Friday, February 10, 2012

EPP Demo

 This week, I was happy to present a demonstration of English Paper Piecing to my quilt guild.  There were 6 presenters, so groups of quilters moved round-robin style through the stations.  That meant I had to do my demo 6 times!  There was a lot of starting and stopping and half-sewn seams and thread tails hanging! 


I brought several examples of different shapes that can be made with this method.  Of course, I brought the Rose Stars.


When I taught EPP to a small group in January, we talked about this interesting pattern with hexagons, squares and triangles.  I later discovered it is called Ferris Wheel and you can download a free design sheet at Paper Pieces.  The sample is made with 1" pieces.  (The raggedy owl pincushion is for scale.)


An additional note about that January group...  Nancy, the overachiever, has made 500 hexagons in one month!  Have I mentioned recently that hexies are addictive?

Megan at Canoe Ride Creations posted last week about using leftover HSTs for hexagons.  Brilliant!  I just happened to have a little baggie full of leftovers from a Weed whacker class sample.  I have enough to make 3 more hexie flowers.


The star flowers using a jewel shape and hexagon were going to be my FTLOS swap piece, but I completely changed gears and did some foundation paper piecing instead.   I've been dying to do some embroidery on a hexie.  This pearl cotton heart is a pretty lame attempt.  I need to find my copy of Doodle Stitching to make something cuter.   Julia had it last, so it may have been sucked into the black hole!


I prepared a handout with my favorite EPP links.  Enoy!

Technique:
CD Designs - Instructions, free patterns, grids to color

Paper Shapes:
Paper Pieces (the company) - lots of shapes and sizes, Free Pattern Sheets, Free Design Sheets for coloring in and Cutting Guides to calculate yardage.
Incompetech - Graph paper generator allows you to create triangles, diamonds or hexagons to your size specifications.  Print on card stock or freezer paper and cut out.
Possum Blossom Patchwork - Helen pointed me to this Australian shop that carries die cut Rose Star packs and lots more!
Photos & Inspiration:

3 comments:

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

So glad it went well - sounds like lots of fun!

Soldes 2012 said...

Wow,This all paper pieces are look so beautiful.Graph papers are in different colors and different designs.

Anonymous said...

The doodle stitching book is in my room. I'll find it for you. I promise!