Candied Hexagon Quilt Progress

I thought I had already blogged about this but alas, no it was just a throw away line on a post a year ago.

I've been slowly working on a Candied Hexagon Quilt, like that from the cover of Australian Quilters Companion Vol 5.2 Issue 18 (2005) by Kerry Dear. It's my go-to project to take to Sit and Sew Evenings with the MMQG. Of course, I don't have a pattern to follow as it's been out of print for years and typical me, I don't like following patterns anyway. The original had around 5 hexie designs, including a solid hexie using a feature fabric but I don't want to use a feature fabric and since it's for Little Lady I wanted to focus more on colour rather than patterns so am using mainly blenders in her favourite 4 colours mixed with randomly patterned bits. So I got all creative and with the help of some hexie drafting paper, doodled until I had around 30 hexie designs, ranging from simple to holy-crap-thats-going-to-be-a-nightmare-to-piece. I've worked out that I need 297 full hexies with 6cm sides (~2 1/3 inches) and 18 half hexies to fill a double bed quilt with a simple outer border. To date I have 65 hexies sewn, starting with some of the simpler designs.

Hex1 hexies

 

Hex2 hexies - these use same pattern but by changing how I oriented the triangles, I wound up with 2 different looking hexie patterns that appear to twist in both directions. Bonus!

Hex3 hexies

Hex5 hexies - again simply by playing with the colours I've turned one pattern into 3 different hexies.

 

Hex8 hexies

 

Randon Quilt Back

Another WIP, the summer quilts I started back in January for my two monkey got put aside once the weather turned cold and I've recently dug them up again. I've been slowly working on Little Lady's quilt back and its now finished. I had no plans when I began randomly cutting rectangles and squares for the back - I didn't measure anything, just auditioned fabric, keeping in mind that I didn't want the same colour next to itself, and cut it to fit the gap I wanted to fill. Organised random I guess you could say. It started somewhere in the middle and grew from there.

Catch up

Been ages, hasn't it? I haven't done as much sewing as I'd like but it's been that kind of year. I have many projects 'in progress' including painting Little Lady's toybox with only the final coat of gloss to go on the lid (don't even ask how long it has taken to get that far), making pyjamas and embroidered easter egg bags for both my monkeys, the summer quilts which still need backs (hopefully they'll be finished by next summer), the candied hexagon quilt which I chip away at each time I go to a Sit and Sew Evening for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild, my hexagon cathedral window pillow cover (really need to finish this one off), and the crocheted rug which I think still needs a final border.

The only things I've managed to finish are things that were for other people. I've been doing a bit of volunteer sewing work for Little Lady's Kindergarten including designing and completing 6 custom fit double-sided sound deadening table covers for use at the Kinder, and also donating a number of small embroidered easter egg bags that I made specifically for the Easter fundraiser which helped pay for a duck hatching program at the Kinder which all the kids just loved. I've also made a few more easy-release craft aprons for a client similar to this, and my favourite is a wonderful baby quilt and matching block by request from my dear friend, Leah, which I just have to show here.

The front featured a puppy dog, robot and tow truck with trapunto detail and a hand embroidered Name & Birthdate panel.

The robot may be familiar to some as its from Kellie Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now's "Robot Riot" quilt.

I wanted the back to also have some detail and loved the "Modern Pickle Relish" design by Modern Quilt Relish which I adjusted slightly to suit a square quilt shape.

I quilted it with a medium density meandering loop pattern over the coloured sections using a blue variegated rayon thread, and used a tighter meandering loop and star pattern in the white border and white background areas of the applique shapes with a white rayon thread.

The block has lots of textured ribbon tabs around it's borders and I loved the idea of making it more interactive so included a dinosaur with a crinkly spiky spine and a felt kite with ribbon tail for bubs to play with.

It's projects like these that remind me how much I love quilting.

Summer Quilts

Little Lady is like me, she has to sleep under a doona regardless how hot it is at night. Unfortunately her eczema is flairing up again as a result of being too hot so I'm making a light weight quilt with cotton wadding which will hopefully be much cooler to sleep under. This is where I'm at after a week of cutting and sewing...

Little Lady chose all the fabrics. And since Little Sir is almost ready for a big boy bed, I'm making him one too.

I found the pattern here which was adapted from this Moda Bake Shop pattern and I've adapted it further to make it a double bed size quilt. It's very simple which is perfect as I need to finish these quickly and also the speed with which I'm putting these together is helping reignite my sewing passion. I'm planning on doing a very simple pieced backing with big pieces of plain coloured homespun.

And to show that I have actually finished it, here's some quick shots of Emma's quilt.
It's quilted all over with meandering loops and hearts. Still not sure how or when this will get to little Emma but at least it's finished now.

Stained Glass Quilt Backing

The MMQG had a Sit and Sew Evening recently at G.J's in Brunswick which I wrangled time away from the fam to attend. I've lost my sewing mojo recently and while I have ideas for new quilts I'd like to make, in my current frame of mind I thought an easy quick thing to sew would be a pieced backing for the pink and yellow freckled whimsy quilt which has become another UFO of late.

I had a particular fabric in mind

but didn't realise how much I would need and of course didn't have so instead I sketched out an idea that would use almost all of it with the pink and yellow fabrics from the front thrown in. And on paper it looked pretty simple.

Quickly as a side note, I haven't been to a Sit and Sew Day for a while and I'd forgotten how lovely it is to be with other wonderful, talented, sew-insane people. Sewing can be a pretty solitary hobby. My sewing habit looks like I've simply dipped my toe in while they are completely drenched in comparison and I love the inspiration it provides.

I didn't get it all sewn at the SASE as the centre took way longer than I thought to sew up with all the interlocking pieces (and I spent a lot of time chatting and laughing with Rach, Bek and Sally) so even though I didn't get home until after 11:30pm I was still buzzed to keep going and quickly sewed the rest.

Stained Glass Quilt

I think it'd make a great simple quilt front too so I'll definately be making more of these.

There's another Sit and Sew Day mid August so hopefully I'll have this basted by then so I can quilt it and maybe, just maybe it might be finished in time to give to little Emma before she graduates high school!

Our first commission

The third quilt I've been flat out making was a commissioned King Single Quilt for a gorgeous little 3 year old, Amelia. I'm slowly unveiling it over at 2 of 4 but here are some sneak peaks.

I learned so many new techniques putting this quilt together, including raw edge applique and trapunto which were inspired by the amazing work of Kelly Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now, and I've gotten so much better at controlling my free motion quilting.

This little guy is the big brother of the caterpillar I made for Little Sir's baby playgym mat and I've also made a pillowcase to match the quilt.

So far I don't have any immediate plans to begin anymore quilts (I can hear my husband sign with relief) as I'd really like to finish Little Lady's cardigan - I'm thinking of changing the edging to a ruffle rather than a picot/scallop. But right now I'm going to wrap my monkeys in beenies and coats and take advantage of the sun and head off to the park before the weather decides to turn crappy again.

Quilting designs

I planned the quilting designs for the freckled whimsy quilts long before I got anywhere near quilting them. I used google images for inspiration and practiced sketching on paper first to work out how to draw them in one continuous line. Next I made templates in cardboard of the general shape and traced these onto the quilt top with the water erasable Clover pen, then basted the quilt.

On the purple and pink quilt I quilted a meandering pattern of swirls and hearts 

 and incorporated each design as I came to it, including a rose,

 

a tulip,

 

 a handbag,

 butterfly,

bumble bee,

and flower.

On the blue quilt I used a meandering pattern of loops, stars,

and occasional waves

to fill in the spaces between crabs,

octopus,

seahorses,

dolphins,

fish,

boats,

and anchors.

The finished quilts measure 1.2m x 1.5m.

For my gorgeous little niece

and my handsome little nephew.

Busy, busy, busy...

I'm still recovering from a massive 2 months sewing in which I've made 3 quilts. My sisters both had theirs bubs - Tammy had a beautiful little girl and Nicole had a tiny handsome little man, and I actually managed to finish both quilts on time.

I sewed the fronts together fairly quickly and then used a blue fine tip Clover water erasable pen to mark on the designs that I wanted to incorporate into the quilting. I bought and tried many, many chalk pencils and other removable pens and markers and the Clover was by far the best. It completely dissolves in a small amount of cold water even after ironing over it which you're not supposed to do. On the blue quilt I had to use a violet marker (Sew Easy brand from Lincraft) which faded quickly so I had to redraw some designs, it took a bit more to come out and I haven't been game enough to iron over it.

Dreading the thought of having to baste them hunched over on the floor for hours on end I tried a technique I came across a while ago while trawling youtube which I conveniently bookmarked and promptly forgot about until these quilts...and am I ever kicking myself that I didn't try this sooner. It's soooo much easier than pin basting and is actually quite therapeutic tho it does take longer. The videos are long and Sharon talks quite a bit but it's well worth it as its full of tips and tricks - my fav is the quilters knot which I now use for everything. Did you know that thread had a grain?



I sourced my boards from Bunnings - they're just painted 2.7m pine boards found with the skirting boards which they kindly cut for me into a 1.1m and 1.6m length. Even tho my boards are shorter than the quilt width it still worked really well.

Here the quilt is 1.2m wide and I'm using the 1.1m boards. It took me 4 hours to baste the first one and 3 hours to baste the second which sounds like a long time but since then I've basted a king single quilt, 160cm x 210cm so almost double the size of these, in 4 hours. One of my main gripes with pin basting was the fiddling I have to do to get top and bottom smooth often involving repinning areas a few times and I absolutely hate fumbling with taking the pins out as I get to them on the machine. With thread basting I just snip the threads and pull them out as I get near them and if I accidentaly run over them they pull out easily and I don't damage anything.

Next up, the finished quilt and quilting designs.

Progress

As usual I got to the ironing part and am procrastinating again but I have made some progress. How's this for chain piecing?

And that's just the blue quilt.

I have actually been busy with other things. I have taken the plunge and have started working on a handmade craft business, 2of4, with my little sis Steph. I've just finished our first commissioned item for a lady she works with, a customised craft apron with a new design on the neck band to make it even more kid friendly to use. Check it out over here. It's based on my original design for Little Lady's adjustable craft apron with a modified neck strap.

We're making our debut at a local playgroup market in June so have been sewing whenever we can to build stock for it. So far we're making adjustable craft aprons, 50's style kitchen aprons with pot holders, placemat/coaster sets, and picnic blanket/linen sets but hope to branch out into playmats, small quilts, busy books, etc...all aimed at imaginative play for kids so it's all kid sized!! We're chronicalling our journey over here so if you're interested in the birth and growth of a small homebased business, head on over and check us out.

Pink and Purple and Blue

I love these little stacks.

I've finally completed the rest of the blues and all HST are now trimmed and ready along with matching squares. I need 844 blocks for each quilt but I've made extra so that I can make matching change mats as well.

My future neice's quilt.

And for my future nephew.

And now for the fun part... I finally get to sew!

Two days...for this?!!

I pushed through coz I know the fun part is next but damn my hand hurts.

388 7cm squares. Yep, had to trim them all. Yep, 2 days. But they look so pretty, don't they? Hopefully I'll get feeling back into my thumb tomorrow coz right now it's a phantom digit.

Got fussy with the colours so still got these to sew and trim before I can plan the layout. Less than 7 weeks until the bubs are born and lots still to do. It actually feels great to be this motivated.