My first hexagon quilt

Tags

blue, hand quilting, hand sewing, hexagon, hexies, mini quilt, neutrals, old shirts, shirting, table runner

(c) 2016 by hs

I’ve been a quilter now for almost twenty years, and I’ve never done English Paper Piecing. It has a reason: I don’t like the shape of hexagons too well. It sounds strange and I can’t really explain it.

The reason I started a hexie quilt anyway was that I liked the idea of carrying along with me a small hand sewing project. To tell the truth: I carried this one along with me once, on a weekend retreat, rehearsing with our orchestra. Never before and never again. I found out that I don’t like carrying my sewing projects along with me. I like to work on my quilts at home, and when away I like doing whatever I went away for.

(c) 2016 by hs

To make a long story short: it took me several years, I guess as many as seven or more, to finish this one small quilt. It makes me quite ashamed.—But in the end, I should be proud of me for finally finishing a project I never warmed to.

There’s one further special thing about this mini quilt (14.5 x 26 inches): I used four old shirts of my husband to make it. A rather bittersweet fact, now that we are separated since four years. That’s the reason I won’t sell this quilt, although maybe I should.

(c) 2016 by hs

I used one inch (self-made) paper hexagons. I sewed the basted hexies together in rows, and appliquéd the whole piece on a blue background. Then I hand quilted it, using two layers of a low loft polyester batting. The only time I used my sewing machine for this mini was when sewing the binding to the front side. It is kind of cool to remember that.

(c) 2016 by hs

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Jeweller’s Showcase

Tags

blue, brown, civil war quilt, quilt, reproduction fabric, shirting, yellow

(c) 2016 by hs

It’s been a long while since I sewed something worth showing, and that’s why I haven’t posted for so long. As soon as I had finished the last Celtic Lady, I dived into another big cross stitching project. The piece is even bigger than any of the previous ones, though not the biggest I ever did. It is by this time a good half way done—and I needed a break. Or rather, I longed to sew.

(c) 2016 by hs

I have two quilt tops lying in the closet, finished some time ago. I pulled them out both and made each into a quilt sandwich. The small quilt, Jeweller’s Showcase, I hand quilted within one Sunday morning and bound it the next day. The slightly bigger quilt went back into the closet because I desperately wanted to sew something. Something new, at my sewing machine. So the next top is already done by now, and I am resolved to not start anything new until these two are bound. Only a little cross stitching in between is allowed …

(c) 2016 by hs

(c) 2016 by hs

Jeweller’s Showcase is available at my etsy store.

Jeweller’s Showcase

Tags

blue, brown, civil war, quilt, quilt top, reproduction, reproduction fabric, reproduction quilt, scrap quilt, shirting, yellow

(c) 2015 by hs

Again, I am presenting a reproduction fabric quilt top. This time, colour combination is blue, brown, and yellow. The quilt consists of very simple blocks: four patches, and … more four patches.

There are two kinds of four patches, though: some consist of blue and yellow fabric, the others of brown and shirting (background) fabric.

(c) 2015 by hs

The four patches were set on point and sewn into diagonal rows. That was the antipole to the simple design of the four patches. Setting quilt blocks on point is always challenging. And doing it with many tiny blocks, inaccuracies quickly add up, I assure you. But I still managed it, just not quite as easy as I had anticipated.

(c) 2015 by hs

This is the last in a row of quilt tops. Now I am determined to sew no more until I have finished at least two of the four tops that await being quilted. Batting and back all ready. Let’s go!