Various & Sundry 2011 #11

Inspiration
A friends shared the link to this hotel with their wonderful inspirational rooms. If you want to be in a fairy tale, check out these photos.

Pattern Drafting
As you may remember, I really struggled with trying to figure out how to layout the FOTY 2010 diamond quilt. Unlike rectangular shapes, the diamonds weren’t quite as straightforward. DH helped me figure it out, so it all worked out in the end.

This topic came up again when I was back East with my SIL who now has an Accuquilt Go Baby. We were looking at the book that came with the device and the quilts were not inspiring. She wanted a chart or list of blocks she could make with each of the templates. I was thinking that this would work for those of us who cut our scraps into regular squares or triangles to have them ready for ….. something. For example, she and I (from our different points of view) would like to be able to say “I have triangles that make 2″ finished half square triangles, what can I make?” What blocks? What overall design, if applicable? What are my choice for the parts I have?”

This is related to the FOTY problem, to which I linked above, because in that case, I wanted to say “I have 340 diamonds, how big can I make a rectangular quilt?”

I searched for a chart or a list specifically related to the Accuquilt device, but couldn’t find anybody thinking that way. When I step back, I think that nobody else must think this way. Does everyone say I want to make an Ohio Star or a Lone Star or a hexagon quilt and then go from there? It seems to me that this would make scrap quiltmakers happy.

Do you know of such a chart? Have you started one?

Media
SIL bought the Jinny Beyer Perfect Piecer that I discussed a couple of weeks ago, because she is going to start on her Eye Spy quilt. It didn’t come with very comprehensive directions about the possibilities for what we could do with it. Granted, the ruler is pretty self explanatory, but we wanted to know more (do you sense a theme here? She and I feed off of each other in terms of quilt information). We went on to YouTube and saw an interesting video from Wish Upon a Quilt (bought some stuff from them recently and found their customer service to be excellent). The video was not specifically about how to use the Perfect Piecer, though the presenter did go into it a little, but we found that what information she gave was helpful in terms of looking at the Perfect Piecer. I wasn’t able to find any other videos, more comprehensive or not on using this tool, but hope that someone will make one. I have Jinny Beyer’s Handpiecing book, Quiltmaking by Hand and will look in there to see if she goes into it at all. It may also be in her puzzle balls book, Patchwork Puzzle Balls. I don’t think this ruler will help me with the Flowering Snowball, but one can dream.

My computer is declining to recognize any device plugged into a USB port. What a pain on a lot of levels, let me tell you. As a result, I wasn’t able to update my iPod before my workout on Wednesday. That meant no Sandy, Pam or Frances to whom I could listen. Fortunately, I had downloaded an episode of Crafty Garden Mom. I was reluctant to start listening even though everyone was saying what a great podcast it was as I was just reluctant to add another addiction to the list, but I was short of podcasts.  Boy, am I glad I did. I love Tanesha’s voice and content!

Other Artists
Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts had a blog post up recently about Sit Upons. Sit Upons are a Girl Scout staple project, but they are great for other uses as well. I wasn’t even thinking about these types of projects, but I am thinking about decorating. I saw these and was so taken with how professional they look, how taut they are and how nice the buttons look. I love the colors, but have to be careful, because I get them home and find that I have nothing to go with them.

Blocks and Piecing
Adrianne and other in the BAMQG are participating in the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt-a-Long. These quilt-a-longs are so interesting to me. Back in the first days of general access to the Internet, we did swaps. I keep trying to compare that to this new phenomenon. Anyway, I was reading the blog post on this QAL written by one of the organizers. She mentioned holding her templates in place with glue stick while rotary cutting around them! I would have never thought of that. I think of drawing around templates with a pencil, Sewline or SCUF, but not actually rotary cutting around them. Very interesting.

The BAMQG is also doing a block-a-long or quilt-a-long. I am not sure which. People are making blocks that start with a letter of the alphabet-going in order- and then they will make a sampler. Some are using the Farmer’s Wife book and other are just using block books and Quilter’s Cache. Camille Roskelly is doing the Farmer’s Wife QAL and I love her blocks. I wish they were mine. I haven’t decided if I am going to make the blocks, but if I do they will be in the same colors as CR’s.

Hexagons Tutorial-Preparing to Sew

Hexagon piece
Hexagon piece

Did you follow the directions for cutting your hexagons? Did you watch the video? If so, you are ready to prepare to piece. If not, you can find the directions and information on my previous post.

Note: my hexagons are 7″ unfinished. We are preparing to machine sew the hexagons using Y seams. Leave your fear of Y seams at the door, please. This is a relatively quick method after you do the step outlined below. However, you won’t be able to chain piece.

Supplies needed:

  • Sewing machine
  • Quarter inch foot
  • Thread
  • Ironing board
  • Iron
  • rotary ruler a bit longer than one side of your hexagon (I like the Creative Grids 4.5″x8.5″ rectangular ruler)
  • thin sharp black pen like a Pigma Micron or a Pilot Scuf or a Sewline pencil
  • your hexagons

You will be working on the wrong side of your hexagons at first.

The photo of my piece (above) is similar to what your goal should be. Note that the piece I show is not the final product. I don’t know how large my final quilt will be. That is just how I roll on certain projects. You should check Sandy’s blog and podcast as she has provided some information about sizes and amounts of fabric.

I don’t think in rows, so I don’t always sew in rows (remember the Chunking it tutorial?). This project lends itself to sewing in a circle, which I find very calming.

Face Down
Face Down

Take your cut hexagons and turn them right side down (wrong side up) on a surface you can draw on. I do this step right next to my sewing machine just before I sew. Take your rotary ruler and position the edge a quarter inch from one edge.

Ruler on Hexagon
Ruler on Hexagon

For example, pretend you were going to slice off a quarter inch and position your ruler that way. Note there is no rotary cutter on the supply list so no cutting, please. The goal is to end up with an X at the 60 degree angle spot on the patch.

Hexagon Marked-detail
Hexagon Marked-detail

On the wrong side of your fabric, take your pen and draw a light line where a quarter of an inch should be.

Draw a Light Line
Draw a Light Line

You won’t see it on the front if you are careful, so using one of the pens mentioned above is ok. You will be doing this at the 60 degree angle/where the corner of the patch is, if the patch had a corner.

Draw Line on Next Side
Draw Line on Next Side

When you mark the second side, you will have one X and 2 lines.

One X and 2 Lines
One X and 2 Lines

Do the same thing at each of the other angles.

Hexagon Angles Marked
Hexagon Angles Marked

If you draw lines all the way around so you have little X-es at every angle of your hexagon. No groaning. I didn’t promise this would be a fast project, but it also doesn’t take that much time. If you are rolling your eyes, go buy the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, because they have a method of doing this piecing in rows. Seems everyone is on the Hexagon bandwagon these days.

If the above process is just too horrendous for you to contemplate, consider the Perfect Piecer by Jinny Beyer.

Perfect Piecer
Perfect Piecer

The 60 degree angle on the right side is perfect for making dots (not X-es) which you can use to sew between. Those circles are actual holes through which you can mark. I bought this to use for my Flowering Snowball and realized it would work with this project as well. I pushed the Sewline pencil lead way out of the pencil and was able to use it with this ruler.

Once you have done the marking, go to your sewing machine.

Do all the normal thread and needle checking stuff necessary for your machine.

Put your machine on the setting for stopping with the needle down. If you don’t have a needle down setting, adjust your sewing so you can stop with the needle down. This isn’t an absolute must, but really helps.

Position the needle right above the intersection of the x. Sew into the intersection of the X and sew all the way across using your quarter inch foot. STOP at the intersection of the second X. Do NOT sew into the seam allowance. Backstitch a couple of times.

I backstitch, because there are no seams crossing one another.

Remedy for sewing into the seam allowance: rip out the number of stitches into the seam allowance. Don’t rip out the whole seam, just rip out the stitch or two that went over.

Take the piece out of the machine and reposition the next unsewn side.Same deal: Position the needle right above the intersection of the x. Sew into the intersection of the X and sew all the way across using your quarter inch foot. STOP at the intersection of the second X. Do NOT sew into the seam allowance. Backstitch a couple of times.

Hexagons Unpressed
Hexagons Unpressed

Take your piece over to the ironing board and lay it face down. Yes, I know everyone says to press right sides up. Not this time, sweetie. Face down. On the ironing board. You are going to make a swirl with the seams near each other. Look for how the other seams connected to the new ones you just sewed are pressed and press the new ones in the same direction.

Hexagon Flower
Hexagon Flower

If you follow these directions, you will get a little flower at the intersections of the seams. That is why you don’t sew into the seam allowance. The quilt will lay flatter and the seams will be in order.

You see a slightly different method at the Blue Chair blog.

Attack of the Hexies


Attack of the Hexies

Originally uploaded by Pantsfreesia

This is reposted from Pam (Hip to Be A Square)’s Flickrstream with only slight revisions/additions:

Srsly guys. They are EVERYWHERE.

Sandy at Quilting for the Rest of Us, Jaye from Art Quilt Maker, and I are loosely doing a hexagon-along quilting type thing this this summer. Sandy and I will be sharing our process and pitfalls on our podcasts, while Jaye will share on her blog.

You can find Sandy all over the web. Click on the link and it will take you to her podcast, Flickrstream- just about everywhere.

You can find Jaye at https://artquiltmaker.com/blog/ (where you are now!) (for her blog) or on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker

You can find me at www.hiptobeasquarepodcast.com for my blog & podcast.

Feel free to grab this button if you want to show some solidarity. The current size is 277×277 pixels, but it can go down to 180×180 without distortion.

 

Hexagons Follow-up

Recently, I talked about my adventures with hexagons. The adventures continue and a few people are joining in, something I didn’t know, or think, would happen. There seems to be something about hexagons that intrigues people.

Small Hexagon Test
Small Hexagon Test

The above photo shows what I did to test out my hexagon theories.

Much larger hexagon test piece
Much larger hexagon test piece

The test kind of grew.

Hexagon-not a test
Hexagon-not a test

Now I have to admit that this hexagon piece is no longer a test. This will be a real quilt at some point. At this point, I am just sewing hexagons to each other as a kind of treat for myself in between other ‘must finish’ projects. The hexagon piece really helped me get through the pillows. The colors are cheerful and fun. I am trying to keep it even on all sides, but the edges keep creeping out into long lines of hexagons. I don’t know how big it will be – perhaps as big as the amount of fabric I have?

It is good to look at the piece in a photo format, because it helps me see where I need to put the next colors.

Clearview Ruler
Clearview Ruler

The ruler I used is a Clearview Ruler from Alicia’s Attic. They are a bit hard to find, but you can find them at the Granary. I am pretty sure that if you call them they will send you one. Why do you need this one? Because you need the tip. Any 60 degree ruler will work as long as the tip is not blunted.

Pyramid Ruler
Pyramid Ruler

I started out using my beloved Pyramid ruler from Fons & Porter and my hexagons came out kind of squashed looking. I love this ruler, but it doesn’t work for this quick cutting hexagon method. You MUST have the tip to use the quick cutting method described in the video by Kaye Wood, which is on Little Bluebell’s blog.

You can, of course, use a hexagon ruler. You don’t need to make hexagons using the quick cutting method described by Kaye Wood.

Hexagon Ruler
Hexagon Ruler

I bought the Fons & Porter hexagon ruler for the Spin Wheels project. I didn’t start out using it for the hexagon project, so I am not using it for that project. If you plan to do a scrappy hexagon, this ruler (or one like it) is the way to go. The Kaye Wood quick hexagon cutting method uses strips and if you aren’t using strips, there is no reason to use that method. I have an Easy Hexagon ruler by Sharon Hultgren, but it is too big for me and  I am getting rid of it. Check Quilt Trader’s Newsletter.

I have 150 or so hexagons cut. I am sure I could figure out how big that would be, but where would be the fun in that? I just want to make sure it doesn’t get too big. 😉

Hooked on Hexagons

Dear TFQ and Little Bluebell,
This is all your fault.
Jaye
_____________________________
Now that I have that out of the way, yes, I seem to be hooked on hexagons. The test piece is much larger. If you want to cut hexagons, like I am doing, check out Little Bluebell’s cutting directions.

Much larger hexagon test piece
Much larger hexagon test piece

I am also interested in the Spin Wheel design by Fons & Porter. I was watching, what I thought was a Kaleidoscope episode and it turned out to be the Spin Wheel episode. I took notes again so I could do a test block.

Spin Wheel drawings
Spin Wheel drawings
Spin Wheel drawings 2
Spin Wheel drawings 2

I went looking for examples people have made and only found a few. I found a tutorial, which is good since I don’t have the magazine. BeckyF also did the pattern in fun colors, which I found on Flickr. There is one on Webshots that is done more in the colors the Fons & Porter ladies like. I like this progression/gallery of photos making the Spin Wheel. Also, the blue and yellow are cheerful.

This has nothing to do with the Spin Wheel, but Daniel Rouse has put up a really cool hexagon quilt on his site. I like the small and large.

Test Pieces Arranged #2
Test Pieces Arranged #2

I am also starting a scrap project using the Twirling Triangles pattern, which is, ultimately, a hexagon.

FOTY 2011 Triangles - 4/2011
FOTY 2011 Triangles – 4/2011

Oh, of course, FOTY 2011, too. Yes, I have a thing going. Obsessed is probably a better word.

Check out Sandy’s site. She is thinking about hexagons, too. And Pam over at Hip to Be a Square podcast. These two are totally my fault. How can I not want to spread the joy of something fun?

Hexagon Related Posts:
November 13, 2012- Blue Chair Blog Hexagon Sewing tutorial
October 20, 2011- Hexagons Return
June 28, 2013- Hexagon Clarification
June 9, 2011 – Hexagons tutorial
June 7, 2011 – Attack of the Hexies
Little Bluebell’s Cutting Instructions

BAMQG Meeting Report

BAMQG Logo
BAMQG Logo

This past weekend, I spent all weekend doing fun quilt stuff,. None of it, really was sewing, but all of it was inspirational.

The Bay Area Modern Guild met on Saturday for a meeting and sew day. Don’t you love the new logo? I do!

The Manteca Quilt Show was all weekend, but I went with Mom on Sunday. Look for a post about the show soon. My camera acted up, so I need to get some of the photos from mom. I’ll also put a Flickr stream.

I really like the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild people. I really didn’t know what to expect or what I was expecting, but everyone is great: cheerful, fun, easy to talk to and doing fun projects. Even though I missed sewing on my own projects at home, it was worth the effort to go. Although I feel like I have a lot of deadlines (self imposed, of course) and I am not going to meet them, I need some sewing companionship and I am not going to get it at home alone.

The meeting was really fun. We had a bit of a business meeting and then show and tell. Show and tell was great: my favorite part. I love seeing what everyone is doing. I feel like I am getting some fresh ideas. I have been sewing, but I really had nothing to show. I haven’t finished much and need to get to work.

Amanda's Placemats
Amanda's Placemats

Amanda got some fabric from Urban Burp and combine the vintage fabric with some modern fabric to create some placemats. Everyone was very enthusiastic.

Kathleen's Square in a Square
Kathleen's Square in a Square

Kathleen brought this square in a square piece. She used a pattern. Someone said that there is also a Kaffe Fassett pattern in one of his early books that looks similar. If I have time, I’ll look for it and let you know. I like the color and the different sized blocks used in one quilt. I also enjoy Kathleen’s work, because she uses similar colors to the colors I use.

I brought the Black Jane Market Tote and everyone admired it, but I was busy doing something else while Kathleen was taking photos, so no photo. You have seen it anyway!

Adrianne's Hexagons
Adrianne's Hexagons

Adrianne’s hexagons are quite large. She used a special cutting technique by Kay Wood, which is described on her (Adrianne’s) blog. I tried this and had some problems. Adrianne and I worked together at the meeting to figure out the problem. What we surmise is that you must have a 60 degree triangle with the tip. I was using my new favorite ruler, the Fons and Porter Pyramid ruler. I love that ruler, but the top is blunted and, while,  it works great for the Twirling Triangles, but creates oblongs instead of hexagons when using Adrianne’s/Kay’s technique.

Adrianne used Innocent Crush in her piece and machine pieced the hexagons in rows. I am not sure if the Innocent Crush is in a particular colorway. I saw a number of different colors of the various designs.

Julie‘s show and tell was her cool beginner sampler. It is so fresh and fun! I haven’t counted up my requirements for techniques to learn when doing a beginning class, but Julie’s piece hits most of the high points. Her really good news was that she is opening an LQS!!! I was so excited until I heard it will be in San Jose. 🙁 She will have an online store as well, though, so I can buy from there. She is planning to open after Spring Market.

I am really hoping that an LQS will open in my neighborhood. I am in an LQS wasteland! I’ll keep you posted on Julie’s store developments.

Kathleen's String Blocks
Kathleen's String Blocks

Kathleen has been busy. She is making string blocks as well as well as the Square in a Square and the Mod Mosaics. They remind me, a bit, of Pineapples. I believe this is also a swap on Flickr. Again, I love her colors. I am so glad someone else is working in brights and dots. Kathleen said that she is working on so many swaps that she hasn’t had a chance to work on her own projects!

It is interesting to see these swaps going on. I remember back in the quiltmaking dark ages when people did swaps and they went awry or people received blocks that were less than stellar in workmanship. I am glad there are people who aren’t as jaded as I am.

 February Block Challenge
February Block Challenge

Everyone brought their blocks from the 2.5″ strip swap. I was amazed at the variety of blocks. I think they will go nicely together. Adrianne and Kathleen put names into a bag to draw for all of the blocks. Chris of Quilt Bits won! I can’t wait to see what she makes.

Block Swap
Block Swap

For this month’s challenge, Adrianne and Kathleen brought Joel Dewberry’s Modern Meadow fat quarters. The idea is that  people took the FQs and will bring back blocks to the next meeting. The theme is to make blocks with squares: log cabin, 9patch, 4patch, etc. Like last month, we will either make a quilt and someone who worked on it will win or we will draw for the blocks. Almost everyone wanted to participate, which I thought was great! I guess this is me sticking my toe back into the swap waters.

My fabric: Acorn Chain in a Lake
My fabric: Acorn Chain in a Lake

The photo to the left shows the fabric I chose. The colorway is Pond. It is called Acorn Chain in a Lake, which I find very entertaining. I have been trying to think of what block to make and, especially, how far I can stretch the definition of ‘square.’ 😉 At the moment the top contender is Block # 9 from the Layer Cake Quilt Challenge. I am pretty in love with 4 patches right now, though and am trying to think of something interesting to do with a 4patch (e.g. 9patch with 4patch corners??) . Adrianne posted some fun options from Flickr. I am reserving judgment as I have not yet looked through any of my block dictionaries. I am sure I can make more than one block from the fabric I have. I just hope I find some time to sew!

I chose this fabric because it looks like dots. Also, that lighter blue looks like aqua and I think I might use some of the aqua dandelion fabric I got from FabricWorm/Birch Fabrics. It is called Dandelion by Michael Miller.

Dandelion by Michael Miller
Dandelion by Michael Miller

It looks like they would go together. We are also supposed to use Kona white if we plan to use a white in the block. I have Kona Snow, but not Kona White, so I will have to get some or not use white. I keep thinking that a bit of orange would be nice, but I’ll have to see when I lay out the block.

What is your favorite square block?

I only brought projects to cut out: Jane Market Totes from Martha Negley fabric, Multi-tasker Tote from Michael Miller’s Ironwork fabric, another quilt like Michaela’s quilt, but using fabrics from one of the Birch Bundles I got last summer. I thought I would get a lot of cutting done. It turns out that I was Miss Social Butterfly, As I mentioned, I really enjoy the women there and took advantage of the opportunity to talk quilts, guild activities and life. Who knew I wouldn’t just stand in the corner by myself?

Jane Market Totes to be
Jane Market Totes to be

The left photo shows all I got done; cut out 2 Jane Market totes. That’s it. C’est tout. I am happy I got these pieces cut as the table was nice and big, but I really wish I had gotten more done. I blame Adrianne and Kathleen for doing such a great job organizing the meeting and being such nice people. 😉

Kathleen prepared the demo. The demo was the Mod Mosaic technique by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson fame. She has a pattern for a floor pillow using the technique. She talks about the blocks here and shows different ideas for settings.

Kathleen is in a swap group and they are swapping these types of blocks so a tutorial/demo on how to make the blocks seemed a good idea. It was a huge success!

Mod Mosaic Tutorial
Mod Mosaic Tutorial

Kathleen’s blocks are gorgeous! I watched and listened as I did my own stuff. I looked at the pattern later and I get it. I think this would make good use of scraps. Just what I need: another project in process!

Peggy's Mod Mosaic
Peggy's Mod Mosaic

Peggy got on board right away. She came with fabrics for a bargello quilt and, instead, used them to make Mod Mosaic blocks!

Lisa's Mod Mosaic
Lisa's Mod Mosaic

Lisa’s blocks (right) looked like circus blocks. I loved their bright cheerfulness. Kathleen also showed some of her blocks in detail.

Kathleen's Mod Mosaic
Kathleen's Mod Mosaic

Looking at the black and red blocks makes me think of my new scrap organization system and how that system would lend itself to be picking scraps out of the drawer and sewing them into these types of blocks.

On my way home from the meeting, I wondered about my interest in the Modern Quilt Movement and it occurred to me that I have been, at least mentally or intellectually, struggling with categorizing my own style of quiltmaking.

What style of quilts do I make?

They aren’t really traditional, though have classic elements and are often block based. I don’t really dye or paint or engage much in surface design, so  they aren’t art quilts, really, either. Perhaps I am exploring modern quilts to determine whether these types of designs are that fine line between the art and classic quilts?

I really enjoyed the meeting and can’t wait to go again….even if I don’t get anything done. 😉

Want to come to a meeting or join? Take a look at the:

Thanks to Kathleen for allowing me to use her photos!

____________________________________

3/10/2011 Update: Kathleen said that Square in a Square pattern to which I referred above is called Outside the Box by Rose Mason of Wilsonville, Oregon.

Eye Spy Lurching Towards the Finish Line

I don’t know where this month has gone. Frankly, I am glad February is coming to a close, but I still wonder what happened to the days.

My next longarm day is March 2 and the Eye Spy is in line to be quilted. As a result, I needed to make a back and get the Eye Spy in shape for finishing. I put the diamonds in to fill in the diamond shaped space, so that I wouldn’t have to hack through any of the hexagons (which is what most patterns recommend). I didn’t want a zig zaggy border, so I started out by cutting off the excess from the diamonds.  I had intended just to leave the edges straight after cutting – no borders.

Eye Spy corner before border

While cutting the diamonds in half, I realized that the middle of those diamonds was one big bias edge. This brand spanking new bias in addition to 3 sides of each hexagon being on the bias was asking for trouble during the quilting process. The top  needed some stabilization, so I added some borders and corners to the odd shaped corners of the top.

Corner detail
Corner detail

The little star printed piece is the patch I had to insert into the corner to make the corner a 90 degree angle. You can see it really well above.

Finished top with borders

Above is a picture of half of the top. The quilt top is another monster and I gave up on moving furniture to fit the whole thing into one picture. I am going to have to think up a way to photograph whole quilts, especially these huge things I seem to be making.

I used a new (to me) method of measuring for borders.  I measured width-wise (across) and lengthwise (down) in three places on the quilt and cut the borders to the average size. I did have to ease, but the top is flat and I am happy about that. I found one little tuck that I will need to fix before the longarming. All in all it worked pretty well.

Scary backing fabric
Scary backing fabric

I acquired the crocodile fabric a long time ago, perhaps in the early 1990s from a woman named Joan who was getting rid of everything. It is a Joe Boxer fabric and I never saw anything like it. I also never heard of Joe Boxer selling fabric, but they totally should, because their fabrics have such a sense of humor.

At one point, I thought I would cut out the alligators (crocodiles??) and applique’ them on something, but the inspiration never struck. Also, I only have about a half yard, which limited what project I could complete using the fabric. I came across the fabric over the weekend and proposed it as a backing fabric. The Child took a liking to it, so I will use it as part of the backing. Shopping in my fabric closet can be fun!

hexagons on the back
hexagons on the back

I had some leftover hexagons, so I put some straight edges on them and will also use this piece for the back. I need to find a nice way of making this bit play nicely with the crocs.

Hexagon Edges

I am also still working on the hexagons. I am in a spot where there is a lot of sewing triangles to hexagons and then pressing. It is the part where it looks like not much progress is being made.

However, I did take some time to figure out the bottom of the quilt. I am at the point where I need to shift everything up.


Since my design wall isn’t big enough to handle a twin sized quilt, I need to shift the top off the design wall, leave a few pieces so I know how to hook the top and bottom together and then slap up the hexagons destined to be on the bottom of the quilt.

So far, it isn’t working. I haven’t gotten the right steps in my head enough to move forward so I am sewing equilateral triangles to hexagons (check!), pressing (half check!) and sewing together four hexagon units to make diamonds.

I am also still thinking about the side borders. My decision was to have an uneven border. That decision is still not settling completely well with me. I am thinking of making a big diamond template and sewing a plain red piece (or use different fabrics) onto the edges.

Puzzling Through the Eye Spy; Progress

The first order of business this week (after all the cooking and tidying, of course) was to, once and for all, decide how I was going to put the quilt together. Below, you can see I have arranged the ‘blocks’ (two equilateral triangles and a hexagon) two different ways.

On the right the blocks were oriented with the triangles on the top and the bottom of the hexagons (Option A). On the left, the blocks are arranged with one triangle in the upper right hand corner and one triangle in the lower left hand corner (Option B).

I discussed previously that I thought the edge would be a problem. I finally decided that I would go with Option A. Mostly, I decided that I could better figure out how to make the edges straight using the diamonds. With Option B, the side edges seemed like they would really be a problem and I would end up hacking them off, which I didn’t really want to do. You can see the edge that seemed to be a problem on the photo above left.


I stood staring at the above piece for a long time trying to figure out what do next and how to deal with the edges. I decided that I would only hack parts off as a last resort and I was looking at pieces for the edges to see which motifs wouldn’t be compromised if I cut them in half. That still left me with the problem of how to finish the edges so that they could be bound in some normal manner. As the picture above shows, those points on the top and bottom don’t qualify as easy to bind. As an aside, I have no problem with doing difficult bindings, but there has to be a design purpose as in Pink Spider Looking at the Stars from my early days of quiltmaking.

This is a close up of one section so you can better see the connections between the pieces.


This is one unit. After finally deciding on a plan to put the blocks together, I began to look at a unit and see what it needed to create a flat top edge. One thing I did with a hexagon was to sew one triangle to the bottom only. That creates one unit with a flat edge.


Having successfully created one flat top piece, I sewed a triangle on to the bottom of another. It wouldn’t butt up to the unit I already created, so I sewed a triangle to the side. Doing this made me realize that I needed to decide on which angle I would be sewing the units together. Once I made that decision I would have to strive to sew triangles to the top pieces to make straight lines to match that angle.

By sewing the black and beige unit to the larger diamond unit, I was able to to make the flat top longer and keep the straight line angle for sewing additional units together in place.

My challenges didn’t end there, though. I had to work out the next section. The way I started (above) obviously wouldn’t work if I wanted to avoid set in seams.

In the overall scheme, the above depiction might work, depending on the way I sewed the piece together and how the rows lined up.

I sewed another red triangle on to the opposite side. This gave me a straight line. With this succeeding, I started to realize that I only needed to sew a triangle on to the bottom and the left side of each top piece. You can see how the black and beige piece fits with the tropical drinks patch.

Above you can see the macro view of how I will sew the lines of the units together. I will sew from left to right.

I still have to make the rest of the top and that is what I am working on now. Stay tuned!

Puzzling Through the Eye Spy

This week was kind of crazy week work-wise for us. As I result, last night was the first time I got back to the Eye Spy. I spent the time with a bit of sewing, a bit of cutting and lot of puzzling. I am puzzling through the best way to put it together. As you may know, I like to jump right in and start sewing. This gets me into trouble sometimes, but I do enjoy just sewing. Puzzling through problems isn’t so bad as I can’t always visualize the whole process. Of course, if the problems become too problematic then the quilt pieces usually go back into the closet.

I started working on the sewing on that Sunday where I introduced the piece but I didn’t take the edges into account. I am very much into my self bordering technique and would like to use it here. I used it on the Interlocking Triangles quilts and some others. Essentially it means that I don’t like to hack off bits of a border block to end the quilt.


I attempted to work on this yesterday while I was sewing triangles to hexagons. My dilemma, defined, is that I really don’t want to just randomly hack off the edges to make a straight side. Nor do I want to apply a binding to an edge that needs a miter every two inches.

First, I broke the hexagons I have sewed into two groups. Left, the pieces are arranged in a way where the triangles are pointing up. In this orientation, there are no straight edges. The side edges could be okay with a slightly irregular edge made by putting the piece together in chunks using diamonds (see far left).

The top and bottom edges would be a piecing nightmare, however, because I would have to inset triangles somehow. I can imagine that this would be a top that ended up becoming a permanent member of the UFO/ WIP list.

Right, the hexagons are arranged in a way where the triangles are pointed to the left. This is the way that Simply Quilts suggested putting this top together and what the directions on the package of templates suggest. Still, hacking off the edges to make this work makes me cringe. I was considering putting fabrics that were allover prints on the edges so the mutilation wouldn’t be as brutal. I don’t know.

Options:

  1. Hack off the top & bottom or the sides, depending on layout.
  2. Choose to piece the quilt in chunks using diamonds and do inset piecing to make a straight edge along the top and bottom.
  3. Deal with very uneven edge in the binding process.
  4. Add some other shaped pieces to the edge in a uniform color (more red?) to make the edge square.

Left is a detail of the corner of the piece with the section I have sewn together and arranged with the triangles placed pointing left.

I’ll have to troll the web and look at what others have done.