A Hexie Dilemma!

I love EPP (English Paper Piecing) because it's sociable!  You can sit with the family in the evenings, watching TV, sewing away.

This is what I did this week on holiday - growing my hexie collection (as inspired by Lily's Quilts Hex-a-Long). 

I've done my usual thing of not planning out a design in advance, and just going with the flow.

Well the flow has stopped!  I'm not liking the floral shapes the hexies are making, nor my 'filler' hexies.

While I choose vintagey fabrics, I didn't especially want a traditional design.

I don't even know what I'm going to turn these into - a cushion, a quilt?

What to do?

1. Unpick the hexies and resew them into a more modern shape e.g. pyramids, giant hexie?

2. Stick with what I have, add a few more & make a cot size quilt?

3. Abandon all hexies made so far, and start again, making a few more intricate hexies (as seen on flickr) which could then adorn a cushion front?

Vote now!!!!

Steaming Ahead!

Today was (almost) bliss!

The sun was shining, and all 3 children were out of the house at the same time, for at least 2 hours!

I am fairly well caught up with work projects (starting my Beginner's group on a new project tomorrow) so thought I would treat myself to some of the many 'fun' projects I have on the go!

Firstly, I started quilting Crazy Daughter Quilt ..............

Going for diagonal lines through each block.  Not sure what I'll do in sashing yet.

......... but then ran out of chalk and thread!  

Despite eating into my precious free time to take a wasted trip to my LQS (they didn't have the thread colours I needed!), I was undetered, ordered some thread online, and hastily returned to my sewing room to start on something else.

The something else was my very neglected Kaleidoscope quilt.

I chain pieced like a demon and just to make sure the half blocks will align in the middle, I completed a block to reassure myself.

There's a heck of a lot of sewing stages to this wee gem, which is playing havoc with my indecisive creative mind, meaning I'm constantly changing designs the more I see this evolve.  

(More on that later when I finally decide on what this thing is going to look like.)

Finally, I went bin hoaking!

Just into my recycling bin to find some glossy/magazine type paper to use for my hexie papers.  I was taught to use slightly thicker/better quality paper as templates, and they are much easier to sew around.

So, cut, cut, cut, cut and I made lots of papers to stash in my vintage tin.  

When I was cutting a folded over leaflet, I had a bit of a eureka moment!

(This doesn't happen to my slow brain v.often so please humour me!)  

Let me demonstrate with this piece of A4 paper folded in half lengthways:

The fold is at the bottom, look closely at those little triangles in between the hexies.

After cutting out the hexie shapes, I noticed some other shapes appearing in between the hexies, and it turns out, when you open them out, they make great kite shaped papers. 

These can then be sewn up in fabric, to make a lovely addition to the hexies.

The design possibilities are endless!

I'm sure lots of you have already discovered this & have probably been making them since before you were weaned!  But I thought it was pretty cool.  

I don't have sophisticated design software to cleverly magic up shapes and designs, so I tend to arrive at these things 'old time'!  I would like to incorporate them someway into a hexie designed project, but it might be a bit of a stretch for my inept mathematical mind!  

Maybe I'll have another eureka moment this time next year!

Have a great weekend!

A Step Back In Time!

Last night I decided I would indulge in a little hand sewing while watching utter rubbish on TV!

I've picked out some vintage inspired fabrics (some are genuinely old!) to get started on my hexies (part of the Hex-A-Long being hosted by Lily's Quilts).

While rummaging through the 'stuff everything into it and forget about it' drawer, I came across my old hexie templates and even some old papers I'd used before, as well as some gems that a family member had passed onto me a few years ago.

Scissors still in their original leather zippered pouch!  And that's velour in the lining!

I think this is a heron?

The cutest thing ever .... look what they become ....

Tiny fold out scissors - and they're really sharp!!

Most of the original needles are still there!

And what could this be?

A needle canister!

There's something about English Paper Piecing that stirs up romantic notions of an era gone by!  So I decided to make this project truly historical and vintage by combining really old (but fully funtioning) equipment with my vintage inspired fabrics.

And so, with a vintage tin to keep everything in, I'm sorted and ready to hex-a-long!

Happy Hexing!

Dreadfully behind!

I have been extremely busy this week designing and making projects for my next program of classes, starting in September, as well as preparing for new classes this week, as well as trying to keep 3 bored kids happy without feeling like a really selfish, guilty mum (actually I think Guilt just comes with the Placenta)!

Next week I hope to do a series of posts on the new projects that I'll be teaching, with some pics of course (oh but that means I'll have to get them all made -eeek!).

Anyway, I didn't wanted you to think I've been spending all my time sunbathing in this glorious, grey summer we've been having!!

Tomorrow night is the start of the Beach Huts Cushion class:

This is a great wee project to introduce folks to Foundation Piecing (one of my favs!).

Despite our cold, drab weather, I'm hoping this sunny project will make us all feel brighter!

So because of all this hard work, I'm ridiculously behind in my Kaleidoscope Quilt (a QAL being hosted by Don't Call Me Betsy) and I haven't even picked out fabrics for the recent Hex-A-Long (hand sewn hexies). 

Here's as far as I've got with my Kaleidoscope quilt:

I'm doing my usual 'changing the design as I go along' thing, seeing what it looks like as I go.  I just need a bit more 'go'!

On Sunday I try not to do work stuff, and if I get any free time, I'll try and work on other WIPs.  

So I got Crazy Daughter Quilt basted.  I used basting spray for the first time, following the instructions of my LQS to do it over the ironing board, bit by bit, ironing it down as I go.  

This technique pretty much worked, but as with doing anything with large quilts, it took a chunk of effort and time. The effectiveness of it will be tested by the quilting - whenever I get round to it!

So that's it for now.

Sorry if this has been a bit moany!  I'm tired and need a holiday (or just some rays would do!)

Come Hex-a-long with me!

A new summer quilt-along group has started up, by Lynne (Lily's Quilts) and Gayle (Gayle Brindley's Blog).

The idea is to get familiar again with the age old patchworking technique called English Paper Piecing (EPP).

EPP is hand sewing pieces of fabric over paper shapes (e.g. diamond, square, triangle, hexagon etc.), then hand sewing the shapes together before finally removing the paper inserts.

I have fond memories of paper piecing when I first started my City and Guilds Textile & Design course.  EPP was the very first thing we did.  

Early works! My college samples - hexies

Triangles

Diamonds

Scallops - my least favourite!

I discovered a joy in hand sewing that I didn't know existed.

It's lovely to be re-inspired by this traditional technique, especially with all the wonderful new designs and fabrics that are around at the mo.

And this is the perfect project to pack away and take on holiday - compact, quick, easy, transportable, perfect!

The Hex-a-long will focus on paper piecing hexagons and this is the inspiration quilt that started it:

“Candied Hexagons” by Liz from Broderie

Fancy joining in? 

Check out the flickr group for more stunning projects & ideas and then join the Lily's Quilts group.  

See you there!