2016 Completed Quilty Projects / quilting tips and tricks

Hand Pieced Hexie Quilt – the one that took over a year

April 12, 2017

Somehow my hand pieced hexie quilt hasn’t made it up on the blog yet! This quilt took just over a year to complete so it needs it’s day in spotlight

I started this quilt way back in January 2015. I had never tried English paper piecing and I was loving all of the hexies I saw popping up on Pinterest and Instagram. So I started without a plan and just started making hexies. I used only scraps and sewed them together randomly. The progress of this quilt is down below.

If you would like to make your own hexie quilt I recommend having a tiny bit of plan at least. I ended up with a bunch of blobby pieces that were difficult to join. So make flowers or squares all the same and then join those.

Measures: 55in x 65in
Total 1in hexies: About 875

epp hexie quilt This quilt is the first and only quilt I’ve added borders to. I added borders because I was soooo ready to be done with it so they are there to make the quilt bigger I had some yardage of this Riley Blake Gold swiss dots and thought it would make for the perfect border and backing epp hexie quilt I have a few regrets with this quilt. One is I used Warm and Plush batting which I’m not a big fan on. I bought a roll of it though and since I had it on hand, I went ahead and used it. It’s just a higher loft than I like. I am a big fan of Warm and White however.

Another regret is that my quilting lines are spaced too far apart. I prefer these zig zag lines a little closer together. It looks like I used the hexies as my guide though and went through every other seam line. Should have run it back through between each line. But yep, I was soooo ready to be done. If you have been following along for a while you know I don’t really have WIPs so I was pretty over this one after a year epp hexie quilt

Favorite EPP Tools

I tried so many different needles and threads for this quilt. I’ve settled on a few favorites!
My favorite thread is Superior Threads in Silver that I purchased on Amazon. It’s silky and smooth and doesn’t tangle or break. I had sooo much trouble with thread breaking using other brands.

My very favorite needles are this teeny tiny little #10 Tulip Needles. I like small sharp needles because they just work so well. I use these needles for binding also. I purchased mine from Amazon.

The ThimblePads are actually a new additional. I don’t know how I went so long without them! I hate thimbles and I would often use duct tape in the exact same way these little thimble pads work.

And of course every epp kit needs a nice (and cute) pair of snips. A friend gave me these ones and I love them!

epp needles and thread