Last Stripes - For A While

Sorry this post is a bit late - it has been rather hectic around our place lately - two Shows in two weeks - ouch! One in Christchurch and one in Palmerston North.

 

 

This is my last stripe based hexie post  - well for a while anyway.

It must be time to move onto motifs or something!

 

I started with this fabric.

 

 

This is the first hexie.

 

 

                         

 

        

 I couldn't resist making another one - well preparing another one - not yet stitched.

But with the stripes reversed in relation to the centre.

 

 

Show and Tell photos are coming in now. I will announce the first winner on Friday's post.

So get your photos in today to win some farbic that might work for your English Paper Pieced project.

 

It is great to see the variety of fabrics that people are working with.

I have kept some photos to put up on the related psots that I have planned.

 

 

 Malcolm's in woven taupes

 

  Tricia's in an Art Deco print

 

 

 

Tricia pointed out how carefully we need to look at the fabric.

Two hexies are cut from a different stripe on the fabric.

 

 

 

Fussy Cutting Friday Challenge - More Stripes

How are your units going? I only have one photo sent in so far - where is yours!?!?!?!

This week I have been experimenting with stripes going the other way.

So that means not going around the hexagon but radiating outwards. 

This is the fabric and it proved to be more of a challenge than I thought.

As you can see if you look closely the stripes are directional. 

I had to unpick as I had some of the 'heart' motifs heading inwards 

and others heading outwards first time around.

Then I discovered that some hexies were wrong!

If you look really closely you can see that the stripe beside lined up 'hearts'

changes with alternate stripes - sometimes light and sometimes not.

This certainly made me look at fabric much, much 

more closely - a good lesson.

I noticed it when I was sewing the the hexies together as where they joined 

and made the light 'V" sometimes it wasn't light.

Tricia has done her stripes going outwards too - don't you love her colours.

Back next week with a change from stripes!

1930s Stars In Quilting Mode

I am now up to quilting my 1930s Stars Quilt.

I have decided to quilt it with embroidery thread and chunky stitches.

I have gone about 1/4" around each diamond and the same on the inside

 of the centre hexagons - well some of them - not this yellow one yet.

The thread is two strands of DMC #3752 - a pale blue.

100 Modern Quilt Blocks

Today was the first day of "100 Modern Quilt Blocks" Class.

We had a great morning or should I say early morning - 9.00am start!

But we did start with coffee and croissants.

These are the first 10 blocks group members need to make before the next 

group meeting in March. We all have the same fabric starter pack and it will be

interesting to see how varied the blocks will be. 

A bit of 'fussy cutting" in block 2

 Blocks 3 and 4

This series is all based on crosses.

Blocks 7 and 8

A bit more "fussy cutting"with the butterfly.

All my blocks stored inside my book. I love the look of this.

It is a real conversation piece!

Maybe it will stay like this!

No probably not - I haven't see all my blocks laid out together yet

- it would be so good to put them all up[ on the design wall. 

But the thought of putting all 100 back in order in the book is real 'put-off'.

The only way I know that my colours are balanced is that I have used almost every 

last tiny piece of my original fat eighths.

Fussy Cut Friday Challenge - Centres

I hope your first EPP (English Paper Pieced) section is made!!

This is the fabric that I have used next.

     

Tricia asked a good question in the comment box about the fabric for your centre 

piece of the hexagons. I thought this was a good discussion point for this week.

My theory is that the centre is not the focal point so it shouldn't be at all dominant.

I like the outside ring to be the feature especially when I have spent time 

planning and fussy cutting. Which centre of the above set would you choose?

   

So with this one I used a centre piece that blended well with the fabric that I have 

used in the ring. It hasn't come from the same fabric as the ring but is in 

the same colour range.

If you check back on my previous hexies I did the same thing.

However I do see a place for a plainer ring and a stunning centre - that sounds 

like a new tangent to go off on later!!!

I chose the first photo for the centre above even tho' it is a bit more dominant.

English Paper Piecing Construction

Here is my method for constructing your units.

I used to tack the seam allowances over through the card. 

But now I have found the Sewline Glue stick and I love it. It sticks your seam 
allowance down onto the card so effectively, quickly and temporarily.

          


Tip:
Once your have your seams stuck or tacked down you need to whip stitch them together.
Tips:
I always use Polyester thread as it is stronger. I have found that silk and cotton tend to fray quite quickly as every time you take a stitch the thread runs across the edge of the card and this wears out the thread. 
There is no logical way to get all around a set of hexagons logically so I run back where I want to be within the seam allowance rather than cutting off and starting again all the time.
I add a knot at each intersection to give more strength to the stitching.
Back soon.

Just use a light swipe of your glue stick as it sticks well and it makes it easier to lift your card templates out later if you haven;'t overdone the glue.

Put right sides together and using tiny stitches catch a small part of each fabric
and pull your stitch tight.

Pulling your stitches really tight seems to make them disappear better. 
I use a neutral thread colour - grey, medium to dark taupe depending on your fabrics.

If you are making diamonds or other shapes with points  fold the tips of your points 

over first and then mitre your sides as they fold over. You can catch the two 

sides of the mitre on the back  together with a little stitch if needed as your whip 

stitch them together.

Once each piece of card is surrounded by other pieces your can remove and reuse 

the card. For example the white hexagon in the photo at the top of this post can come

out as it is surrounded.

Please ask questions about technique if any of this is not clear and I will answer with a comment too. You need to sign up to the Blog on the right hand side section if you want to comment.

Send your photos in and I will add them to the post with just your first name attached
unless you say otherwise.

Fussy Cut Friday Challenge

This is my first set of hexagons. I am using 1800s fabrics as I have a good collection 

and they work really well for this project as you can get stripes and interesting motifs. 

These are my first hexies - they are made from the same fabric but in two different colourways.

I am focussing on using stripes to start with as they are easiest to fussy cut.

It is good to use your clear template to cut out your fabric hexagons as you can 

see through it to where the actual finished hexagon will be. I like to isolate a 

section and then find corner points or central points or both on the fabric to help remember where the hexagon has been cut from. This important as you will need six

identical hexagons so they match up nicely when you stitch them together.

You can see that the side points are right on the edge of the blue line

and the top and bottom sides are parallel to the stripes on the fabric.

The difference between the top is only that I have turned them around 

when piecing them together.

Tip: don't make your centre hexagon dominate - you want the eye to go to 

your fussy cutting. So keep the centre fabric more blendy than contrasting.

Back soon with a post on construction.