Hexie to the next level!

 

Since this week is all about hexies, I was pleased to pick up a parcel in the States this week!

 

Not only did I get this bundle of wonderful fabrics at an average of $5/yd from Hillbilly Handiworks/Ozark Fabrics (mostly through her Facebook group, where she offers end-of-line deals) :

 

 

Tonya designs these amazing pieced hexagons, and sells the paper pieces (specially made by Paper Pieces) in her shop, along with Jason Yenter fabric, which makes for fabulous designs.  I ordered a 1/2 yard of Return to Atlantis border fabric to make my first AHHHHs (Artistic, Hectic, Hexotic, Hillbilly Hexagons).  Combined with his Modern Solids, created with 2 colours of thread, it makes great designs.

 

My first lesson was to remember to add the seam allowance when cutting out the pieces - oops!:

 

I punched holes in my pieces so I could pin the fabric. I also number the pieces with the pattern # and the number of pieces to cut in case I lose one of the tiny ones.

 

Two beginner designs done!

 

 

I'm having camera issues - the ones above were taken in natural light and aren't even close to the true colour.  The one below was taken with a flash and is very close - go figure!

 

 

 

The back is almost as pretty as the front!  I used the same method I do my hexie flowers - learned from Bonnie Hunter's website.  I don't baste through the papers and leave the basting threads in for a little extra security.

 

I can't wait to try more!  Tonya was looking for some pattern testers and she provided me with two more designs to try and assemble into a project!  Tonight, I'm making the hexies and tomorrow, the top secret project hopefully will be completed!

 

For the first time, I used YLI 100wt. silk thread. It is so fine, and once the papers are removed, not a stitch will show!

 

In case you are wondering, these hexies are huge!  They measure 3" on each side, and 6" from point to point and barely fit in my hand.

 

Compared to my usual flowers and the smallest one I ever made, it wouldn't take many to make a quilt!

 

(Hum, if it takes 300 flowers to make a large lap-size quilt, it should only take about 125 AHHHs to make a quilt of about 50x70")

 

If you have never heard of Jason Yenter, check out his lines here.  Then go to Tonya's Facebook group and sign up for the prebuy of Shangri-La - payment won't come due until December.  I've become a new fan!

 

 



Be a Hexie Queen!

 

Hexagons are currently making a revival, and not just in the sewing world.  Recently I bought some scrapbooking paper that was printed hexagons!  But I digress...

  

Welcome to the first day of a nine-day adventure showcasing hexagons (AKA hexies) of all shapes and sizes! 

 

My love of hexies goes back to when I first learned to quilt, back in the day of the dinosaurs and rotary trimmers were just a gleam in someone's eye!  As the queen of UFOs, one of my first projects was quilt-as-you-go hexagons which got packed in one of my many moves and I think it may have gotten lost.  I think I'm going to try another one, using the new Moda Honeycombs, once I finish my current one.   They are so big compared to what I am used to.

Do you hexie big or small? 

 

Right now I work on hexie flowers as a long-term project.  My current one is done in '30s reproductions and I'm about a third of the way to a twin-size quilt top.  They are 3/4" on each side. 

The smallest ones I've done are 3/8" on each side.

 

I needed a needle keep to put in my project bag, so I came up with this. 

 

 

Of course, it had to be a Hexie!

 

 

I've been making them as gifts - my latest incarnation includes a scissor pocket in the back!

 I'm not going to re-invent the wheel by telling you how I make hexies - instead I'm going to direct you to the Queen of Scrappy Quilts, Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com, who does it best in my opinion!
 

Link to Bonnie Hunter's tutorial

Want to try bigger hexagons?  Check out Debby Kratovil's shop for great templates and patterns. She is also the host of this wonderful blog hop.

Have you ever made selvedge fabric?  I love it for small projects, but now I want to make a bigger piece to recover my sewing chair, so I thought I would show you how I do it.

It's really easy - all you need is a piece of leftover batting (for small projects, I like to use a fusible fleece) and selvedges. 

I like to cut mine about 1/4" in to the "good" stuff, so I have a nice overlap to work with.  Some people like to cut a 1/2" in, so they can incorporate some of the colour as well but I'm too frugal.

 

 

I picked out one that I didn't care about to start with, as most of it will be hidden in the seam allowance.  I placed in as straight as I could on the batting and didn't worry about a lining for the back.  I'll cover that later if I use it in a different project.

 

I place the second piece over the first, just to the edge of where the selvedge stops and the good fabric begins.  I set my sewing machine on the standard zig-zag (on my machine, the width is 5 and the length is 3.0) and started sewing.

 

And that's how easy it is! 

 

 Manufacturers are printing such pretty designs on selvedges now, it's a shame to waste them!
 

 

Now, go Hexie on!  Here are a bunch of fun blogs joining the hop today and be sure to follow the button every day this week for more! 

Debby Kratovil Quilts  
 

Linda’s Quilt Mania  
 

Thimblemouse and Spouse  
 

BumbleberryStitches  
 

Sew Incredibly Crazy   
 

Sunshine Quilting    

 

Geta’s Quilting Studio 

 

How Art You? 
 

I Like to Quilt Blog

  

Hillvalley  Quilter  

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Terri in BC

Well, Hello! (maybe I should have titled this "True Confessions")

Did you see my new button to the right?

 

That's right, I'm participating in a Blog Hop "Be a Hexie Queen" hosted by Debby Kratovil of Debby Kratovil Quilts and http://www.sewwequilt.com//

 

And if I can get my act together, I might even have a little tutorial for my project.  Be sure to come back and visit me on Tuesday, August 20th!

 

In the meantime, I am finally seeing light at the end of the "overtime" tunnel!

 

This is what two months of working 5-10 hours of overtime did to my sewing room:

 

 

And that's only what you see from the doorway!  For the full picture, here's a little tour (brace yourself)!

 

This is from the corner where the TV is:

 

Now, stepping over the piles to the corner above, is my actual sewing corner:

 

 

I have been actually sewing.  In the three pictures above, there are about half a dozen projects at various stages plus I finished my project for the "Be a Hexie Queen" and a couple of other little things I haven't shared yet.

 

Today, I made a little headway into sanity.  I made mini-bolts of any yardage over 3/4 yard!  Don't they look pretty!

 

 

Now, I will only be doing about 1-3 hours of overtime each weekend, and that will only be for the next few weeks!  I plan on being in here for 15 minutes every day making some headway on the mess (but it's a creative mess, right ;o)

 

But for tonight, I'm packing up my Featherweight and heading to a friend's for a sewing night!

 

 

 

 

 



Sunday Stash Report, Week 31 and Christmas Sewing Plans

 

Each week, I say I am not going to buy more fabric unless it is for a specific project and each week, it seems I fail miserably.  This week is no exception.

 

 

Pink Castle Fabrics was offering "Golden Tickets" with purchase to a limited number of customers, and prizes ranged from $5 to a year's worth of Stash Club fabrics.  I have coveted Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets for a while now, so I splurged!  I also got some text prints.

 

I also went to my local shop, Hamels, on Super Saturday (20% off all regular priced fabrics, actually goes from Friday through to Monday night online this month) and picked up some more blacks-on-white for the never-ending quilt project, Easy Street.  I picked up Block 7 of Family Reunion, which has been on hold forever... thank goodness they are patient.  A few fat 1/8's and a fat quarter for my hexies rounded out the fun!

 

Added this week: 7.5 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 153 metres
 

Used since last report: 0 metres

 

Used Year-to-Date: 29.5 metres

 

Net used/Added for 2013: 123.5 metres

Lookee, lookee - I won $25 free fabric from Pink Castle!  Now I can add a bit more fun to my stash.

 



 

Now seriously, no more fabric until I plan out what my Christmas sewing is going to look like!

 

Bonus for me - this is a long weekend so I have an extra day to play.  But...my kids and grandkids have gone to New Brunswick to visit their dad (only the second time in 22 years they have seen him), so I am a little lonely.  That must be why I had to splurge (my excuse and i'm sticking to it).

Star Surround Quilt-Along

 

I've started another project!  Just a pillow cover, so that I can join another of Melissa Corry's Quilt-alongs.  This is the fourth one I've done and always loved the end results.  This is another large star and just 9 make a good-size lap quilt. 

 

 

Picture from Melissa's blog - Happy Quilting

 

I talked my best friend, Kim, into making one too.  Tonight I am at her house and before we started sewing on our individual projects, we cut out our blocks for the quilt-along.

 

Here is Kim's selection:  pink stars and purple for the surround, on a white background.  I'm linking for her because she doesn't have her own blog.

 

 

And mine, similar to one of Melissa's colour choices:

 

 

I probably could use a bit more contrast, but I have a plan!

 

We also cheated and figured that instead of cutting 2 7/8" blocks, they will probably be used to make half-square triangles, so we used the Easy Angle to cut triangles from 2 1/2" strips.  If we're wrong, oh well, white triangles will never go to waste!

 

Linking to the Quilt-along Cutting Instructions - have a great night!

 

 



Farmer's Wife Friday (on Saturday!)

I pull out my Farmer's Wife quilt blocks when I want to sew, but can't make up my mind what to do!  I found this site Craft Sew Create that hosts a linky every Friday for people like me that are still plugging along. Maybe I'll actually finish mine this year!

 

 

This week's block, Birds in Air (or Flying T's as my grandson calls them!)

 

I haven't taken an updated picture of my blocks lately, I have about 25 done, but I'm not happy with all the colour combinations, so I have to edit them and re-kit the ones I want to remake.

 

 

I might tackle that later today, but now I'm off to fix the toilet (I am woman, hear me roar!) and fight with my nemesis,

 

 

I hate vacuuming!

 

 

Sunday Stash Report, Week 28, 2013

 

 

Finally, a week where more went out than came in!

 

 

Added this week: 3.75 metres

 

Added Year-to-Date: 145.5 metres
 

Used since last report: 4 metres

 

Used Year-to-Date: 29.5 metres

 

Net used/Added for 2013: 116 metres

 

 

2 metres of Bella White 98, 1 metre Bella 30's Blue 25 and a treat for me - the Honeycomb pre-cut by Moda!

 

 

And a finish!  I used one of my new vintage sheets and made a pair of pyjama pants.  I can't remember where I saw it (a while ago), but someone had made a pair using the hem as the bottom of the pant legs.  I made up a pattern using my favourite pair of pyjama pants and in less than an hour, I have a new comfy pair!  I have two more sheets I'd like to make up.

 

I also gave a friend some fabric for her grandson's I-spy quilt, and realized I've never counted the other fabric I've given her.  I've counted 2 meters this week, but I'll probably have to update it further.  That makes me feel better about all the yardage I've accumulated lately!

 

Linking up to Judy's stash reports at Patchwork Times - check out my fellow bloggers there when you are done.

 

More about my purchases:

 

I bought the blue to make the centres for my gramma's Dresden Plates.

 

 

I used a blue square from her scraps to find a blue to coordinate - I can't believe how close I was able to come to it.

 

 

This is still my favourite piece in all the blocks. As near as I've been able tell, this fabric dates back to about the 40's, and could be as late as the early 50's.   I have 20 Dresden Plates that my grandmother pieced, and my mom whip-stitched them to a nice soft yellow background (she wasn't a quilter or hand-stitcher, so she didn't blind-stitch them, and I'm leaving them just the way they are!). 

 

Have you ever bought something for the bonus inside?  The Honeycomb pack comes with a template inside that is for marking your starting and finishing points for each seam. (The flag piece is my favourite print in the Happy-Go-Lucky line - I'll have to get some yardage in that one!)

 

 

These hexagon are huge compared to the ones I'm working with.   They measure 3" on each side and are 6" across at their widest point.  I couldn't resist pairing them with mine (and the smallest hexie I have ever made!)

 

The comparison got me thinking about how do you measure a hexie?

 

My punches give the size as at its widest point (old Creative Memories punches, no longer available - however, there is a newer style listed but I don't know what size it is - since I'm a consultant, I should probably order one and figure it out! If you want your own and are in Canada, you can check it out on my CM site www.mysite.com/terrifisher).

 

I've seen the pre-cut papers advertised for either at the widest point or the length of each size. I find it easiest to measure one side (p.s. it's half the measurement of the widest point).

 

I take a perverse pleasure in showing off a hexie flower made with 3/8" hexies (sounds so much smaller than 3/4")

 

 

Can you imagine a dolly quilt made with these tiny beauties?

 

 

Have a wonderful Sunday!  I'm off to sew!

Terri in BC

 

PS:  Here's the link to the tutorial I used to learn how to make these hexagons is from Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com, the queen of scrappy!