Well, I have had a few things happening during my eight days of UFO Hell (finished yesterday). Firstly, I am ga-ga over hexagons again, thanks to Melanie from Texas Freckles. She has started a Hexagon Charm Quilt piece-along and I have joined! She also has an AMAZING giveaway with a hexagon theme, so make sure you check out her blog. This is the first quilt-along that I have ever participated in, and I'm really looking forward to making some progress.
So far, I have made a few hexagons out of some Judie Rothermel civil war reproduction fat quarters I bought last year from the Quiltsmith stand at the Sydney Quilt Show.
I get about 30 1.25" sided hexagons out of one fat quarter.
Here are some of the other fat quarters I bought at the time.
I also bought some other fabrics from the same collection (reds and greens) but used them in a quilt I made last year fom my Aunty and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary (see previous blog entry).
Then, I started thinking about making the charm quilt in blues and purples, using lots of different fabrics with different themes (civil war, 1930's, modern, japanese, etc...). So while I was out and about last week, I bought these fat quarters:
The cheddar and navy print is civil war reproduction fabric, and the other two fabrics are Japanese-style fabrics, and I think they coordinate quite well.
The other idea I had was to mix in some French General Rouenneries fabrics (see this flickr group to view projects using this fabric range). I have 36 fat quarters of this fabric, and no longer want to make the hand-pieced project I had originally planned to make with this fabric (see previous blog entry).
I can't decide what to do!
Other things on the go include:
Hexagons for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt
Inspiration for my project (July) in the ANZAC Bee online quilting bee
And some light reading :-)
Actually, mostly, I have been working on my blocks for the ANZAC Bee this month:
You wouldn't know it, by looking at my blocks, but the theme for this month is actually "hearts". You can see how other members of ANZAC Bee have interpreted this theme here. I have been so crazy for hexagons, that I thought I would make the blocks out of hexagons, then add hearts later. The challenge now, is how. I could applique hearts on to the blocks or some of the blocks, but what I would really like to do is embroider hearts on to some of the blocks.
I tried to find someone with a fancy sewing machine that could do machine embroidery but have been unsuccessful. So, that leaves me with hand embroidery, which I don't have much experience in. The blocks need satin stitched hearts, in my opinion, to stand out from the patterned fabrics (brown hearts for the blue block and blue hearts for the brown block).
I wonder if I can pull it off, and get it back to this months Queen Bee by the end of the month?!
4 comments:
Gosh you have been busy!!! Love it love it love it!
What about appliquing (sp?) hearts on, using fusible webbing and then machining around with satin stitch? Two other ways: I am working on a quilt at the mo for a friend with hearts in square blocks. I've made half using freezer paper, pinning them on and blanket stitching around with the machine and then cutting the fabric & paper out through the back. The other half I've done using the same freezer paper method I learnt making Mum's circles quilt. I'll email you a pic so far...
Salivating over your mag collection! Have bought Magic Patch, I really like reading a French magazine, seeing different influences and seasons.
Hexagons sure are popular. I'm seeing them everywhere. I have no patience to do them myself so I'm enjoying seeing what everyone is making. I love that Japanese block book. I got it for Christmas and I keep looking through it for inspiration.
Beautiful hexagon work!
I had no idea that they were gaining in popularity but somehow must have unconsciously caught the bug, as I just bought some new japanese fabrics specifically to use for hexagons!
Oh I loveeee all those hexagons in repros!!! :) Christine
Post a Comment