How To Hexi / English Paper Pieced (EEP) Hexies Tutorial and Pattern
Free downloads and designer projects for sewing, quilting, crochet, and knitting enthusiasts.
With a ton of things to do before the end of the year I got distracted yet again! I saw the "Quilt as you go Hexagon" tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co. (here) and realized that this was my kind of hexie! Paper piecing and little hexies scare me - but this bigger, faster and easy version seemed like a whole lot of fun. You don't have to buy a template; there are lots of tutorials and videos that show you the same technique using cardboard and different sized units. I did get the one sold by MSQC on their daily deal and am loving it. I got a "Scrap Pack" of fabric from Hawthorne Supply Co. in Amy Butler fabric to expand my own Amy stash. This may not be the traditional way to do this but here is my process. Cut your larger hexie and then with a pencil trace the image of where the batting and smaller hexie will go. Position your batting on your pencil lines and stick the batting down with the help of a little glue stick. Pin the smaller hexie onto the batting. Put a little glue on the bottom edge of the larger hexie. Make the first fold and press. Then dab a little more glue onto the hexie, fold and press with the iron. Apply glue and press one side at a time. The MSQC tutorial shows Jenny using "Magic Pins" - pins that have a silicone tip that can be ironed and not melt. I don't have those and figured applique glue would work, which it does just fine. Lastly, straight stitch around the unit and that's it. Will experiment in the final joining of all the hexies with a thicker #28 weight Aurifil thread using a zig zag so that stitching shows up even more. This is a long term project but it's easy to pick up for a quick sewing fix when one gets tired of bigger projects and you 'just want to sew something!' So, for good instructions and lots of ideas of what to make with these hexies - check out the MSQC video here. Materials: Quilt As You Go Hexagon Template from Missouri Star Quilt Co. Amy Butler everything :) Hawthorne Supply Co. Aurifil Thread #50 weight (#2024-white) Warm & White batting scraps Roxanne Glue Baste Glue & Collins Fabric Glue Stick December 2019
I have to share with you my new crafting project LOVE, hexies. I figured while I was in the car I would show you how to sew hexies on-the-go.
Hi friends, I am back today to share another Modern Handcraft Palette Picks Bundle creation with you - this time it's all about Modern Hexies! This bundle should be hitting stores this December, so any day now! This Hexie Pillow features hexies in all of the colors of Kona and Essex in my bundle along with a couple of the Essex colors for the backing and binding, isn't that stripe fun? The Hexie Pillow pattern is a great way to use any left over small pieces or scraps from another project - this is exactly what I did to create this one. Materials needed: Modern Handcraft Hexie Pillow PDF or Printed Pattern. This pillow was created using scraps from a previous quilt project and yardage for the backing and added binding. You can also create this pillow using a mini charm pack (charms that have 42 - 2.5
How to Make Hexie Flowers - Everything you need to know - Video Tutorial - Southern Charm Quilts - Techniques + Tutorials
It’s been awhile before I had any sort of update on the status of my rainbow quilt. It’s a very, very slow moving project and I’m working on it in a kind of backwards way. I used …
Welcome to my stop on the Salt n Sand blog hop, hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. Carol always comes up with such fun ideas for blog hops. When I saw the theme was salt n sand, I immediately wanted to make something in beautiful blues and golden beachy colours. I ended up creating this 'Coastal Vibes' English paper pieced hexagon pillow, which I just love, love, love. I started with dark blues in the top left corner and worked my way towards the lower right corner by adding lighter blues/turquoise hexies finishing with lighter creams and golds to represent the sky/surf/sand. Once I'd sewn all of the hexagons together, I gave it a good press and then removed all of the papers. Another good press and then I placed it over a piece of batting and quilted straight lines diagonally across the piece. After squaring the quilted piece, I used some favourite fabric to complete the envelope style back. The backing fabric is an old print by Sarah Watts for Cotton & Steel in a range called "From Porto with Love". Metallic gold sardines - how can you go wrong with those?!? If you haven't had a chance to yet, go and visit these blogs to see what everyone has been creating for the Salt & Sand Blog Hop. March 26 Samelia's Mum (you are here) Just Let Me Quilt Websterquilt Quilting Gail Quilt Fabrication Little Penguin Quilts Just Sew Quilter Inflorescence Get the full list of blogs who participated through the week over at Just Let Me Quilt.
Hi friends, I am back today to share another Modern Handcraft Palette Picks Bundle creation with you - this time it's all about Modern Hexies! This bundle should be hitting stores this December, so any day now! This Hexie Pillow features hexies in all of the colors of Kona and Essex in my bundle along with a couple of the Essex colors for the backing and binding, isn't that stripe fun? The Hexie Pillow pattern is a great way to use any left over small pieces or scraps from another project - this is exactly what I did to create this one. Materials needed: Modern Handcraft Hexie Pillow PDF or Printed Pattern. This pillow was created using scraps from a previous quilt project and yardage for the backing and added binding. You can also create this pillow using a mini charm pack (charms that have 42 - 2.5
Explore Just Jude Designs' 5868 photos on Flickr!
Hello, and a huge welcome to Week 1 of the 2024 Vibrant Vintage Crochet-A-Long (VVCAL)! I’m so glad you’re here! I love spending this time with the VVCAL community! We are going to have…
It's nice to have a small project to do while on vacation, or even just sitting outside enjoying the weather. This little hexie pincushion is a fun little project. I first saw it on facebook and fell in love with it. This pattern is part of the Sew Over The Rainbow quilt along hosted by Victoriana Quilt Designs. You can check it out on her Facebook Page. The FREE pattern can be found HERE.... Benita, Thank you for the great pattern, it's adorable when finished and you can never have too many pincushions. It would also make a cute little gift for one of your quilting buddies. So here is my spin on her awesome pattern.... I printed up the pattern and traced out the hexie just as it printed up. You could make this cute little project with just about any size hexie. Using the hexie template I cut out several foundation papers out of a paper bag. It's a great way to recycle an old paper bag! Cut fabric a 1/4" or so bigger than the hexie shape.... Wrap your fabric around and pin using sequin pins. (They are tiny) My hexies are all ready to piece together. I am using three different fabrics from the 'Gallery in Red' fabric line from Marcus Brothers. Sewing using tiny little stitches.... right sides together. Here's the layout to form the pincushion. Here I am sewing the 'sides' of the pincushion... remember to remove pins and hexie papers when all sides are 'sewn'. Continue to sew until you have all the sides sewn up, except for one. Remove the last of the pins and paper and then turn right side out. Then use stuffing or leftover batting and stuff. Finish sewing the last seam. Remember to use tiny little blind stitches. I think it's adorable with an added button! I hope you enjoy this cute little project. Remember this cute little hexie project from last year? My tutorial for this project can be found HERE. Happy Quilting!
Make hexies in minutes with this easy no-sew method using Smooth™ Fusible Fleece. Hexies are an easy way spice up all sorts of sewing projects.
Today the folks over at Martingale and Company sent me a copy of “English Paper Piecing: Fresh new Quilts from Bloom Creek” by Vicki Bellino to review. There are lots of fun projects i…
Grab your fabric scraps because these DIY hexagon projects are so inspiring and easy to make. No sewing machine required on some.
Hi friends! A few days ago, I published a post about sewing scrappy hexagons. To supplement that tutorial, I provided a few sizes of templates for you to easily print off. Click on the hexagon imag…
After finishing my last hand sewing project I was keen to get cracking on another one :) So, I had an idea that I'd like some sort of star. A bit of fiddling around, on TouchDraw on the iPad, later I had this plan. With my new found love of gluebasting it wasn't long before I had it ready to sew together in fabric form. I sew all the thin triangle pieces to the central hexie then fill in with the larger grey triangles. They are quick, fun and addictive :) I've been showing my progress on Instagram and quite a few people had asked where I got the pattern from so I thought I'd share the templates here for anyone that might fancy a go at there own :) If you do have a go I'd love to see! #hexiestars You'll find the EPP template pdf here Catch you soon x
I don't know why, but it always seems that "blog time" comes around the corner so fast each month that it takes me by surprise. I sweat over what to put in my blog... and this month I started sweating early because most of what I've been working on is not "photo ready." I've been doing lots of paperwork and pattern-writing... nothing that I can take a picture of! This month, I've decided to share a bunch of hexagon quilts with you . It seems that hexagons started showing up in only the last year or two. I went back and looked at all my Houston quilt show pictures -- there were lots of hexagons last year, only a couple the year before, and I only found one picture from 2011. Where did all these hexagons come from? Well... it's not as if they didn't exist until a year or two ago. Take a look... The quilt below was part of the French Legendary Quilts exhibit at the International Quilters Association (IQA) show in Houston last year. These quilts are totally hand-made (no machine work at all!) and are replicas of antique quilts. This quilt, Mosaic quilt, was made by Isabelle Etienne-Bugnot of Soisy-sur-Seine, France. It is based on a circa 1840 quilt in the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C. (note: please excuse the plastic band in front of the quilt at the bottom of the picture... sometimes I can't avoid those in my picture-taking...). I love the quilt above with its diamonds made of hexagons... though I must admit that hexagons are NOT my unit of choice. In fact, there were SO many hexagons in the quilt show and in the vendors' booths last year that everytime I saw one, I started humming Taylor Swift's "I.....i....iii....i... will never, ever, ever.... (and I changed the lyrics).... make a hexagon"! Really - hexagons were everywhere I looked!!! Here's another one at the show last year: Honeycomb (Rayon de miel) by Liliane Verger of Royan, France. Liliane's quilt was inspired by an English quilt made in the 1840s. This quilt offers hexagon diamonds and hexagon stars. The outer edge of the quilt offers a unique way of handling those persnickety hexagons, too. Here's a closeup of Liliane's blocks. She used the English paper piecing method - is there any other way? In this method, fabric is stitched around a hexagonal template, then the hexagons are sewn together and the template paper is removed. Hexagonal Star, below, was made by Renee Elie of Royan, France. Here are the stars... and no hexagon diamonds. Instead, Renee has hexagon flowers -- a common use for hexagons. This quilt was inspired by an 1830 quilt. With almost 10,000 three-quarter inch hexagons, I can only imagine how long it took to complete this quilt. That's probably another reason hexagons hold little appeal to me. I'm still open to the idea... but not excited at this point. What a masterpiece of work, though! Here are some close-ups of the Hexagonal Star quilt. And another close-up. Can you imagine making all of those hexagons... and fussy-cutting so many units? It is another reason I'm not tempted. Yet. I have to admit they are pretty... and after all... ...by now you know that I do love intricacy! Here's another hexagon quilt - with flowers and diamonds done as a strippy quilt! This one, Diamonds with Flowers (Losanges de fleurs) was made by Dominique Husson of Arvert, France. It was inspired by an 1840 American quilt. The hexagons are each one inch in size. But wait... there's more! Check out the fussy cutting in these flowers and diamonds. It is simply amazing. Dominique's choice of fabrics is simply wonderful. It makes me think of fabric in an entirely different way. You might not realize it, but "baby blocks" are actually a form of hexagon - made of three diamonds. Cubes by Catherine Guy of Saint-heand, France, was based on a quilt made between 1855 and 1875. With over 3,000 pieces, the quilt was jaw-dropping in its perfection. The pattern for this quilt was published in American and British women's magazines circal 1850-1860. The fabric used in the above quilt also made me think of fabric in a different way. I think we all might be a bit too timid in our fabric choices: can you see the red and white checked fabric that is used in one of the baby block rows? Who would have imagined that it would melt right into the other fabrics? Below is another quilt using hexagons as baby blocks. At first, it looks like stars, but if you disect the larger hexagon shapes (the stars), you wil notice that there are three baby block hexagons in each larger hexagon. Stars or Baby Blocks was made by Marie-Paule Nedelec and Anne Helene Nedelec, from Chateaubriant, France. It was inspired by a circa 1880 quilt from Kentucky. You can check out the "stars" or baby blocks in this close-up. Notice the precision required to make all these blocks fit together so nicely. Alice Springs, below, uses combinations of hexagons with piecing and applique. Annick Tauzin of Floirac, France based her quilt on a "Persian applique," circa 1840, from Australia. Persian applique is a more arcane term for what most of us call broderie perse. Here are some close-ups of Annick's quilt. The hand-quilting is incredible in this quilt. Note, in the picture below, that there are elongated hexagons in the narrow border to the right of the flowers. The quilt below was made by Keiko Hasegawa of Ikoma, Nara, Japan. She made a series of hexagon quilts, then had a baby named Canon... and named this quilt Canon because this quilt is for her. Keiko listened to music and canons, and sang along as she made this quilt. Here are some close-ups of this amazing quilt. Notice the hexagon border in this quilt. It's a nice touch and makes for a certain unity across the face of the qiult. And, as in many hexagone quilts, there was ample fussy-cutting of pieces. Not all hexagon quilts are based on antique quilts or use reproduction fabric. Here's a bright, cheery quilt by Lilija Kostenko fo Gouda, The Netherlands. Lilija says this quilt reminded her of a summer day. You might notice that there are hexagons inside of hexagons in this quilt -- AND there are elongated hexagons. I told you there were hexagons everywhere last year! Look at those wild fabrics, too. Celtic Summer Celebration by Jaynette Huff of Conway, Arkansas, is a wonderful exercise in detail. With original basket designs, this quilt has over 690 quarter-inch hexagons (yes, quarter inch!), over 2,580 beads, buttons and charms, and includes "hidden treasures" such as a pig, frog, ladybug, armadillo, and squirrel. What fun! Looking at the above picture, you might not have found the hexagons. Look at the center of this photo and you can see a basket of flowers. Here's a closer look... notice the buttons and the beads in this picture. And in this picture, you can easily see more hexagon flowers -- but also, you can see the 1/8th inch bias tubes that Jaynette made for this quilt. Wow! Jaynette's quilt is an original design using Celtic applique designs modified from Everything Celtic by Mary Butler Shannon. Hiromi Yokota of Yokohama City, Kanagawa, Japan, made Flower of 13,585 Pieces and Peace. Hiromi says we cannot make peace or a quilt in a few days - so she wanted to make a flower quilt of hexagones using "1 centimeter paper liner method and a feeling of peace". It is hand made and hand-quilted. Here are two close-ups. What an amazing amount of work. Notice the outer edge of the quilt: Hiromi went to great pains to maintain the hexagon shapes when she backed and quilted her quilt with a knife-edge where no binding is visible from the top of the quilt. Here are diamonds and flowers and a star - all in the same quilt - and all within a large, hexagonal shape. Credit for this quitl, Flowers from Grandmother's Secret Garden, goes to Diana Perry of Hot Springs, Arkansas. With one-quarter inch hexagons, Diana sewed approximately 2,000 hexagons to make this quilt. The quilb below is an antique quilt. I try really hard to provide attribution for each quilt I post on my blog, but I have lost the source information for this picture. I do remember that it was in a special exhibit at the Houston quilt show. It is an amazing piece of work -- and very folksy! Check out all of the hexagons just appliqued at random, as well as in flowers. Isn't it all fun? Here's a close-up of the quilt. Notice the charming baskets, the heart motifs, the butterfly... I bet the maker smiled her way through all of her stitching. These baskets just tickled my fancy with their wild abandon and crazy use of fabrics. The quilt below was also in a special antique quilt exhibit. The quiltmaker is unknown, but it was made entirely of silk circa 1860. Measuring 74 by 81 inches, this Grandmother's Flower Garden variation is unique. It did not hang because of its delicate condition -- it laid on a slanted pallet to protect it from the stress of any stretching that hanging might cause. Here's a close-up. It reminds me of the Italian milleifiori ("thousand flowers") glass. And if you had seen this quilt, you would have noticed the gorgeous quilting in the border. Seven Sisters is a classic pattern of stars - here was a quilt I saw in a class on dating fabrics. Notice the hexagons! It wasn't too hard to date the fabric, with the "Sail On, O Union" fabric in one of the hexagons. While scouring the antique booths at the Houston quilt show, I found a most amazing quilt in John Saul's antique booth. He has some incredible quilts, and this one certainly took the prize for amazing! Made of one-inch silk hexagons, it was an unbelievable piece of work. Here's a close-up. Almost none of the silk had shattered, which made it all the more beautiful. Here's another qult made of hexagons -- it looks quite different from some of the others seen here. Made by Isako Wada of Kurokawa-Gun, Miyagi-Ken, Japan, Bolero 21609 was designed when Isako had a dream about making a hexagon quilt. It is made of hexagon units - but notice that there are also many large and small hexagon motifs across the face of the quilt. Isako named her quilt because she listened to Ravel's "Bolero" while she stitched - and my guess is that it has 21,609 pieces in it. Here's another contemporary hexagon quilt. Made by Cheryl See of Ashburn, Virginia, Star Struck has 12,256 hexagon units forming a rainbow-colored star which repeats in the background. Cheryl notes that the otuer star is bordered by appliqued circles with complimentary-colored backgrounds that transition through the colors of the rainbow. Appliqued flowers and Grandmother's flowers were placed throughout the quilt, forming secondary patterns and random surprises. Okay - so after seeing all these hexagons, was I tempted? Even the least little bit? Well... not so much. Here's the closest I've gotten: snowball blocks. Of course, these are not hexagons; they're octagons! But that's as close as I can get. My friend Becky must have felt sorry for me, though. After she heard me sing Taylor Swift's "I..I...I... will never, ever, ever..." so many times, she thought that I really needed a hexagon quilt. She's an angel... and she did it, did it, did it for me.... So what have I been working on over the past month? Like I said earlier, it's been computer work and home work and family matters. I did finish binding my newest quilt, Twirly Balls and Pinwheels, and even put a sleeve on it. When I finished it, it had some "waves" in it. Those are sometimes to be expected when one deals with so many small pieces, such heavy quilting, and a wool batting. I hesitated in trying to figure out how to make the quilt flat... and finally bit the bullet and blocked it. It bled, despite the fact that I had pre-washed all my fabrics and the batting... and used no chemicals or pens that would cause bleeding. Go figure. I have a hunch it has to do with the pH level in water and will test that later with tap water, bottled water, and filtered water. I'll keep you posted! Quakertown Quilts (www.quakertownquilts.com) will be offering the pattern in the next couple of weeks -- I finished writing it this week and will get it over to them next week. Writing the pattern took extra long, not because the quilt is hard to make, but because I invested a LOT of time into photos so that everyone who makes the quilt will have a good time making it and avoid problems. It is a wonderful quilt to make! Quakertown, at some point (and maybe your own local quilt shop) will be kitting it as a 6-month block-of-the-month quilt. It's not your classic block-of-the-month, but having the fabric delivered to you over a period of time makes it a lot easier to make; there are a lot of different fabrics in this quilt. In my last blog, I mentioned that I was going to start doing lectures and workshops and traveling a bit. Whoa! Stop the presses! Within two weeks, my calendar fell into overload! I'm totally booked for 2013 and for most of 2014. I'ved accepted a couple of 2015 engagements, but I'm reluctant to accept many more. So... hang in there and send me an email if you're interested, but I'm kind of booked solid right now. Having said that, I've made a new quick-and-easy "Twirly Ball" quilt that I'm going to use in workshops. It was so much fun and so easy to make this quilt! Hopefully, someday I can come to your guild and teach a workshop! Until we meet - and until next month -- happy quilting to everyone! Sue (c)2013 Susan H. Garman
I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite thing to make: the giant hexie flower lap quilt! (Also affectionately known as the big-ass hexie quilt.)
Have you tried EPP yet? That’s short for English paper piecing. It’s a technique that’s as old as the hills but has been making a HUGE comeback. Hexagons are perhaps the best-known shape used in EPP, and author Jaynette Huff makes the most of hexagon quilts in the re-release of Quilts from Grandmother’s Garden. Originally …
1. Hexie Needle Keep, 2. Hexie Needle Keep, 3. Hexie Needle Keep Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Hello, and a huge welcome to Week 1 of the 2024 Vibrant Vintage Crochet-A-Long (VVCAL)! I’m so glad you’re here! I love spending this time with the VVCAL community! We are going to have…
Monarch Grove Triangle Hexies quilt by Emily of Quilty Love. This modern hexie quilt is sewn up using Fableism Monarch Grove Wovens.
I showed you the filler pieces that I am making for the red border of my hexagon quilt Birds in the Loft. Angie asked if I had any tips for turning the seams over and stitching because she thought they might be tricky. They aren't! I thought I would share with you how I baste these pieces step, by step. You will find the piecing instructions here. I shortened the stitch length on my machine and sewed the pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance. I pressed the stitches to embed them in the fabric before I pressed the red fabric away from the yellow. This helps reduce bulk. The excess fabric was trimmed leaving a generous seam allowance. I find that 3/8" works well but you can leave it even larger. A seam allowance of 1/4" or less is more challenging so go big. If it is too big you can always trim it down! I like to start at the left hand corner of the made fabric. The first step is to fold over the seam 1 and then fold over seam 2. I take two stitches to hold the fold. I fold over seam 3 being sure to tuck it under seam 2. I take one stitch to hold the fold. I fold over seam 4 again tucking it under the previous seam. If you sweep the seam allowance up under seam three you will feel that it lays nice and flat. Take a stitch to hold the fold. Fold over seam five again tucking it under the previous seam and take one stitch to hold the fold. Fold over seam 6 tucking it under the previous seam. Take a stitch to hold the fold and the take three stitches to hold the last fold which is part of seam 6. There's no need to knot the thread; three stitches will hold just fine! Here you can see the basted made fabric hexagon from the back and the front. I started sewing at the green circle and stopped at the red. Notice that there is no basting thread between these two points. The stitched in the corners that hold the folds are sufficient. When I am ready to remove the paper I just run my fingernail on the right side and push up gently so that the paper pops up. I then can slide it out through that little spot where there is no basting thread! I've also updated my design sheet for Birds in the Loft so that you can see where I am going with my border design. I'm now creating more "made fabric" hexagons for the rest of the border. They are slightly different from those shown above in that the yellow stripe cuts the hexagon in half. The process is the same: I sew a red to either side of a yellow strip using a 1/4" seam allowance. I press the seam to embed the stitches and then press the red away from the yellow. I use my Elmers Washable Glue Stick to adhere the paper to the made fabric, trim the corners and then baste the hexagon. I'm using all of the red scraps so some of the hexagons will be made with two reds. It will all work in the end! For now I've got lots of sewing and basting to do. Once the hexagons are ready I will sew them into units that I will share will you when I reach that point! Until I post again, happy sewing! Karen H
Små, nyttige ting til sysakene våre. Kombinert håndsøm og maskinsøm. Delene er dekorert med engelsk papirsøm (1/2" hexagon) og yo-yo'er. (Tingene kan også lages uten denne pynten). Dette kurset kan også brukes som ''dagkurs'' på færre timer, der en bare lager en av tingene. Det vesle skrinet / boksen kan også brukes som reint håndsømkurs.
I first discovered this type of pincushion over at Lily's Quilts . Yet, I couldn't find a tutorial for it, so I figured I'd...
This simple English paper pieced hexie tutorial will have you growing your fabric hexagon collection in no time.
Woven Hexie Ornament
When I made "Miracles Happen" a couple of weeks ago, the fabric I used for the bird applique was from a 5 inch "Petit Fleur" charm square and quite honestly I fell in love with it. But alas, I only had one 5 inch square in that print so I wanted to use every little piece wisely and to its best and most beautiful advantage. Looks lovely as the wing and breast doesn't it... Yesterday Mr E began a week's holiday from work so we can both spend time together bonding with little Merri. After lots of fun and play in the morning both Mr E and our new puppy settled in for a long afternoon nap, so I thought I'd sketch an idea for using another corner of that little charm square remnant. And this is what I came up with... I'm sharing this little design as a free gift today because it's a quick project and is great for practicing embroidery on single paper pieced hexies. It's important that you make your hexie first and blind stitch it onto the fabric you'll be using to embroider on. Here's a quick tutorial I shared recently for making a single hexie (during the Hussif Tutorial)... Trace a line a little less than 1/4" outside the edge of the hexie shape. Cut away your fabric along that line. Fold the fabric over the paper hexie one section at a time and tack the fabric and paper together with thread. Press gently around the edges with a warm dry iron to form a permanent crease. Wait until the fabric is cold then remove the stitches and the paper from the hexie and give it one more firm press with your iron around all sides. NOTE: If you do not have a one inch hexie paper simply trace the hexie shape from the design on your pattern sheet onto a piece of paper. Cut it out on the traced lines and use it as I've shown above. Tracing the design... Place the hexie embellished fabric over the pattern sheet and trace the stitchery design without the flower petals. Just add tiny dots slightly away from the centre circle... Don't forget to trace one daisy onto your hexie... Backstitch the words, and sew cross-stitches where indicated, using two strands of thread. Satin stitch the centre of the daisies with two strands of thread. Sew lazy daisy petals using three strands of thread. The larger the petals the more threads I like to use as they seem to 'fill' out the shape and create impact when you're stitching with threads similar in colour to your background fabric. Just inside the edge of your hexie sew a line of running stitch with two strands of thread... And that's "The Hexie Flower Show"! I've no idea how you'll display your completed stitchery but mine became the cover of a needle-book (I have a serious addiction to needle-books this year)... And can you see that I still have about a third of my original 5 inch charm square left? Never under-estimate the value of a pretty charm square and how many projects it can bring to life! Want to see inside my new needle-book? I chose a 10 inch square of Lecien's new Quilters Basics Smoothie Color Set for the inside fabric, then added folded charm squares from Petit Fleur as the pockets. I hid the raw inside edges of the pockets with cotton lace... ...and added a scrap of cotton quilt wadding for my needles and pins. The binding across the top and bottom is the leftover piece of layer cake (origami square) that I'd used for the inside, and as I had no more left for the sides I used cotton lace instead. Using small pieces of fabric to create a new project is a lot of fun but I think we tend to forget that sometimes and look instead at our larger pieces like yardage or fat quarters for inspiration. I don't use large quantities of fabric in my designs unless it's a quilt, and I only make a handful of them each year, so I've come to love charm square packs, sushi rolls and origami squares (or maybe you know them by other names such as layer cakes and jelly rolls) because I can buy the full fabric range from any designer I like in 'small pieces' and use them to miniature advantage. Gosh, it's fun! What about you? Do you normally purchase small cuts, fat quarters or yardage? My free "The Hexie Flower Show" pattern can be downloaded HERE in my shop. Enjoy!
The easiest way to follow your favorite blogs
At this year's annual International Quilting Association's show, there was a most extraordinary exhibit. The French Guild France Patchwork exhibited thirty quilts from their last bi-annual contest, "Quilts de Legende" or Legendary Quilts. The quilts are all reproductions of antique quilts from Europe, Australia, and the United States. The rules for entry state that every quilt must be an exact reproduction of an antique quilt, using fabric as true to the original as possible, and they must be made entirely by hand: no machine piecing, no machine quilting, no machine assembly, no machine binding. Every stitch in the quilt must be done by hand. Knowing this makes the quilts, indeed, legendary -- and makes me respect, even more than I do now, all of the quilters of yesteryear that have preceded us. At this exhibit, I had the pleasure of meeting the President of the French Guild of France Patchwork, Catherine Bonte, pictured below. She was absolutely delightful and so proud and happy to share the work of her compatriots. Catherine is standing in front of one of the most remarkable quilts in the exhibit. Bath, pictured below, was made by Louise-Marie Stipon of Le Conquet, France. It is a most amazing piece of work - particularly since it was entirely hand made. Of note is the fact that the number of half-square triangles in the blocks vary. The block below has a five-by-five matrix of half-square triangles. Sometimes the colors stay the same across the diagonal rows... And sometimes they "mostly" stay in the same color family. The block below is a seven-by-seven matrix of half-square triangles. The block below is an eleven-by-eleven matrix of half-square triangles. Remember... these blocks are all the same size! Putting these blocks together is not a simple combination of 1 inch, 1-1/4 inch, 1-1/2 inch, etc. half-square triangles. The ability of these quilters to make this quilt boggles my mind since the blocks have no common denominator to size the half-square triangles in them! Here's a block that is a six-by-six matrix of half-square triangles. Most of you have seen an antique quilt where the maker "pieced" a half-square triangle or a square because they were putting scraps to good use. The maker of this quilt faithfully reproduced the scrappy piecing that existed in the original quilt; check out the block below and you will see several half-square triangles that were pieced as they were in the original quilt. Yes, I have to say... these are legendary reproductions of quilts! And this will give you an idea of the size of the center block in the quilt -- the one that is a fifteen-by-fifteen matrix of half-square triangles, surrounded by a border of six more rows of these miniature half-square triangles. I cannot imagine me ever doing such work -- especially by hand -- and having it be nearly as exquisite -- or accurate; and yet every one of the quilts in this exhibit hung perfectly straight and flat with no ruffles or distortion. Here is a close-up of the quilting in the sashing strips: triple cross-hatching! Here is another quilt from the exhibit, Alabama, by Marie-Francoise Gregoire from Vaux-sur-Mer in France. It was inspired by a medallion quilt from Alabama, circa 1800-1825. Here is a close-up of the outer border. As you look at it, remember: these quilts are pieced and quilted entirely by hand -- without paper foundations or machines! Below is Alice Springs, made by Annick Tauzin of Floirac, France. Annick based her quilt on a "Persian applique," circa 1840, from Australia. Bear in mind that "persian applique" is a term that we generally hear in French, not English: broderie perse. This quilt was one of the first that I saw this year that had hexagons in it -- after seeing this quilt, I began seeing hexagons EVERYWHERE! In a future blog, I'll show all the surprising places that hexagons showed up. Here is a close-up of the center of Alice Springs. Note the fine quilting - and the small broderie perse flowers. The quilting in this quilt was amazing -- I like studying the hand quilting in old quilts because I learn a lot from it. The quilters of yesteryear didn't always care how long it took to finish something, so they had no problem going the extra mile. They did lots of triple cross-hatch stitching. And in this quilt, you can see (below) where the quilter did a triple echo around the broderie perse flowers -- and then added a quilted flower in the open area. I like both of those ideas and may do some of that in my own quilting in the future. Here is a close-up of the border; I like the idea of adding unique shapes to each border. And, again, look at the quilting in this border. It makes me want to work harder on my own hand quilting efforts. This quilt, called Cubes (Baby Blocks in English), was made by Catherine Guy who lives in Saint-Heand, France. It was based on a quilt made between 1855 and 1875 and has more than 3,000 pieces in it. The pattern for this quilt was published in American and British women's magazines circa 1850-1860. Check out this close-up of some of those blocks. Over and over again, as my friends and I examined all the old quilts at the Houston show, we kept hearing ourselves say, "we are far too timid in our fabric selections!" Would you ever have put a gingham check into this quilt if you were making it? I know I wouldn't have... but perhaps I am just too, too timid, and need to step up my game a bit. Botanical Page (Page Botanique in French) was made by Louise-Marie Stipon, who hails from Le Conquet, France. Her quilt was based on a quilt dated 1885 that was made in Illinois. Look at the number and type of leaves in the design. You'll have to ignore that bothersome pole in front of the quilt; I simple couldn't photograph around it. Here is a close-up of the berries and leaves (below). But what I really want you to look at is the extraordinary quilting in this quilt. The background is filled with quilting that covers every 1/8th inch of open area. The next quilt, Clarissa, is one that many of us have seen in books. Made by Aline Jouline of Chaillevette, France, Clarissa is based on the Windmill Blades block in the spirit of Clarissa White Alford's quilt (circa 1885-1890). The original quilt resides at the Shelburne Museum in the U.S. I had not taken the opportunity to look at photos of the quilt, and notice the detail in the blocks. I had thought they were all like -- and they are, to a certain extent, but the value of the quarter-square triangles and the air-castle blocks within each block varies a bit. The block below has four air-castle blocks in the center. This block has matching quarter-square triangles in the two outer rows and four half-square triangles of two different fabrics in the center. This block has matching quarter-square triangles in the outer row, but the inner ones vary quite a bit. The visual variety makes your eye dance across the surface of this block. This block is quite different from the others -- the outer two rows are quarter-square triangles, but their values give the block an interesting look. The center four squares are each half-square triangles, making a pinwheel. It's neat to see such differences amongst all of the blocks. Diamonds with Flowers (Losanges de fleurs) was made by Dominique Husson from Arvert, France. It was inspired by an American quilt (circa 1840). The flowers each are centered in one-inch hexagons. Yes -- there are many more hexagons in this exhibit! In this close-up, you can see the care taken to fussy-cut fabrics for these blocks -- I love the rosebuds in this block, surrounded by leaves. Here's a close-up of another block. This whole notion of fussy-cutting fabric in hexagons is starting to grow on me, though, as I walked the aisles of the show, I swore I'd never take on making a hexagon. Ever, ever, ever (thank you, Taylor Swift!). The border fabric used in this quilt is wonderful; its coloration was perfect for the quilt. Double Feathered Star (Double etoile plumetree) was made by Gabrielle Paquin of Orleans, France. This quilt is the artist's own interpretation of the classic Feathered Star block. And wow - pieced by hand! Framed Medallion was made by Anne-Marie Huguen of Le Conquet, France. It is a mariner's compass block surrounded by many triangles, and was inspired by Mary Tayloe Lloyd's quilt (circa 1835-1850) in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum in Washington, D.C. Imagine making this by hand... and then imagine making it 160 years ago without all of our modern tools, gizmos, and gadgets at hand! The quilt below was called Replica to Replica. Ursula, Doris, and I! (or De replique en replique. Ursula, Doris et Moi!). It was made by Simone Patouillard of Sorbiers, France. The quilt was inspired by an antique quilt given to a woman named Ursula by her family when she moved to Texas in 1873. A woman named Doris came upon the old quilt but because of its poor condition, it was impossible to attempt any restoration; Doris loved it enough to make a copy of the quilt in 1986 - and then Simone made a copy of the copy in 2011. Isn't it interesting to see how quilts give birth to children? (and yes, Becky, I've had "the talk" with my fabric... so that it will quit reproducing when I'm not looking!). This quilt has a very dynamic look to it; I wish everyone could see it in person. More hexagons! This quilt is named "Hexagonal Star" and was made by Renee Elie of Royan, France. It was inspired by an antique quilt dated 1830. It has 9,988 three-quarter inch hexagons, each made using the English paper method. Each hexagon has a flower centered in it. Think of the focus required to make sure that every single one of those 9,988 hexagons has a flower in it. Could you do it? Would you? It sure is beautiful -- once my friends and I started looking at these quilts, we could not stop. I've never seen an exhibit that I went back to look at... four or five times. And there were MORE hexagons! This quilt was named Honeycomb (Rayon de miel) by its maker, Liliane Verger of Royan, France. It was inspired by an English quilt; quilts such as these were much appreciated in England in the Victorian age (circa 1840). The hexagons were all made using the English paper method. Here's a close-up of Honeycomb. Francoise Bertrand of Meschers, France, submitted The Ladies of the Ocean (Les dames de l'ocean) to the Legendary Quilts exhibition. This is a group quilt, inspired by a quilt made in 1840. Can you imagine making all these Lady of the Lake blocks (as it is more commonly known in the U.S.) by hand? And then... can you imagine daring to take on this quilt as a group? Whoa - I'd have to have some very trusted hand piecers before I'd even think about it! Here's a close-up. Note that the quilting is not in the ditch, as I might have done it. Rather, it is simple cross-hatching that cuts through the center of each half-square triangle. There were far more pieced quilts than appliqued quilts in this exhibition, but here is a nice applique quilt called May Bouquet (Bouquet de mai) by Anne-Marie Schmitt of Denas, France. This quilt was inspired by an 18th century English quilt made of silk. Here's a close-up -- the tiny berries in some of the cornucopias are wonderful! Note the nice quilting in this quilt. The next quilt was a dramatic contrast of browns, tans, golds, and reds. Louise-Marie Stipon of Le Conquet, France, named it "Medallion with Double Triangle Squares (Medaillon de triangles et carres). The quilt was inspired by an 1870s quilt from Massachusetts that now resides in the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Again, please ignore the tape shown across the front of the quilts - it prevents viewers from walking too close to the quilts - and I can't get it out of my photographs, doggone it! Part of what made this quilt so dramatic is that its striking geometry was also carried into the quilting designs used. Those cross-hatching lines in the border triangles are quilted; this was not a plaid fabric. And the center block of the quilt was softened with lovely quilted shapes. Note the double quilt lines in each little square, as well as along the border strips. Oh my, what precision there is in this quilt! The Mohican Track (La piste du Mohican) was made by Marie-Hosephe Veteau from Steinsoultz, France. She says her work was based on the Drunkard Path pattern from the beginning of the 19th century. Take a close look at the quilting in her quilt... and don't forget that she pieced this entirely by hand. Bravo to expert workmanship! Mosaic Quilt was made by Isabelle Etienne-Bugnot of Soisy-sur-Seine, France. Isabelle was inspired by a quilt made circa 1840 that she saw in the DAR Museum. The piecing was done using the English piecing method. Navy Geometry (Geometrie marine) by Cecile Lacoste of Gorges, France, uses the mariners' compass design (circal1855-1875). The workmanship in this quilt was phenomenal. Here's a close-up of the block (note the lovely quilting)... And here's a clsoe-up of the close-up. Again... this was all made by hand. Observatory Street (1692 rue de l'Observatoire) was made by France Aubert from La Queue-lez-Yvelines, France. This quilt was inspired by a Lone Star quilt from Mississippi, circa 1875-1885. It has 1,692 pieces. It's simply stunning - and not to belabor the point, it was entirely hand-pieced. No matter how many times I say that, it's hard to recognize it could be done, and done so perfectly, since I couldn't even begin to do something like this by hand. This next quilt was delightful. Called The Life of Phoebe Cook (La vie de Phoebe Cook), Jocelyne Picot of La Roche-sur-Yon, France, replicated some cute scenes. The quilt shows the life in a small town in Ohio in 1872. These three close-ups give you a much better idea of how cute this quilt was the ladies' skirts are often ruffled in three dimensional applique - and everyone's hair was hand-embroidered in place: The picture below shows you Poison by Agnes Carretier of Gujan-Mestras, France. Her quilt was inspired by a circa 1880 quilt bought in an antique shop. Forty diamonds were pieced together and framed with double pink and poison green borders. In the photo you can see that the quilt was laid on a floor mount, and the old original antique quilt lies across the top portion of the reproduction quilt. It was a nice touch to see "mother and daughter" together. Potomac was made by Aline Joulin of Chaillevette, France. Her quilt was inspired by an old American quilt. What a wonderful variety of fabrics are in this quilt! Starlit Night (Nuit etoilee) by Ghislaine Lucas of Le Conquet, France, was inspired by a child's quilt. The size of the original motif was reduced but the size of the quilt was increased. The Ohio Star block and the Courthouse Steps log cabin block work well together in this quilt. Here's a close-up of the two blocks and the lovely cross-hatch quilting in them... And another close-up. And here was a surprising idea for quilting in a wide border: Marie-Jospehe Veteau of Steinsoultz, France, chose a funny name for her quilt: Upside Down (Sans dessus dessous). The quilt combines lone stars and mariners' compasses - and a nine-patch border. The quilt was inspired by a circa 1840 quilt. And here is a close-up of the center star. I love the idea of having a star that has an "invisible" inner star in itself (the tan in the white). Stars or Baby Blocks (Etoiles ou cubes) was made by Marie-Paule Nedelec and Anne-Helene Nedelec and Anne-Helene Nedelec of Chateaubriant, France. Their quilt was inspired by a circa 1880 Kentucky quilt. Within each block, you may see either a star or three baby blocks. Check out the stars... or baby blocks... in this close-up. You can see the quilting in the above quilt - 1/8th and 1/4 inch echo quilting. The borders, on the other hand, has "zig-zags" quilted across them in triple-row stitching. Amazing, simply amazing, isn't it?! Sunbeam (Un rayon de soleil) was made by Ewa Guerin of Bourges, France. This quilt was inspired by a quilt in the Shelbourne Museum. Note the quilting within the leaves and the flower, below -- and I hope you can see the "extra flower" quilted in the background between the leaf and the top flower. The Nest (Le Nid) was made by Anne-Marie Schmitt from Genas, France. Check out the close-ups below. The background fabric in the center of the quilt was an interesting and unusual choice. The center nest block, part of which is shown below, is based on an original design by Ellen Heck. If you have ever had the pleasure of taking a class from or seeing any of Ellen's quilts, you are fortunate; I consider Ellen to be one of today's finest applique artists! The next quilt as a small one - I would estimate it was about a square yard. It was called Traboutis and was made by Penelope Roger of Orleans, France. This quilt was a personal creation made by using back stitches in a combination of trapunto and "boutis provencal" (and if you google boutis provencal, most of the links are in French, not English!). Trapunto and boutis quilting are both variations of stuffed quiltwork. The center of this quilt was simple... but the quilting was what overwhelmed me. Look - it takes my breath away! To give you an idea of scale... check out my finger, below. This Winding Blade Quilt by Christine Imbaud of La Rochelle, France, is based on a quilt made in Virginia circa 1860. And a close-up... Last, but not least, here is a picture of me and Jeanne Sullivan. We got to spend some time together at the Houston quilt show; I took a class from her a few years ago, and she is a fabulous teacher. Her BRAND NEW book, Simply Successful Applique, is fantastic -- she has plenty of photos, detailed instructions, multiple methods... all giving you one of the best tools on the market for either learning applique, or taking it to the next level. If you can't find it in your local quilt shop, check out Amazon; I highly recommend it! And here is a photo of me and Gaye Ryon; we met at the quilt show when she told me that I saved her life. How, you might ask? Well... when her husband was diagnosed with cancer, she told her doctor that she refused to start taking anti-depressants, and instead chose to make my Monster quilt. It cheered her through the ordeal - so much so that her friends also made Monster quilts and they had a special exhibit of Monster quilts at their quilt show in Salt Lake City. I'm happy to know that quilting makes people happy; it has certainly gotten me through stressful times, and led me to the best circle of friends and support that any human could ever hope to have. Gaye - it was great to meet you - you radiate joy!! This month's blog seems to have come to an end. Next month I will share what I've been working on this past month (as well as the coming month) - and I'll show you two quilts that I bought at the Houston show. They are both antiques -- one of them required some extensive (but easy) repair work and I'll take you step-by-step through it. There were some surprises along the way! I'll also be showing you some more quilts -- there were so many lovely quilts at the Houston show; I'm SO glad I live just down the road. Until next month... happy quilting! Sue (c)2012 Susan H. Garman
Hexies! Hexies! Hexies! What's not to love? Even though I fell in love with EPP through 60 degree diamonds, once I started to hex seriously, I found that they're so soothing. When basted to templates, they are perfectly contained little morsels of my favorite fabrics, portable, pleasing, playful.. Today is my day on the 12 Hexies Blog Hop and I've got a little tutorial for how to make a pin cushion with just 8 hexagons. Though this is my tutorial, I can't take credit for coming up with the shape/pattern of the pin cushion. I actually saw it on flickr ages ago, and in the comments of that pic, the poster referenced another blog post that she was inspired by. Really folks, it's 8 hexies joined together.. there are only so many ways to do it. But they go together so nicely and you can turn them into a really substantial pin cushion, so let's have a go at it-- First cut and baste your hexies. I'm using 3 5/8" squares on 1 1/2" paper hexagon templates. There are lots of great places to learn how to baste, if you don't have my book, check out this online tutorial. Join the first 7 hexies into a rosette. I tend to go around adding one "petal" at a time, then backtracking through the seam allowance to get back to the corner so I can join the new petal to the center. I travel through the seam allowance on the back to get to another corner so I can continue sewing without cutting my thread. Next start sewing the petals to each other, making the whole piece curve into a bowl. Then add the last hexie to the "bottom". When you're down to the last two seams, remove the last of the templates and whipstitch carefully along the edge. Before you get all the way around, you'll need to flip the piece right side out. Before you complete that last seam, insert a funnel in the hole and fill the pin cushion with crushed walnut shells. You can get them at some quilt shops and most large pet supply stores (they are sold as reptile bedding). Carefully stitch up the last part of the seam and smoosh it around until the corners have popped out and the filling is evenly distributed. Then find two nice buttons and some thick thread. Tie a knot in the thread and push it through the center of the pin cushion and up through the first button. Come back down and catch the second button, covering up the knot on the bottom. Go through each button a few more times (3? 4?) then make a knot and bury it. Thanks for stopping by my post on the blog hop! If you make one of these pin cushions, I'd love to see it! And don't forget to visit the rest of the blogs on the 12 Hexie Hop! CraftyPod InLinkz.com
After some fiddling and cursing I managed to finish and stuff my little hexie pincushion (see Marina's blog). And then made another one! They are very cute and quite addictive, so I expect more will soon appear. And the other side. I can't show the back of the blue one as it may hint at who I'm sending it to. My other Mother's Day treat arrived today. This gorgeous Quiltmania book by Carolyn Konig. I haven't opened it yet. I'm savouring it, waiting for a quiet moment so I can immerse myself in her beautiful quilts. Carolyn has even autographed inside the cover. Better get back to my Irish Circles quilt before I open that book I think! The one on the front is very tempting. Happy stitching, Susan x
Here is my eleventh hexagon block which is based upon an image of a bunch of Poppies, Daisies and little mauve flowers. This block was a challenge in that it only had five colours - orange, green, mauve, yellow and dark brown (plus a few white daisy petals). The purple sequin flowers are paler than they appear in the photo - blame the scanner again.......
Starting a quilting journey using English paper piecing? Here's the must-have English paper piecing tools to help you get started.
When I was in Houston in 2016 my special exhibit was right across the aisle from the beautiful Millefiori exhibit with all the beautiful English paper pieced quilts inspired by Willyne Hammerstein and I became fascinated with English paper piecing. I did a few pieces out of fancy silks but then I began to wonder how
I’m super excited to introduce this new quilt pattern! A fun jelly roll friendly Hexie Quilt. Hexagons are super popular right now in quilts and this is a fun twist to the classic Hexie quilt. I’ve yet to attempt a Y seam so this pattern is made up of half hexies which go together in […]
Siguiendo las instrucciones de Belén he hecho estos llaveros de Patchwork. Si entráis en ese enlace os explica cómo hacerlos. Ideales para aprovechar telitas. Muchas gracias Belén.
