Why I Love Leftovers, When to English Paper Piece Squares (Rarely), and Why I Still Like Facebook

If I bake a cake, I know there won't be any leftovers. My DH and I, unfortunately, share a sweet tooth - we'll eat the whole thing in 1-2 sittings. So I don't bake.

That gives me more time to quilt. And one of the great joys of quilting is knowing that there are going to be lots of yummy, color-coordinated, high-fiber, calorie-free leftovers, with a shelf life much longer than anything involving butter!

Here's my newest leftover quilt - a trifle about 22" square.

It's the direct descendant of this large (about 70" high) English Paper Pieced concoction, made a couple of years ago.

(Even as we speak, this quilt is hanging at the Houston IQF show, a bucket list dream for me!) See the small squares between each hexagon star? And the triangle points? I made and auditioned many more than I used. When the quilt was done, I packed away about 30 extra 4" squares and triangles, with edges folded and lightly glued around cardstock.

Alongside them, I stored a stack of circles, ovals and other shapes, all fused to and wrapped around pieces of Decor Bond interfacing, prepared for, but never used in the original quilt.

And there they sat, until last week, when I needed scrap therapy. I decided to stitch all the squares together. 

I didn't want to unwrap them from the cardstock, press out the folds and trim to correct size. Instead, I did something that normally doesn't make a lot of sense - I machine English Paper Pieced them together (With squares alone, EPP takes longer, is more complicated, and is no more accurate than traditional piecing.) 

If you've never done machine English Paper Piecing, here's how it works.  Lay the pieces side by side, good side up, and use a tight wide stitch to bring edges together. (I start and end with a few back-and-forth straight stitches on one side.) 

Tips for machine EPP:

- Use thin, strong thread on top and bottom, to minimize showing. Threads like DecoBob, InvisaFil, and Bottom Line are good choices.
- Monofilament "invisible" thread shows least, but it does create a shine. And it's not quite as strong as other threads; when it comes time to rip out cardstock templates, some stitches may break. That's why it's important to choose the narrowest, closest zigzag - almost a satin stitch - that you can stitch accurately.

Here's how my squares looked after stitching with monofilament.

Time to remove the cardstock. For this stage, a ball-tip stylus aka embossing stylus is a big help. I use a largish size ball tip, at least 1.5-2 cm. 

I rub the stylus end up against the stitching, which helps tear the cardstock. Then the stylus helps me pry out its edges. 

Using my midarm, I straight stitch appliqued everything in position. 

With my regular sewing machine, I did a serpentine stitch with variegated thread between the squares; it covers the monofilament stitching and adds bumpy texture. 

I liked it quiet, with no embellishment; but auditioned other options, like buttons on all the squares:

How about buttons on the triangles, too?

Or maybe buttons between triangles?

Help! I was stuck! So I consulted with a couple hundred of my best strangers and friends. Yes, I'm talking about Facebook - I know it's evil in so many ways, but I still love it because my associates there are so wonderful, interesting and funny! I posted the photos with and without buttons, and invited people to vote. 75 people and/or Russian bots weighed in! Results: 

No buttons: About 6 people voted for this option. 

Yes buttons (to different degrees): about 68 "people"/entities. 

Many offered specific embellishment suggestions, including:

• Just a few buttons, not on every square (Sandra, Paula)
• Buttons plus beaded trim (Saraj, awesome quilter)
• Buttons plus maybe some crazy quilting?(Randi, world-class embroiderer. Easy enough for her to say.)
• Buttons with sparkly thread (Cecelia)
• Buttons on the triangles only (Cheryl, genius quilt designer, and others agreed)
• "You know what I think!" (Christy, awesome sewer and button collector/dealer)
• "Buttons in random places, out of the norm: stacked, sewn from holes outward, small clusters of teeny-tiny baby buttons, with beads in or across the holes, etc. Ha! Can you tell I love the button thing?" (Jeanie, fabulous fiber artist and handbag maker.) 
• Zippers or Velcro (Gary, non-quilter - I told him about Jamie,)
• Multicolored zipper pulls (Jamie, the queen of zippers and other hardware on quilts!)
• "Buttons, cabachons, rivolis, crystals, beads and clay pieces" (Phyllis, who uses all these things exquisitely!) (I had to look up rivoli.)

• And finally, my friend Heather, a knitter and thoughtful person, who dresses tastefully, and has an elegant, artistic home. She suggested that, instead of buttons, I should use decapitated Barbie heads. 

Mark Zuckerberg did not weigh in, unless he used a false identity. So I tested the suggestions, and then decided to  put buttons to all the squares, AND to add 36 more navy buttons to the corners. These rounded the squares into near-octagons! (Counting each 1/4 button as an angled "side".)

The navy buttons also give the triangles an arrow shape, 

...which goes well with the arrows quilted into the borders. 

Just for good measure, I took Randi's suggestions to do a little embroidery. (My hand embroidery is a whole lot more "primitive" than hers. I should have sent it to her.)

Below, a weeping button (It's weeping over that incompetently turned angle at 3 o'clock.) 

I am so grateful to my friends for their perspectives and pushing me creatively! If you're inspired to make a quilt like this, I have two suggestions: 1. Don't English Paper Piece the squares together. It takes much longer than traditional piecing. And 2. Start saving up Barbie heads now.