weren’t in my shoe size and they actually did not look that well made but they were fun to look at!

Everybody Needs a Pair of Quilted Shorts…

I am a quilter and during my recent travels I came across a pair of quilted shorts that gave me a giggle too!

I think an old quilt was turned into clothing. I would suggest this a curious fashion choice, but no judgement if you need a pair of vintage quilt shorts to wear!

I bet the original quilt is “scrap happy” and was made from someone’s fabric scrap basket so these shorts might also count for ScrapHappy June 🙂

An Amazing Thought/Concept

I came across this sign in my travels and I think it is an amazing thought/concept to close this post.

Life in B&W, tierneytravels, U.S. National Parks

Visiting the Muir Woods

June 1, 2026June 1, 2026 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

More on our roadtrip around Northern California with our Sacramento-area based friends earlier this month. Went part of a day at the Muir Woods National Monument.

According to Wikipedia:

“Muir Woods National Monument is a United States national monument managed by the National Park Service and named after naturalist John Muir. It is located on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast in southwestern Marin County, California. The Monument is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles (19 km) north of San Francisco. It protects 554 acres (224 ha),^[4] of which 240 acres (97 ha) are old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests,^[5] one of the few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area.“

John Muir (1838–1914) was a Scottish-Born American naturalist, author, and early advocate for the preservation of the U.S. wilderness. Known as the “Father of the National Parks,” his writings inspired the creation of the National Park System and he co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892.

(Source: Google AI)

Fortunately we began our trek through the Muir Woods at 9:00 am before the crowds arrived (by 11 am it was very crowded).

Wow these trees are old! Here is a tree cross section exhibit they had along the path of a tree that was a 1000+ years old:

We came upon an area called “Cathedral Grove” and I appreciated the signage as well as information I learned in the cafe later about this section of the Muir Woods:

Of course I couldn’t control myself, I had to let my inner “Ansel Adams” run free and snap a couple B&W photos while wandering the woods:

I took more but I won’t embarrass myself further by sharing more – ha!

We were able to get a stamp on and sticker for our National Parks Passport that we are obsessed with. It’s been fun to get the rubber stamp mark that we were there and the sticker for the national park or monument whenever we are visiting one!

Below is an example of the little passport book and the inside pages to mark that you visited a park:

Postscript

While road tripping in Northern California, I brought my English Paper Piecing (EPP) project to work on – I worked on sewing the individual hexagons together for some of my EPP rosettes (see post ScrapHappy May 2026 – Moving Along on the EPP Quilt).