Quilt Education 5

In my last posting about this project, I was searching for a suitable border fabric. I tried several colours, including some that were suggested in the comments to that post, but in the end I chose the green one.

My plans were to make this into a round pillow, so at first I cut a piece that was a bit larger than the pieced hexagons.

The papers were still in the outer row of hexagons, so I pinned next to the outer ring all around, and then tacked down each corner of the outer hexagons.

Then I sewed the outer edge of the hexagons to the border fabric, – a bit like appliqueing.

When I had finished sewing all around, I cut away the centre part of the border fabric.

When cutting through only one of several layers, I always use my duckbill scissors. The bill shaped tip goes underneath, and keeps the scissors from cutting into the layers below. (The scissors are actually hand made, and I bought them at a quilt show at Ascot in the UK 15 years ago, – they still work fine).

When the centre of the border fabric had been cut away……..

………..  removing the last round of papers was easy.

After that, I layered and pinned the quilt top…….

……… before I committed the deadly sin of machine quilting it.  My hands do not agree with hand quilting, so although I hope for forgiveness, I cannot promise not to do it again.

The quilting was very simple, – just one seam for every circle of patches, and then an echo seam into the border.

Then I made a back piece for the pillow, with a hidden zipper in the centre.

Next, I marked the circle on the pillow, using what I call “the poor man’s compass”:  a pencil on a string…..

….. and then cut out the circle.

The circle was placed right sides together on to the back piece, pinned, and sewed all around the edge.  Luckily I remembered to open the zipper before sewing.

After that, the back piece was cut even with the front, the raw edges were zigzagged, right sides were turned out through the unzipped opening, and…..

……….. voilà: the finished pillow!

If I had wanted it to be even more cutesy, I could have added a pink ruffle around the edges. Maybe on the next project, ….. because:

…. now I have even more remnants to make into new hexagons.

Patchwork is a never ending hobby!

Eldrid

Quilt Education 1

Quilt education 2

Quilt education 3

Quilt education 4

Quilt Education 4

My hexagon project is still coming along oh so slowly.  I hope to make some more progress now that we are expecting (hoping for, really) warm and sunny days when sewing is done in the garden rather than by the machine inside the house.  So I thought it was time to go on and make some decisions so the project will be ready to grab and bring outside when the aforementioned kind of day(s) come(s).

Since I last wrote about the project, I have added one more round of hexagons, but decided to add some green ones instead of only pinks as I was contemplating at the time of my last post.  I also think that the project is now large enough to be made into a cushion cover, – round, I think, – and for that I need a border.

But which fabric should I choose for the border?

I imagined that a border in the beige fabric with flowery vines in the second last round would be nice. I thought I had lots of leftovers from the dress I sewed some years ago, but could not find any more remnants than the ones I had used for the hexagons.

I found another one with similar colours and vines which might do:

Perhaps it will be too busy…?

I also found a green fabric very similar to one of the greens in the second round:

Hhmmmm  …….. maybe. Not too bad.

Finally I dug out the dress made from the beige fabric:

If only I could find those remnants!!

Granted, the dress has shrunk quite a lot while hanging in the closet, but even though quilters joke about it all the time, I am not quite ready to cut up a perfectly good dress to finish a patchwork project, – I think.

I will have to sleep on it for a few nights.

Eldrid

Quilt Education 1

Quilt Education 2

Quilt Education 3

Quilt Education 3

So, – what happened to my self imposed quilt education?

Well, it is coming along, – not very fast, but still.

I basted a lot of hexagons, and started to experiment with some possible layouts.  I was already in love with the roses, so decided to use them as a sort of central ornament.

Since the paper inserts are a bit stiff, I found that I had to sew all the seams around the edges of the central hexagon first, then I could remove the paper from this one, and then be able to fold it over so I could sew the seams between each of the surrounding hexagons.

I am not sure if this is the correct way of doing it, but it worked for me.

Then onto more experiments with various layout options.

This is the really fun part of all patchwork techniques, – trying out the colours and combinations.

Since I wanted a cutesy look to go with my roses, I decided that I would need some pink hexagons as well.  On to more cutting and basting, and then try it out:

Weelll, – not quite sure about the last border, but decided that I wanted the green and beige ones, so started to sew those two together. 

But how to go about it?

I decided to apply the same method as before, to work around one hexagon at a time….

…. then remove the paper when all sides have been sewn…..

… so I can fold right sides together and sew the new hexgons together.

It goes like this:

Sew the red lines first, remove paper, then you can sew the yellow lines.  Go on to the next rose patch and sew in the same sequence.

This works well for sewing medallion style.  I have not tried to sew many hexagon flowers, like the rose centre here, to join afterwards.  That will be a challenge, – if I ever get around to it.  First things first though: finish this one.

Eldrid

Qult Education 1

Quilt Education 2

Quilt Education 2

The quilt education I promised myself has started.  Weekends are slow here, no physios on duty till Monday, so except for the self training regime, meals and the occasional visit, I have lots of time to relax, read, and sew.

This weekend I have been perfecting the basting process.  Cutting is easy, – just pin one of those pre cut paper hexagons to the fabric, and cut around it, eyeballing the seam allowance.  I learned to heed the advice of not skimping on the seam allowance.  It does not have to be accurate all around, but it should definitely not be too small, or it will be difficult to baste.

I tried to fussy cut some motifs from the rose fabric scraps, but it was a bit difficult since the scraps were not really big ones.  I got a few roses in the centre, though.

I thought Cindy’s taping method was the easiest to use: tape one side and start basting on the opposite side.  Works very well for me.

So far I have been just cutting and basting with no particular design in mind. I think maybe I should make some layout plans before I “baste myself into a corner”, so to speak.

Eldrid

Quilt Education

I have decided there is at least one hole in my quilt education.

When I first came across patchwork in the seventies, it was all about hand pieced hexagons, or English Paper Piecing as it is also called.  I was not the least interested in this,  and was not hooked on patchwork till I made my first Log Cabin block in the late eighties.  Much quicker, and much more fun, as I could use my sewing machine.  I have always loved my sewing machines, and have not sewn or quilted much by hand during the last 20 years.

So I never did English Paper Piecing.

But this is about to change.  I have decided to give it a try, and educate myself, so to speak.

There are lots of examples of beautiful designs out there using English paper pieced hexagons, – and other shapes for that matter.   “Everyone” who is hooked on this technique boast how easy and portable this is, – you can take it everywhere and sew a few stitches here and there, and before you know it, you have a double bead spread.  This sounds so good, so I have been wanting to try it for a while, only I have waited for the right opportunity to actually do it.

And I have decided that this opportunity is now.

I will be going into hospital in a day or so.  I know there will also be a long rehabilitation period when sitting by my sewing machine might not be so comfortable, – so I think that this is the perfect time for a portable hand sewing project.

I also intend to be totally selfish during my rehab, at least for a while,  – doing the training that I have to, of course, – but other than that, I will only do what I want. And this is one of the things I will want to do.  (Hhmmm, – come to think of it, there are lots of other things too … )

I already bought a packet of ready cut 1 inch hexagons, and picked some scraps from one of my scrap boxes.

I must check that the scraps are wide enough, then I will iron them and put them into a ziplock bag along with the tools that I will need: scissors, thread, needles, pins, and a thimble.

Cindy at CD Designs also recommends using tape when basting, so I will have to pack a roll of scotch tape as well.  Someone else recommended using paper clips, so I must find a few of those too.

Somehow I associate paper pieced hexagons with roses, so I found some scraps with roses on them:

 

They are actually leftovers from another hand sewing project of mine: a going-to-be-something-some-day-quilt in the Japanese folding technique with fussy cut centre pieces.

This is very old, but is still a WIP  (work in progress), – not a UFO (unfinished object). I have arranged the patches with different centre motifs medallion style, and adding the last two “borders” was my chosen hand sewing project during my last rehab period five and a half years ago (not quite finished the last border), and it had been started quite a while before that.  But I am totally relaxed about that, – this is something I do when I want to, – it does not have to be something, or finished, at any fixed time.  I am only doing it because I enjoy the process.

So, – maybe the hexagons will be the same, – a more or less eternal work in progress.  Or maybe I will aim for something smaller that can actually be finished.

Time will show.  I will do what I want, I will learn something new, and that feels very good 🙂

Eldrid