For months I didn’t work on the Hexies project, then on the first I just dove in and added rows. I am not sure why except that it didn’t require cutting. The hexagons were there, the piece was there and I needed something to sew.
I got my head around the Y seams and did it. I didn’t want to sew one hexagon on at a time and I had a row started, so I finished the row and worked on sewing the whole row on at a time. It was a lot of stopping and starting, but I just did it. I developed a system and kept at it.
Things I have to figure out:
How big to make it. It seems small now, but I know that if I fill my design wall it makes a pretty big quilt.
Whether to unsew a section where I sewed two of the same fabrics together.
How to finish the border – to square it off or leave it jaggedy. I am not sure I can face all those mitered binding corners
I plan to just work on it until I am done with the top.
Over the weekend, I really had only a couple of hours to sew. Since I was behind Susan a bit on the Russian Rubix project, I decided to cut octagons from the fabrics I had selected for the 2.5″ strip project.
I know you must be thinking “what is she thinking!?!” Well, I was thinking that I really only needed 1-2 (at the most) strips for the 2.5″ strip project and that I could test out the color combination by using the same fabrics for the Russian Rubix project.
I may be wrong and may may have just cut up a bunch of fabric that I will need for something else. I may have cut up a bunch of fabric that I will be sick of using for projects by the time I have made two projects with it. I may hate the fabrics together, and have just cut up a bunch of fabrics in weird shapes that I won’t be able to use.
I really just needed something on the design wall.
Perhaps, for now, I am testing.
I cut a 2.5″ strip for the Jaye-roll project and a 3.75″ inch strip for the Russian Rubix and proceeded to use the RR templates to cut the octagons. I got about half way through cutting strips and octagons from the stack of fabrics I had selected and am pleased with the variety, the cohesiveness and the cheerfulness of the group.
I also cut enough so I could see how different fabrics interact with each other and on that level, I think this group is working.
Right now my biggest problem is background. It will be easier to audition backgrounds with smaller pieces available. The pattern has a white or Kona Snow background. I don’t know if I want to go that route, though I do think it would showcase-provide a nice backdrop? – for the colors of the fabric. I have been thinking grey. I wish P&B still made the Happy Go Lucky (?) grey I used in the A-B-C Challenge. I have some, but I don’t know if I have enough.
All of the above is speculation in my head. I have to get fabric out and look at it before I can decide for certain. Yes, I need to make visual decisions visually (thanks, Lorraine Torrence).
In between bindings and hemming pants, I made some more English Paper Pieced Stars. I still haven’t decided on a layout, but I am running out of papers, so I will need to do so soon, so I can reuse the papers.
The last time I seemed to have written about this Flower Sugar Hexagon project was way back in 2011. I didn’t think that much time had flown by, but Pam has made two hexagons, so I guess it has.
My design walls have been empty for several weeks while I work on small projects; the 3D items not needing much design wall space. I also love piecing so much that I didn’t want to be tempted away from the small projects that have been on my list for awhile.
My mom came over for a visit with the Young Man after being on vacation and down with Grama for several weeks. When I arrived home from work she told me that she had raced upstairs to see what was on the design wall and was so disappointed to see NOTHING. She looked a little worried as well. I felt bad.
This hexie project has been on my mind and it occurred to me that I could put it up on the design wall and see what I saw.
The only other photos I have of this quilt is laying on the floor. Laying on the floor is different, for me, than hanging on the wall. I seem to be able to see so much more when pieces are vertical. It must be the perspective or the angle.
I found the piece and put it up on the portable design wall. Looking at it after not having seen it for awhile, I noticed some interesting things:
My balance of different fabrics is pretty good.
The piece is tiny. It is less than half the size of the Swoon. I have a lot of hexies to cut
This piece does cheer up the room.
As I said in one of the previous posts,Adrianne of Little Bluebell, introduced me to the cutting technique I used for these hexies. You can find the cutting instructions on her blog.
I hope I won’t think too much about sewing more pieces together. I still need to work on small projects.
I worked on the border for the t-shirt quilt on Sunday. I have about 8 really long seams left before I can start on the back of this quilt. I really dislike long seams so putting the borders of this quilt together is some kind of torture.
The Young Man designed the border. I was all ready to make a floating square border when the Y.M. told me what he wanted, which was two thin strips of fabric surrounded by the grey.
I did a border like this on the Water Kaleidoscope quilt, so I showed it to him. In that quilt, the thin strips are a variety of oranges, pinks and yellows (I don’t have a picture of this quilt. Sorry).
After looking at it (and he really did contemplate), he decided that he would rather have black and green strips alternating than the blues, greens and red that he, initially, selected.
The fickle mind of a creative in action!
T-shirt quilt border
The middle photo is a detail of the corner. The piece is very heavy and won’t stick to the design wall, so I have it pinned.
The Y.M. told me he wanted the rows to line up up so the black in the first row touched, but was slightly offset from the black in the second row. I told him that I would use random sizes and see how it went. I think I can, mostly, accommodate his wish, but it won’t be as precise as he imagines.
T-shirt quilt border
I gave him my scrap bin to rummage through. This was my way of having him pick out the greens and blacks. He came up with some nice blacks and greens, which were very different than those I would have picked. The greens were all very much in the same chartreuse color line (I am thinking of Joen Wolfrom Color Wheel when I say line, rather than a fabric line). I don’t have enough of the types of greens he chose in the scrap bin for the second colored border. I’ll have him pick some fabrics out of my green bin. I am sure I have more of that chartreuse color.
This quilt feels like it is taking me so much longer than it should. On the other hand, I think I sew faster than most and have higher expectations of myself.
The Young Man is pleased so far. That is what counts.
Thursday, as you may know, was the Fourth of July in the US. We celebrate our independence by barbequing, watching fireworks, etc. We went over to my BIL’s house for a BBQ. It was last minute and very small. We picked up MIL, a friend from the Natives came and an old friend of BIL’s came. That was it. The Young Man was disappointed that his cousins didn’t attend. Since BIL got sick, he is not up for a large event. He said he misses the larger BBQ, especially seeing friends, they used to host, but it just wasn’t possible.
EPP Stars May & June
Since the event was small, I had a bit of space to spread out. I finished one EPP star and started and finished another. I was pleased to be able to do a little sewing even though I was away from the machine. It was nice, because I could participate in the conversation. I also made a bit of a sensation. People were really interested in my project. The Natives friend, Dave, brought his girlfriend, Teri. She asked a lot of questions about the process and what I did with the quilts, etc. I encouraged her to look into a class. I doubt she will do it, but I always try and encourage people to learn to quilt.
This group of stars also makes me wonder if I should continue with my plan to have alternate rows be dots on white or if I should make alternate rows warm and cool colors.
You can see the last stars I worked on in a May post.
For those of you who do not follow me on Twitter (@artquiltmaker, if you are so inclined) will not know about my commuting woes. Our local interurban train system is on strike, which makes for longer and more tiring commutes. As a result, I have not had much inclination to sew after work or even write much. I don’t often sew much in the evenings anyway, but occasionally I will cut or press fabric, sew a seam or two or do something.
Still, over the last week, I was able to get the center of the T-shirt quilt mostly together. I need to put on a couple of borders to anchor all of the stretch, but, essentially, the main part is done.
I am also considering a pieced border. I am thinking about 4″ squares surrounded by the grey speckle, but we will see.
The biggest problem with this quilt is keeping the &^%$#@ thing square. I have, actually given up, because each time I trim, I have to trim somewhere else. I can see the sense in sashing all the blocks first.
I started this quilt a long time ago, so when I pulled all of the t-shirts out last week, I wasn’t sure where I was or what to do next. The top photo shows the pieces to use as a start.
I had already trimmed off the colors, cuffs and backs, so I trimmed the other t-shirts in prepartion for interfacing them. That was a trip down memory lane. The small sizes of the shirts are hard to reconcile with the giant boy-Young Man who lives with me now.
I spent most of the day on Saturday trimming the t-shirts and pressing interfacing onto the back of each t-shirt panel. I chose a grey pebbly print that I bought before the Young Man was born to make the shirts a uniform size. After sewing sashing to a couple of the panels, I found that that technique was not working for me. I decided to just fill in between the panels. I had thought about sashing each panel and making little stars as the cornerstones. I am not sure it is going to work, though. I think I just need to fill in between the t-shirts and have stars quilted into it.
T-shirt panels
When I cut the t-shirts, I was forced to cut them all to a different size based on the design on the front, which is the main part of the quilt’s design. Looking at the all the designs and brands, while working through this process, made me think of the Young Man’s interests and how they have changed. I do think I will offer to make him another t-shirt quilt to encompass his current t-shirts, which reflect his current interests. However, his size won’t change as much during the 4 years of high school as it did during the K-8 period.
In a way, this quilt is about the fabric. The stretchy t-shirt fabric. It is not terrible to sew once the interfacing has been applied, but the cutting is tricky. I also find that sometimes the design sticks to my sewing table as I sew.
I really thought I had more t-shirts, but I guess I was brutal about the ones I chose. the Young Man also wore a lot of plain colored t-shirts as he got older, which are not interesting in a t-shirt quilt.
I almost didn’t cut up the Winnie-the-Pooh sweatshirt (dark blue, lower right) as it was so adorable and I remember chasing after the Boy trying to put it on him when he was super tiny. There are bits of schmutz on some of them, but I guess that just means they were used and well loved.
T-shirt quilt, after the weekend
The boy came in and looked at the layout Sunday afternoon, as I was working on it. He liked what I had done so far. He did, however, ask me to remove the Blue’s Clues t-shirt, so I will put that one on the back. It is probably a good thing as my design wall is full and I would like to keep the size of the piece to the size of the design wall.
The bottom photo is what I ended up with after working most of the day Sunday on putting the piece together. I am particularly proud of the section with the smaller pieces (middle right).
I subscribe to Easy Quilts, because I am a member of the Quilters Club of America. I never make patterns from Easy Quilts, because often the patterns are too easy and too boring. I can’t say that anymore, now that I have made this quilt.
This one pattern appealed to me because of the fabric. The fabric used is Textured Basics by Patti Young, which I found I liked better in the magazine than in person. The neutral that goes with the colors is too beige for my tastes. The teal and the red, however, are especially vibrant and fun. The oranges, pink and chartreuse would have looked better against a white contrast. As a whole, the line works very well for this quilt.
I cut the pieces while working on my general cutting, which, it turns out, made me not think about the patches very much. I sewed almost the entire quilt together using the leaders and enders technique while working on the Star Sampler. As a result, I finished the top before I really realized I was working on another quilt project.
There is really no way to change this pattern. The pieces are so large and not in block form. That, coupled with the fact that I barely realized I was making the quilt, meant that I didn’t make any changes to the pattern, which I normally would do in order to make it my own. This pattern could be used effectively for other large scale prints (I am thinking Philip Jacobs fabrics) assuming the additional fabrics were selected carefully to retain the strong, but subtle horizontal motifs.
I have the binding done and am working on the back. I am using the orange, chartreuse and pink leftover yardage as I don’t think I will use those. Also, I am using the herringbone print from all the colors since I don’t think I will be using that print any time soon.
Pattern from Easy Quilts magazine, Summer 2013, pg.31-34
Remember that I went on a bit about the Mosaic Number 19 and how it wasn’t quite up to par? Still, it was the first block I made for this project and I had some fondness for it.
Well, I remade it.
Mosaic No.19
So much for fondness. It just didn’t fit and I decided that while I was remaking blocks that weren’t working for other reasons, I might as well remake this one.
One thing I wanted to do was make sure that the background was the background. In the green version, there are large triangles of green in the middle center where background should be. Essentially the Sawtooth Star shape is reversed in terms of fabric. I thought the green where the background should be would ruin the flow of the background of the quilt. Yes, this new configuration meant that the corners would be non-background fabric, but other blocks have that quality as well, so it will be ok.
I have to say that I do like the frame around the center block int he green version. It really focuses attention on that center tilted/on point square. I suppose I could have found something to fussy cut and kept that look in the new version, but I didn’t think of it.
That blue that I used is a really nice blue. I think it shows up really well in the photo.
See more about this quilt using the Star Sampler tag. I wrote a whole post about the genesis of this project, which you might want to look at.
You might remember the drama of the first Ribbon Star. You also might remember that I made the star over using half square triangles rather than parallelograms.
I have to admit that I never really liked the new version, which you can see on the right of the above picture. I used it, because I had no choice, but I didn’t really like that particular lavender fabric.
Finally, I decided that I would remake the first block. The first block had a lot of problems, not the least of which was that the parts were a variety of different sizes. I unsewed all the squares, rearranged some of the colors and resewed them so that the block, basically, fit together. Many of the seam allowances are so far short of 1/4″ that I really worry about their integrity.
Still I am really happy that I get to use the original version of the block.
I may cut a few more, but these are probably the last patches for FOTY 2012 you will see until I sew. I made an effort to press and cut some more pieces. With TFQ’s help I made a little progress.
I sorted all of the patches I cut into color groups, so I am pseudo ready to place the patches and then sew. I may not get to sewing this weekend, though I do hope to do enough placement to make some progress sewing.
I wrote about my second Jelly Roll Race quilt a few days ago. I don’t remember if I hadn’t made the back yet, or, for some other reason, I just didn’t post about it. Probably the former, but that seems like an eternity ago, so I really can’t say.
I had a number of pieces of Paris related fabric that I bought specifically for the back of this quilt. Lil Sissy loves Paris, so it seemed appropriate.
I am actually kind of eager to quilt this. I need a basting fairy.
I finished the borders for this Original Bullseye over last weekend (12/1). I thought for sure I would be able to finish the back as well, but the headache hangover kept me sewing at a snail’s pace. Also, I had to clear off the cutting table before I could sew.
For some reason, finishing this particular top makes me really feel like I have made true progress on the 26 Projects list.
This top has been hanging around so long (12 years!) that I know I am acting like I finished the whole quilt. I wonder how I will feel then!
Original Bullseye back
I got a bug in my ear to clear out some projects on Friday and made the back for this piece. I am pleased with it and think it matches. It isn’t really very special, but is interesting. As an added bonus my white on black bin has some space in it!
I have to say that I am resolved not to let projects languish for years. In the recent past, I think I have been plowing through projects once they get past the hunting and gathering stage and I hope to continue that practice.
Fortunately, I have friends with better memories than me. Julie wrote a nice overview of our Bullseye project and reminded me that I started this quilt in 2001. Last post on this subject.
Time flies when you are having fun. I am enjoying musing over possibilities for this project. I didn’t think I would since I like to get sewing quickly, but I am determined to enjoy this fabric selection process and it, as it turns out, is not difficult.
I bought a couple of fabrics last week when most of the network was down at work, except the Internet. I did do work, really, I did – more than others, I think – but at some point, I couldn’t get into my email and there wasn’t any new work coming in. After you clean your desk and read all your piled up magazines, contracts and make a ton of phone calls that have been put off, what else is there to do but buy fabric? 😉
Dot Background?
The fabrics came yesterday, which was perfect timing, because I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and they made me happy. I was able to play a bit and I even washed a couple of the fabrics.
There is always a surprise when I buy multiple fabrics and the turquoise and chocolate dot on white (middle of photo, right) was one of those happy surprises. I really like it and think if it had purple instead of the chocolate, it might be a perfect background for the stars. Still, I like it, but the chocolate does stand out a little more than I would like. I suppose I could add chocolate to the entire piece to add a bit of spark. I’ll have to try some out and see what I think.
I have to make visual decisions visually, so I will make a sample star, as well, before I decide.
Leafy Background?
Really, there is no shortage of blues at my house, but I seem to crave the calm feeling they project, so I keep buying more. The three blues on white in the middle are also background candidates. I didn’t even buy them with that in mind, but thought of it when I saw them.
I almost bought more of the leafy V&Co print without even trying it. I stopped myself, because I want to make a sample and make sure the leafy blues and greens, don’t bleed into the other fabrics, destroying the crispness of the stars. I do think the leafy print would be a bold choice, because of the leaves.
Leaf and Dots
I think the large dot on the middle left would be a pain. I think the pooling of the color at the bottom (top in the photo) would make it hard to use as a background. I do think it will work as an adjunct fabric for a star. The turquoise squares on white are a more conventional choice and might be a good one to fall back on in a pinch.
I keep thinking of this see-through star from someone else’s quilt in the quilt-a-long Flickr group when I think of the background. I don’t think I want to use a solid, but I do like the effect of looking through the star to the background, so I want to be sure and choose something that will help achieve that effect.
Testing the waters
These fabrics all look good together and I think any of them would be fine, really. I think the leafy print looks good with the purples and the greens are similar, too.
At the moment, I am completely ignoring the purples I want, and need, to add. I like that Chicopee purple, but I need something that is a more bluey purple as well, like the background of the Philip Jacobs print. I’ll keep working at the fabric selection.
I have to admit that I thought about completely changing direction and going with pinks. Perhaps I will do two of these at the same time…except that that would mean I would have to pick background fabrics for two quilts.
I started talking about this project in a post a few days ago.
