1/2" Hexie Kaleidoscope

I've been semi feverishly trying to finish up a small stack of quilts.  Quilting is going well, yet there are still a couple more to get to.  It always seems to take longer than I'd like for this process!  

In between the large quilts I've tried to work in a mini or a wall hanging just to break up the monotony...it's working for the most part.  

After I finished the first 'Hexie Heart' wall hanging I was determined to make another.  The process of hand stitching the hexies together goes super fast and you end up with a fun design.  For the second go around I decided to use solid fabrics, stay in the rainbow theme, but use 1/2" hexies instead of 1".  I'm so glad that I did!  It's ten times as adorable!

KALEIDOSCOPE
18" X 18 1/2"   

Oh the magic it makes!  I decided to use a dark background for a change of pace.  The fabric is Kona Gotham and I think it makes the hexies electrified!  They stand out in the best way possible.

 

With my hand as a reference...you can see just how small the hexies are in real life.  



Once all the pieces are together it measured 10" x 10", that will also give you reference to the size.



And what would a English Paper Pieced project be without a shot of the papers on the back?!  I made myself a chart of the design with each color section labeled.  Once I had that figured out along with my fabric choices, I wrote a corresponding number on each hexie so that I could get the colors in the right position.  A simple guide that makes sewing the pieces together much easier.

  

When I made the first one, I actually pieced together hearts to go inside the circles.  This time I decided I'd quilt a design in the centers instead.  It made it so much easier.  Plus, you can quilt some pretty great designs especially when you use colored thread.  



I grabbed my Aurifil rainbow mix of colors and proceeded to quilt some geometric stars.  They aren't the most perfect starts, but I love when I can use my walking foot instead of free motion quilting.  The walking foot wins out every time!



I stitched a tiny zigzag around and inside the hexies using a variegated rainbow thread (see back photo!).  I like that look better than the first go around with this design.  I then quilted 1/2" lines in a hexagon around the center using a dark gray thread.  From there I did a few rainbow 'flower' rounds and finished with many more concentric gray rounds. 



Why I don't use a dark background with rainbow designs I'll never know!  White backgrounds feel crisp and clean and you think they will make the colors standout, but a dark background seems to enhance the colors.  I'm a fan and I'm drooling just a bit!   



With every design (this one included) I tend to figure out better ways to accomplish or enhance things.  The center design, the quilting design, background colors, quilting...just to name a few.  And when that happens you know there will be another project along these lines.  I'm always trying to make it easier or faster or better!  Some things are hard to resist!

LINKING:

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BRAG ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIES ● FINISHED OR NOT FRIDAY

Hexie Name Badge

My name is J.A.Y.N.E.  

For our next Music City Modern Quilt Guild meeting we were encouraged to make name badges.  Which is an excellent idea!  I have a hard enough time remembering my own name, let alone an ever growing group of people!

1/2" Hexie Name Badge
3 1/2" x 3"

With a little time on my hands, I got a jump start on my badge.  Actually I finished it! 

I busted out the 'small guns' ... 1/2" hexies.  They seemed like the perfect size and idea for a name badge.  

I started with five pink hexies for my name.  And then grabbed a print charm square I had in my stash for the rest.  Eventually I figured out how I wanted the layout and began sewing them together.  Because they are small it went really fast.  

With simple block letters written using a frixion pen, I grabbed some embroidery floss and chain stitched my name in black.  

Beyond this first part I had no idea how or what to do next.  I could quilt it, I could do it by hand, but I decided to keep it simple instead.  It is a name badge, not a mini quilt!!

After rummaging through my interfacing stash, I grabbed my Peltex 71F Ultra Firm stabilizer. It's a one sided fusible and very stiff.  I was hoping it would do the job and make this work.  

I traced the shape on to the fusible side and marked where the top was going to me.  It would be just like me to mess something so simple up!  It was protection to guard against a simple and honest mistake!!

When I cut the shape out, I cut inside the lines just a little bit.  I didn't want the interfacing to show on the front.

After a good long pressing it was fused the the hexie front just as I had hoped it would.  I intended the Peltex 71F to be the back in all it's glory...boring, but it isn't going to show!  For added assurance that the front and back stay together, I stitched an 1/8" around the edge.

It may not be amazing or stunning, it may be funky and wonky...but it will serve it's purpose well.  It was time to 'stick a pin in it', it's done! 

It's perfectly imperfect...just like me! 

LINKING:
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Hexie Flower Update

I've been bitten by the EPP bug!  Oh boy!  While these little hexies for the Technicolor Galaxy BOM are pretty basic, I find myself perusing everywhere for inspiration.  I can't get enough, I'm infected!

These are the glue method from start to finish.  Indeed a sticky method for me!  But I love them.  The cute little hexies, the pretty rainbow of colors and the sweet flowers!   

I've picked the low volume background, placed them just right and will finish them up with some quilting after the next block is released.  

What I learned from making these:  Glue is sticky and messy.  You have to be very careful. I don't think I like the stabilizer hexagon templates very much.  They are meant to stay put, stay in the finished hexies.  Which made it harder to sew them together because of the thickness.  

I decided to try my hand at diamond stars one evening.  These were so much easier to stitch together without the stabilizer.  The needle went through only fabric making it glide smoothly.  I didn't have to fight it so much and in the end I feel that the stitches were better and less noticeable.  

These are small diamonds!  Small, small, small!  But big on fun!

    
I'm working on a new quilt!  Big surprise right?!  I've had this fabric, Denyse Schmidt ~ Florence, for far too long.  Longer than I want to tell you!  It sat and sat and sat and sat some more.  I am happy to say that I cut up every last piece of it for my newest design! Could I be turning over a new leaf?  Using my stash?  Maybe just this one time!

On Tuesday I will be sharing a block tutorial for Fabri-quilt New Block Blog Hop Challenge. There are 60+ participants lined up and it promises to be a fun and exciting time!  

After making my block I was concerned it wouldn't make sense at all.  Sometimes it's hard to imagine how one block would look in a quilt.  My block needs to be repeated in order to complete the 'vision'!  The secondary designs are the key, the star! 

Which is why I used that bundle of Denyse Schmidt!  I had to see if that block was worthy of a whole quilt.  Would it come together?  The answer is YES!  I couldn't be happier with the results!  I have 5 more blocks to piece before I can finish the top, but it's cool!  I can't wait to share it!

All the blocks in the New Block Hop will become charity quilts.  At least three will be made and donated!  How cool is that?!

I hope you join me and the rest of the 'cast of characters' for this hop!  It promises to be an epic event!

A Sticky Situation

Believe it or not, I'm actually ahead of the game!  I may have learned my lesson after getting three months behind on my Technicolor Galaxy block of the month. This was my last post,  In A Galaxy Far, Far Away,  which shows just how grueling it was! 

We are on Block #7 ~ Hexie Flowers.  Little 5/8" hexies, stabilizer templates and glue.  Glue. I have used glue to stick a template to fabric and hand stitch around the edges, but I have not glued the edges before.  There sure is a lot of gluing in this BOM!  

The first problem I encountered were the templates.  I bought the pre-cut stabilizer templates, and it turns out I didn't read the fine print.  This block needs 84 hexagons, clearly you can see the bag contains 60.  I didn't think it was a HUGE deal, until I tried to find a template online for 5/8" hexagons.  It is a weird size?  I found every other size except what I needed.  At the end of my rope I came across this site:  Incometech,  You can print graph paper shapes in squares, hexies, octagons ~ just about anything and you can make them any size you need. Really very cool!  I printed a copy on a stabilizer sheet (after making sure they were the exact size and the pre-cuts), cut them out and was ready to roll.

     

Fabric was the next step, one I thought would be easy.  I won't go in to detail, just know that I didn't like it not one little bit!!  But I played along. I picked. I cut. I counted. I searched. I did it.

I grabbed the glue stick, snatched the templates out of the bag (plus the ones I laboriously cut), and started gluing one template to each little square and you know what?  This blew my mind, there were not 60 templates in that bag.  Nope.  Not 60 at all.  There were actually enough for all my 84 hexies and then some!!!  Crazy talk!  I may have said a few 'swears', more than a few...but dang!

Putting that behind me, it was time to get crackin'!  This would be my night time entertainment! I'm so out of control, a wild party girl, stop me now!!

It was slow going.  Trim the fabric, glue the edges.  Sticky fingers.  Like really sticky!  I may be doing it wrong, but the glue stick wasn't really that cooperative.  I felt like a hot mess. With a few flowers finished, I called it a night.  

   

...and picked it up the next night...

...until I ended up with...

84 of the cutest little glue filled, hexagons!  

...put them all together and you have 12 colorful flowers...

There is still work to be done in the form of hand stitching.  

Marked and ready.  One, two, three...

Quilt Porn Picture of the Month

Progress.  And ahead of time for a change!  Block #7...you are soon to be history! 

My first ever hand stitched hexies completed!  I was hoping a rhythm would come to me once I started, and it did.  I've always admired people who do English Paper Piecing.  Now I see why they love it so much.  There may be more of this in my future!  

I used a whip stitch to join the hexies.  I think I did it right! 

For those who are participating in this Skill Builder BOM, Jenn @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge will be hosting a progress link up on the 12th of each month starting in September and going through December.  A fun way to share our progress no matter how much or how little you have done.

Who out there uses glue in their quilting?  What are your thoughts on this technique?  I see the benefit in a dab of glue for hexies or for that first piece of fabric in paper piecing.  I'm not sure anything beyond that is for me.  We'll see!

Thankful for Power & Cable Again...

I love a good storm.  The rumble of thunder, the flash of lightning and the sound of rain.  I know when it's over there will be a freshness about the air, the lawn will flourish, the flowers watered.  However...

This is Tennessee!  And you can't really rely on accurate weather forecasts.  Around 7pm last night, we lost power.  ARGH!  With that, we also lost all access to cable!  Double ARGH!  I am totally lost with out those comforts, shoot I can't watch TV, let alone sew on bindings!

My kids were sweet enough to load the laptop with Pirates of the Caribbean movie, so you know, Johnny Depp helped me through!

It could have been worse!  I had just enough light to finish gluing my hexies down for some pillows.

I have two 18" x 18" pillows in the works using 1" hexies.  For some reason  hexies and polka dots are my favorite combination!

There are also two 18" x 18" pillows in 2 1/2" hexies.  I've made pillows with this size before, Cheerful Spring and was excited to do it again!  Here's a link to a fabulous tutorial at Modern Handcraft ~ Modern Hexagon Tutorial.  You will love making these!

I used my favorite tool the ever popular Hera Marker to mark some lines for machine quilting.  

As for the storm and power, we got the power back on at 10 pm.  Still no cable, no Internet, no sense staying up!

I finally went to bed after the movie only to be jolted a few times by the loud crack of lightning!  Really LOUD!  Turns out one street over a bolt hit a huge oak tree and that sucker went down!  

The cable finally, finally have I said finally (?) came on at 2:15 pm today!  Now it must be time to get back to work and get these pillow finished!  

LINKING:

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WIP Wednesday
Needle & Thread Thursday
TGIFF

Dance Of The Honey Bee

Gotta love a good challenge, right?  I can now say I finished the 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge ~ WHEW!!

Thank you Play Crafts and On The Windy Side for hosting and giving me a run for my money!  Marsala stretched my creativity, tested my patience, but eventually I came around to not hating it so much!!

Dance Of The Honey Bee
17" x 18"

I guess I like chaos in my life.  Starting this project I didn't have a clear idea where I would go with it.  It wasn't until I brought in the Tawny Olive that I started to have a direction to follow. You can see the WIP here:  'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' WIP 

Once the honeycombs appeared, I had a plan.  A story.  A direction.  You might think that the olive color represents honey.  Nope!  You can't have honey without pollen ~ sweet, wonderful (aw-choo) pollen!

A worker bee visits 50 to 100 flowers each trip for that pollen.  You go girl!  (worker bee's are all females too)  All that work for 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in their life!  

I think of honey bee's as frantic, agitate or strung out as they fly around. And to think what goes on inside of a hive...it has to be chaotic.  

I would be wrong!  Each bee has its place, its job.  Finely tuned with a mission.  Bee's have a dance.  The Dance Of The Honey Bee!  Once a bee finds that sweet, sweet nectar they fly back to the hive, shake and vibrate their little bodies and in the process give directions to that very source.  

All the different colors pieced together are the neurotic goings on inside the hive.  I machine quilted rather neurotically as well!  Except inside the honeycombs!

Those I kept calm, clean and peaceful.  Not once ounce of pandemonium or turmoil!

This is my favorite part!  I was so excited when I decided to use a bright yellow thread for quilting this little section.  I almost decided to do the whole piece with yellow, but thankfully I didn't.  It would have been too much!

When you think that a colony of bees consists of 20,000 to 60,000 bees, there wold have to be order.  It amazes me when I see a honeycomb with honey gushing out.  Did you know that bees are the only insect that produces food eaten by man?!  

Finished and ready to hang!

Size:  17" x 18"

Solids: Shot Cotton, Kona and scraps

Bee Fabric:  Emma's Garden by Patty Sloniger

Check out all the other wonderful entries in the 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge!

LINKING:

WIP Wednesday

Let's Bee Social

Can I get A Whoop Whoop

TGIFF

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' WIP

Here we go again!  Round and round and round I go...where I stop...

This idea was floating in my head spurred on by the 2015 Pantone Quilt Challenge.  Anne at Play Crafts and Adrianne at On The Windy Side are hosting this challenge again this year. 

You know the color?  Marsala.  I don't know how I feel about it.  Actually I do...I'm not a fan! I'm just not.  But, I seriously wanted to participate in the challenge and see what I could do with the color ~ or close to the color.  I'm going to blame this all on Anne (just kidding), she does inspire me and makes me want to push the limits. 

I pulled out some solid scraps of 'in the spirit of Marsala' colors to begin with.  I call this my 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' work in progress because I didn't have a clue what I was going to do once I started.  And I still am not sure!  Fun stuff, right?!  

I pulled out a couple Circle of Geese paper piecing templates and started there.  I just randomly places the different shades for texture.  The fabrics are a mix of Kona, Shot Cotton and random scraps dug out from the depths of the bucket.

A couple weeks before I started, during my brainstorming phase ~ I saw this gorgeous solid staring me down.  I decided it was going to be in the Pantone Challenge piece.  That I was sure of!  I think, but not positive this color is Bella Tawny Olive.

Hexagons.  Why not.  It may work, it may not!  

  

I guess I should say I also decided to use Emma's Garden by Patty Sloniger. (the top fabric)

The bee part anyway!  They were perfect as 1" hexies.  Sweet little bees...buzz, buzz, buzzing!

I'm a little bummed that I couldn't get the true color of this Tawny Olive.  It's similar to Kona Wasabi or Cactus.  I made a few 3/4" hexagons last night and this morning I decided to throw in some 1/2" as well.  Apparently I'm taking this project in some direction ~ hexagons seem to be the theme!

Moda Tawny Olive

Here I am.  At this point.  Is it the point of no return?  The point of contention?  Or pointless? If I only knew!  

Linking:

WIP Wednesday
Needle & Thread Thursday
TGIFF
Crazy Mom Quilts