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When a little email popped into my box that invited me to take a look at the new book "Quick and Easy" Hexie Quilts by Julia Wood and Dr. Peggy Rhodes... I was intrigued .. what could be NEW about Hexagon quilts? They have been around for ages and I've seen a zillion varitions of the them in quilts.. from small to large .. from sparce to packed (I even started a pinterest board HERE).
But they DID come up with something new! Let's take a look
The cover quilt caught my attention as it's NOT a traditional hexagon quilt, and it's fun! A whole bouquet of flowers swaying on stems.. so sweet!
Once inside the book you'll see photo step out of how they do hexagons with out papers starting with a circle. What a VERY nifty idea indeed!
This is a hand technique, so that makes it perfect for a carry along project. And they have provided you with an adorable little bag pattern to carry your work in. The bag also lets you try the technique with just a FEW hexagons. And it's so cute too!
The salsa quilt is my favorite in the book.. the colors pop and the layout is fun!
I am the last day of the guest bloggers on the hop. You can visit the others (at the end of this post) and see what they thought, some even made blocks!
We are EACH giving away a copy of the book. I've sweetened my deal a bit as you really can NOT make them without THREAD can you? AND you need a place to put that needle!
To be entered to win a copy of the book AND a box of MY Aurifil thread tell me
"What color combo will YOUR Hexagon quilt be?"
I'll pick the winner on June 19 when I'm back from Texas!
Visit EVERYONE on the tour and leave a comment. Because someone is going to have fun with circle making the EASY DIE CUT way! That could be you! Visit Julia's blog for exact info on how to enter to win the AccuQuilt GO! Baby and Circle die.
I've been wanting to try the wonder clip since I posted THIS.. and the other day I finally did! I opened all the packages, got out the clips, put them in a pretty bowl (because I'm a quilter.. that's what we do).. then took a good look at them.
There is a little bit to notice about the clips... let's get to it!
CLICK THE PHOTO for a larger Image.
The Clips are very well designed. On the right top is a view looking down on the curved red side.
The middle right is the clear bottom
And sideways you can really see how it's designed.
The clear bottom is FLAT. This is perfect for when I clipped my sleeve to the quilt while sewing on the binding. The FLAT side was underneath and I did not catch it on anything.
The clips open very easily. And I like that they are 2 colors so I can quickly tell the curved red side from the clear flat side.
After using the clips to hold on the sleeve and label while I sewed the binding to the quilt, I got to work pulling my binding to the back to prepare for hand sewing down the binding.
Most people said they would only clip about 12" or 20" of binding and stitch that section before clipping over more binding.
And I loved the comment pointing out that there might be room for ONE MORE inthe corner.. wink!
But to tell you the truth for a piece this small this worked great. Because I had a VERY FULL binding. And I need to pull it VERY snug over the seam line. I find with a full minding it's harder on my hands to keep pulling it over as I go. Doing it all at once then allowed me to stitch quickly.
But I do not think I'd do this for a large quilt as I'd need a zillion clips, and it would be heavy.
Let me rephrase that.. I KNOW I would not do this for a large quilt because I'd do it BY MACHINE! Whew.. just wanted to set that record straight!
I stitch counter clockwise. I found that sewing with the clips towards me allowed me to keep the thread tangle free. After the first few clips are removed, there are no clips near me on the right, so no tangles!
stitching.. stitching.. stitching!
If I was stitching my binding by machine, I'd have the clear flat side on the bottom so I could zip along doing my machine blanket stitch.
I also removed a clip or two in advance of where I was going to sew. This allowed me enough room to hold onto my piece.
I do NOT Like to struggle with binding.
I'm sewing with my Aurifil RED thread that is in all my Aurifil kits! LOVE Red..
Alright my friends, I finally took the plunge. I've seen them, I've heard the rave reviews, but I had not tried them. And why not? Who knows! I may be the last quilter on the planet to buy a package...
of Wonder Clips! I kind of feel like WONDER WOMAN buying them!
What do people use these for besides holding binding, because I really don't use clips for binding myself. I dont' even pin my binding... i know .. i know.. pulling it as I go seems to work fine!
But I thought there might be a time or two where having a clip will be useful, once I figure out what to use them for .. because now I have a lot of them! (NEED SOME? CLICK HERE to my Amazon store)
I asked this question the other night on Facebook...
Fabric... Or Yarn.. or both?
A LOT of quilters play with Yarn (I even have a yarn section on my internet group!). I happen to have taught myself to crochet when I was in elementary school. Most likely from a book as there was nobody to teach me in person. My great grandma and my great Aunt crocheted, but I was living in Europe so it was a bit far to chat with them (no skype then!)
Every so often I start a yarn project. I usually have to buy the yarn, although at the moment I think I have about 5 projects worth of yarn collected up! These colors above.. and more below .. were bought about a year ago to do a ripple blanket.
But I just couldn't get into it and it sat... and sat.. and sat.
The other day I decided enough was enough and un-crocheted it!
I am addicted to books... are you?
I saw "Simple Crocheting" by Erika Knight somewhere on the internet and bought it a bit ago. The the publisher of "Look, Learn, Create Crochet" by Deborah Burger sent me the book on the right. Over the weekend I got both the books out to read through them.
"Simple Crocheting" has a lot of beautiful photos, and my favorite part is the description of the yarn weights. That is what kills me every time on a project. Buying quilt fabric is a LOT easier! Quilt fabric is mostly ONE WEIGHT... and we know how it works!
I love that the entire book has all the projects done in a jute color yarn, like the cover. I was really surprised I liked this concept. It helped me see the stitches better. Also a few super projects I want to do.. when I finally understand yarn weight.. it's only taken me over 40 yrs.. wink!
"Look, Learn, Create Crochet" is a totally differnt book, with a totally different way of presenting the information. I do love the spiral so I can open it up. And the color photos with Troubleshooting is great! Each project also has extra tips, like measuring for crochet top, which is super useful.
I've decided to take the 5 colors and crochet 3 rows of Half Double Crochet in each color.
But for the raspberry. I will just do one row and spread it through.. because I'm not going to buy more yarn... really .. I have enough... as she utters those famous last words!
And I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.. that TOMORROW I announce a HUGE Giveaway BONANAZA!!!
I have at least 14 giveaways coming up that will end on January 1... Yesterday was the 'unofficial start'... did you leave me a comment yet? CLICK HERE
When the team at the Fat Quarter shop sent me a note and asked if I'd like to see their first book and join them on a blog hop, I was pretty darn excited! I know that so many of us... ummm... many of you are Fat Quarter Queens.. and who better than the whole STORE named Fat Quarters to show you some spectacular quilts to use them in!
I selected "Boulevard" to a make in my Moda fabric "Eat Your Fruits n' Veggies".
Which by the way is JUST COMING TO STORES near you!
Here is the top! My good friend pieced the top while I was in Houston! Thank you Roberta! What I LOVE about the book is ...well there is more than one thing to love!
Multiple Sizes of the quilt are given. With a supply list by size and directions by size!
Great diagrams
Fun piecing techniques!
So let's get to the quilting of this!!
I used 40 wt Aurifil Thread, and the yellow is 50 wt. I can hear some of you GASP..MIX WEIGHTS?? YES... It's OK TO MIX!
I decided to do straight line quilting in the blue, but not in a fussy manner.. just using my walking foot as a guide. I did not mark.
And I quilted big relaxed circles in the green and Yellow stripes. You can see it better on the back
I was a bit nervous about the straight lines... I'm working on a home sewing machine (Janome 12000) and I was afraid the straight lines with my walking foot would take me FOREVER.
So I decided to track how long it really took to quilt those! It took 130 minutes.. I started at 3:00 to baste.. then at 4:40 I started the straight line quilting.. ending at 10pm with breaks inbetween so I didn't get all sore and hunched over! Not bad really, it was less time than I expected.
And I did a video of how I appliqued the dots with the quilting! Want to see it?
Since I'm using batiks, the raw edges are not going to fray much at all. The closer you get to the edges of them the better. On a few I went back and got a bit closer so they don't lift much when I wash the quilt. Like the one in the sample.. I want it closer to the edge.
Here is the FULL back! I included a strip of the Lime batik.. and I used the lime print batik for the binding too.
Did you know I do my binding by machine.. ALL of it?
Would you like to win a copy of the super lovely "Simply Fat Quarters" book and a kit to make my version of the Boulevard Quilt? PLUS a sampler of Aurifil thread an exclusive earbuds with my radio show logo?
Tell me
"what color combo would you use next
if you could use any color combo you wanted to!"
I will pick a winner next Monday Nov 26 (my birthday!)
Sometimes a girl just needs to buy herself a gift.
One that arrives in the mail
Every month...Like clock work...
Do you know what I mean?
When I was a kid living in Europe I developed a uber love of mail, any mail, but mail with STUFF in it was oh so delightful! Was it from Granny? The Sears Catalog? My friends stateside?
At college this passion for mail was still there as my parents were across the ocean from me, no cell phones, no email, no texting.. just mail.. pure.. beautiful mail.
My dear friends at Sweetwater Designs are so amazing. They have this little pattern "PLUS" of the month and I signed up, yes I did! Because I LOVE MAIL!
So far I'm just collecting envelopes... but you may want to jump on in with me because look at what the "PLUS" part is... Fabric tags!!!
And...
ONE has YOUR name.. Be still my heart how stinkin cute is that!
But let me show you THEIR photo of this month's project, as they are much better at photos than moi...
