Hexies For The Win!

Make that a win-win, as I made this hexie flower and our OSU Buckeyes were victorious 21-10 over the Fighting Irish. While watching last night's big season opener versus Notre Dame, I took three fabrics, a stack of hexie templates, scissors, needle and thread and stitched this pretty little posie.

During all the yakkety-yak of pre-game, I made fabric decisions, and cut out all the parts. I got all but the last three hexies attached before going to bed; I have finished it up this morning.

I like this layout of fabrics and colors; that outer row is fussy cut so I could take advantage of the mostly gray parts. Here is better look at the full piece - it's a Tilda fabric.

I detest wasting fabric, so I will likely not fussy cut this any further. Those florals are just too pretty to let go to waste. If I want a gray fabric, surely I can dig around and find some suitable all-over print that would be less wasteful. One flower doesn't waste too much, but that's my limit!

My fabric choices came together quite by happenstance. This tub had a small stack of fat quarters pulled ages ago (like over a year?!) most likely for some road trip we were taking. Not wanting to miss any of the game,  I forced myself to create something from the existing options. 

The two prints are Tilda fabrics bought in May 2021 when we vacationed in the Shenandoah Valley. The polka dot is a remnant from Spring Dreams, which I made last spring. In that linked post, I mention my difficulty in adequately photographing the sashing - well, this is the sashing, and it looks like the correct color.

The picture near the top is taken on our kitchen counter - light background. The picture just above is taken on the footstool of my game-watching/stitching chair - dark gray background. Isn't it interesting to see how the background changes the block? I am very far from making big decisions about backgrounds, but this could prove useful when the time comes.

I am joining the Slow Stitching party over at Kathy's Quilts. It has been awhile since I sewed with these lovely ladies; I am always inspired by the handwork they do, and the creative ways they take slow-stitching to new heights. Click here to see all the participants' pretty projects.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Summer Style

I finished off a little hand-stitched project this week. The UFO for this month was to finish the large hexagon table topper that I began last summer. I took a few hours here and there this week and finished it off with the Frankfort Girls here on Friday. A quick binding and off to the screened porch for the dining table.

It is nothing fancy, and the edges are a bit wavy, but I like how colorful it is and it works well on the porch. This is a wonderful little bonus quilt as I bought nothing new for it. The hexagons were pieced from scraps on hand. The batting was pieced from two small pieces, as was the back. Even the thread used to quilt it was purchased for some previous project. I love when just a little bit of my time can result in a sweet little accent piece like this.

I am excited to have younger daughter Emma here today. Her 25th birthday is later this week, so I am planning a big dinner of some of her favorites. While we visit, I will very likely have a stack of 2.5" squares to stitch - haven't done any in ages. It will make for the perfect activity while chatting and catching up - Slow Sunday Stitching style. I may end up with 4-patches, or 9-patches - who knows? I"ll be spontaneous. *grin*

Have a great Sunday and a great week!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hexagon Variety

In the last post, I shared a picture of the the little hexie quilt - likely a table topper - that I worked on at Jan's last Friday.

It was wrinkly and unkempt-looking, from being toted about in a bag and scrunched up in the stitching process. When I had a chance back at home, I took it to the sewing room and gave it a good pressing. Improved the looks tremendously.

I also discovered that I needed just one more hexie block to have a finished quilt top.

My options were limited. When I cut out all these hexagons, I had no plan in mind; rather, I was simply interested in having some handwork to do when I met with these ladies. I scrounged around and found a bit of fabric from the original grouping and cut one more hexagon for the space. If you look closely, you will see a bit of selvage on one corner; I really was out of fabric.

So now this is sewn in and the little quilt top awaits its batting and backing, its quilting and binding. In due time; in due time. It might see the center of the porch table next year.

One of the reasons I was so limited in my options for this quilt, is because I went off on a bit of a tangent and made these:

The three large flowers are made with the same blocks as I used in my table topper. I was curious about how they'd look set together this way, so I gave it a go. I really like them.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with them next. I haven't a clue at this time. That's why those smaller red flowers are still on the design wall; I made those way back in March, and they don't yet know what they are going to become, either. Same goes for the POTC block down at the bottom. Suggestions, anyone? Leave a comment, if so.

If making a hexie quilt - large or small - is something you think you'd like to try, I invite you to take a look at this post which offers a bit of a tutorial.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Hexie Tutorial

About a week ago, I posted about the hand-stitching project I worked on when the Frankfort Girls met at Sheryll's. If you want to go back and read that post, I will wait...

Did you read all the way down to the comment? Karen, a no-reply commenter, asked if I would do a tutorial on making these, so today, I will show you step-by-step how I did it. Is it the only way? Of course not. But it's my way. So let's begin.

First I will explain that when I cut out that first batch of hexagons - hexies, for short - I had a proper template. Since it was borrowed and now returned, for demonstration purposes here, I am using one of the hexies as a template. If I were going to need lots of them, I would certainly get a real template. Another option for a hard-core hexie project, would be to use one of those die-cutters - I think 2 popular brands are Go-Cutter and Cricut.

Since my hexagon is 4" wide, I cut a strip of fabric to that width. Then I lay the template on that strip and line up my ruler for the first cut.

I definitely layer several fabrics and cut multiples to save time. Depending on how skilled you are with a rotary cutter and ruler, you could easily cut 6 or 8 layers. I would not feel comfortable doing more than that, but perhaps really confident seamstresses would.

 Cut as many as you need or want in whatever variety you want. Since I am just stitching to be stitching and I don't have a particular project I'm cutting for, I stopped cutting when I was sure I had plenty to keep me busy for the next few get-togethers with the girls.

And that pretty much sums up my cutting method.

Moving on to my sewing method: I considered doing the EPP (English Paper Piecing) method for these, but that is an extra - and somewhat tedious - step that I knew I could skip. If I were working with tiny little hexies, I probably would have used the EPP method, but with these big boys, I knew I didn't need to.

Let me say here that I truly enjoy hand-piecing and all hand-sewing. I always have, and I don't rightly know to what this can be attributed. Off the top of my head, I can think of about 5 full-size quilts that I have hand-pieced. (The 6-pointed star that I am currently hand-quilting was entirely hand-pieced. Interestingly, it has a hexie in the center of each star. Click here to take a quick peek.)

The key thing to remember when sewing hexies is NOT to sew end-to-end. You have to leave a quarter-inch free at each intersection in order to turn the hexie into the next piece of fabric without having little puckers and pleats. In the photo above, my finger is pulling back the fabric to show the quarter-inch seam allowance. If you look at the other corner, you can see how I turned the corner leaving the seam allowance free of stitches.

Here's another angle of a turned corner. I often take a stitch on top of a stitch at intersections just to add strength. You can see that I have not drawn stitching lines, but you could. I probably did draw lines when I was a beginner, but I've been hand-piecing for so long now that I can pretty well 'eye-ball' my seam lines. I have noticed that using a smaller needle will yield smaller stitches, but I usually just grab whatever needles happen to be handy.

 Here is a block ready to be added to the project. I match it with the edge of the piece I'm stitching it to and begin a quarter-inch in from the the edge. Note where my needle is inserted above.

 I work my way across the block taking about 3 stitches at a time before pulling the thread through.

When I get to the end, I either knot it and snip the thread, or I take a second stitch at the end before turning the corner and beginning the next seam. If you really study the seam above, you can see that my quarter-inch is not exactly true all the way across. If I get way, way off, then I will remove stitches and do it over. In this case, I think the discrepancy is negligible, so I am leaving it as is.

The quilt police aren't going to inspect this so carefully as to call me on this or any other less-than-perfect aspects of my work, which I assure you, are plentiful! I know that imperfections exist in all quilts, so I have learned not to sweat the small stuff. If I were a total OCD-type, however, I can see where this seam would be troublesome.

And there you  have it. My tutorial on making a hexie project. Leave a comment if something needs additional explanation. What seems basic to me might not be so crystal-clear to another, and while I am by no means an expert, I am glad to help if I can.

Happy Quilting, Friends!