JUNE AND JULY WORK

It has been so long since I have posted anything on my blog so today I am going to do a quick recap of things I am working on and/or have finished.

Straight line quilting on a piece called "Spring Gardening".

Hand piecing hexies for my upcoming class I am teaching at QuiltWeek Chattanooga in September.

Finished the quilting on the "Leftovers Table Runner".

Quilt As You Go Valance for my breakfast room.

Lots of straight-line quilting on little projects for my Trunk Show/ Lecture coming up in September.

Finally finished this queen-sized bed quilt in Improv and Quilt As You Go techniques.


                                               -sandi

HEXAGON FINISHED PROJECT

I started this project in January 2012 and have finished it in February 2015.

I started with these fabrics to make a hexagon project.  




I worked on it watching TV; riding in the car on trips to see my grandchildren compete in wrestling, basketball, and football; and while waiting in various offices.  My hubs thought I would never finish it!

 I worked on it in sections.

Another set of units

One of the larger component sections

Here the design starts to develop

When I reached this point it was large enough for my 48 inch breakfast room table.  

 I liked this size so I added some borders and called it a finished top.

Channel quilting seemed to be perfect for finishing this piece.

All of the piecing was done by hand.  Over 570 hexies were used.  I did not hand quilt this because I was just ready for it to be finished!

LilBit loves this quilt.  She has on her little shirts because it is very cold today.

And, of course, she will just take a little rest while Mom takes her picture (again)!!




I am already working on some more hexies for more projects.  They are so addictive and fun to make.

Will post more on the new hexies later.

                                           -sandi


* inspired by a project by Bonnie K. Hunter, Quiltville USA

APRIL WRAP UP

Whew!!!!  April has been a busy month. I continually set up goals for myself and I continually miss reaching lots of them.

So here is what I have accomplished.

I finally finished all of the components for the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  This is one of the corner blocks and one of each of the two blocks that make up the quilt design.  Not too sure how long it will take me to get all of these blocks made and assembled....

Second block completed of Starry, Starry Night.  These blocks are about 18 inches square.

Made a few clamshells using my friend's die cutter.  Might turn into a pillow.

These are tiny (3/4 inch) leftover HSTs from the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  Thinking something modern will come out of these.

Of course, April would never be complete without the Frogpond Quilters Retreat at Grand Oak Retreat Center in Scottsboro, AL.  What a super bunch of gals to hang out with for four days!!!

Cute little make it/take it project that Jackie brought for us.  Still need to quilt it.

I did manage to get one project completed at the retreat - well, the top that is.  No, Carol is not being punished by standing in the corner.  She says it is some kind of exercise???

 

 

Having lots of fun in my paper piecing group making these seasonal mug rugs.

 

Still quilting this strip pieced quilt on my DSM.  Almost there...

Have another block of my QAYG on the design wall.  Not too happy with that large blob of yellow dots in the center there.

 

Of course, I have a carry along project making more hexies....

In my SLKS bee group we are starting a round robin with the four of us.  I have the first Round of Sharon's quilt and here is a little sketch of what I might could do, but then again, maybe not.  Her block is the colored star that she wants used for the center.

I did completely finish one small project.  This is a quilted mat for Lady Dog.  She belongs to a friend of my hubby.  We wanted to say thank you to her master for some kindnesses he has shown us.
The HSTs are made from the Pampered Pooch Charm Pack from Moda.  I still have enough to make another mat, maybe for LilBit.

This piece is about 32 inches square and I love the low contrast of the blocks to the light blue background.

Looks to me like I have a lot of things in progress. . .   Maybe next month we will see some completions ???


                                      -sandi









 

THIS WEEK'S AGENDA

I only have one finish to show for this week.  I finally quilted my Modern Mystery Quilt that was designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr and was offered by AQS on their website.

This is the palette I chose.  I used Kona gray with some brights from my stash.

I love seeing the light shine through the quilt top before it is quilted.  Of course, every seam shows this way!

This is not the best photo of this piece but it will have to do for this post.  I plan to hang this in my family room in this orientation.
Thought I would include a photo of the back.  Another way to use up some of my old stash.  Just keep clearing it out!

I rigged up this clothes line thingy on my upper back deck so I could hang quilts for photographing.  Well, it doesn't work the best sometimes.  Like here, the light makes the front of the quilt show through.  Although, I think that little shadow is kinda interesting.

Another project I am working on is for my grandson.

The beginnings of another gift quilt.  Is this just the sweetest palette?
No in-progress post would be complete without showing work on my Hexie quilt.

I have these three units just about ready for this next round on the Hexie piece.

See how these are going on?
Then, of course, there are my socks!  Well, I have made some pretty good progress but I hit a snag and put it on hold for a few days until I can talk to my mentor/friend, Linda, to figure out what I need to do differently.  It just does not seem like it is right//!!

A few other things I have been doing are some sketching of landscapes and working on a design for a quilt for another grandson. 

"I will take charge of the remote while you sew, Mom!"

                                                             -sandi







 

HOW TO MAKE HEXIES MY WAY

Since many of us are making hexagon projects, I have been asked several times to show someone how I make mine.  Let me just say up front - - There are many ways to make the hexagons for Grandmother's Flower Garden style projects.  If you have a way that you love, just keep on using it.  This is for those of you who have wanted to do hexies, but were a little intimidated or simply could not figure out how to start.

I like to use a method that requires the least amount of time and gives me the best results.  I am not fond of cutting paper templates, or sewing with paper templates.  I have done some of those in the past.  Once I discovered mylar templates I was off and running to use those for my projects.  I discovered these by reading some one's blog and finding out where she ordered her templates.

When I read about The ScrappyAppleyard Quilt Shoppe and noticed they were located in my home state, I placed my order immediately.  The templates I use are 1" size.  They come packaged with about 80 plates to a package.  Since these are re-usable I only needed 2 packages to give me all the templates I would need to do my Hexagon Star Quilt.  As soon as all six sides were connected to another side, I would remove my template.  This made handling the project easier as it became larger.

I will show you how I make each hexie for this quilt.  I still have a few rounds to go before this is complete.

This is the packaging of the 1" mylar templates that I ordered from The Scrappy Appleyard Quilt Shoppe.

I cut 2.5" squares of the fabrics I am using for the project.  Then I trim off the corners.

Drawing lines and cutting exact shapes of the hexies was not "my cup of tea".

I place the mylar template in the center and secure it with a small applique pin.  The punched hole in the center of the template makes it so easy to pin these on.

I begin folding down at each point around the template and tacking it with a couple stitches.  These stitches are only in the fabric, not going through the mylar.  A couple of stitches at each intersection is sufficient to hold it securely.  At the last intersection I make a finishing knot.

Here is the finish.

After they are completely tacked at all intersections, I remove the little pins from the center of the template.

I will note here that I use any thread that I have because it will never be seen.  It is a good place to use up those spools of thread that have been around for a long time or that are of questionable content.  These are basting stitches that will stay in the quilt.  At least, I don't remove the basting stitches.  So, if you have used rotten thread and in 5 or 10 years it rots out, it will not create a problem because the hexies have been sewn to each other.

Sorry about the quality of this picture.  What I have done is put two hexies together with right sides facing and then I have used a very tiny whip stitch. 
This is the place that the type of thread you use really matters.
I use a very fine thread.  Many quilters use silk thread for this step and so do I sometimes.  However, most of the time I am using a poly thread made by Wonderfil called Invisifil.  It is very fine like silk but not quite as costly.

Most of the time I use a cream or a white thread.  Since it is so fine and my stitches are very small and close together it gives an invisible join from the right side.  The exception to this would be if I were doing something with very dark colors then I would change to a grey or dark taupe.

My needle of choice is a very small sharp in size 11 or 12.  This is the same size needle that I use for hand quilting. 

Notice the very short tail coming off the needle.  I choose to tie a knot at the top of my needle after I thread it so that the thread will not slip out of the needle as I am sewing.

Using very fine thread allows you to tie that knot and it will slide right through the cotton fabric just fine.

Once I have put together several of these hexies and they are attached on all six sides to another hexie.  I use my small scissors and pop the template out of the fabric by putting the point of the scissors in the little hole in the center.

It does not bother me that the fold over isn't exactly the same on all six sides.  As long as it is enough to hold it securely until I can attach the other hexies, I am a happy camper or "hexer".

I hope this has been helpful.  Please send me any question you might have and I will attempt to get you an answer that will keep you "hexing" or that will get you started on this fun technique.


                                                  -sandi