Another preview...!

Hello girls! Here's some more work in progress...I'm very excited to show you my finished quilt top from our August wonky stripe block. I love the way it has evolved and come together. It was fun to play around with the layout and I liked the pairs together immediately.

Here's a snapshot of my chosen fabric for the backing. When Liberty released their first quilting weight fabric range 'Bloomsbury Gardens' I thought of my bee quilt straight away. This beautiful red fabric (with a hint of orange) is called Charles A. I was so glad my local shop had enough left on the roll :)

And now for the questions rolling around in my head....any thoughts as to what to use as the binding? I was thinking a plain red might be a simple option. Also, if I was to attempt to machine quilt (for the first time...!!) which design would you suggest?? Straightline/grid quilting or stippling? Although I have read that free-motion quilting is a harder choice for a complete beginner. Do you agree?

And, if I was to keep to the labour of love that is hand quilting....can you suggest a quilting design to use?

Please, please send your creative ideas my way..:))

Happy weekend!
Chris

A Sneak Preview

So, last night at quilting in Wellesley, we experimented with different arrangements of the circle blocks. We randomly placed each circle. Note, this is not the final placement, but it gave me an idea of what this quilt might look like. I thought that each of you might want a sneak peek too. Not sure when the actual piecing will take place, but I am EXCITED about the potential outcome. Shauna :)

Katy's Hexies for Genevieve...

Here they are! Genevieve, I loved doing some hand sewing and paper piecing and working with flannel!! What fun... I can't wait to see how you piece the final quilt together. Thanks for challenging us yet again! I'll drop them off at your house this weekend. xo K

Micaela's block for November - Kaleidoscope

Happy Halloween everyone! It's hard to believe it is November tomorrow.

 This month we are doing kaleidoscopes. My inspiration was this quilt from Kitchen Table Quilting

 

I love the way that the circles just seem to pop out when you're not looking right at them, and the more you look at the quilt, the more you see! I’ll be asking you to do two slightly different blocks.

I followed the directions from the Kaleidoscope Quilt-along on the blog Don’t call me Betsy. It’s a great site - go on over and check it out!

For the fabrics, I chose light greys for the background and darkish pink, orange and a little bit of purple for the accents.  I hope most of you will have some greys left over from Shauna’s raw edge circles. The colours can be any pinks, oranges or purples- scrappy is great -  and they can be prints, solids, or whatever, as long as there is enough of a contrast between the light greys and the colours to let the overall pattern show through once the quilt is assembled.

 

My apologies - you will need to print out a template, but hopefully at least some of the kinks got worked out last month. Here is the blog post with the link to the template on it, and the direct link to the google document.

Have a look at those links and see if they are working for you, and let me know you can't access them. The trick again with these printed templates, at least in North America, is to choose “no scaling” when printing it.  The height of the triangle (actually a parallelogram because of its non-pointy top) when measured from the middle of the base should be 6.5 inches.  Let me know if you have issues with this – I can print out and send to you if that is just easier.

I made mine out of thin cardboard and taped it to my ruler so that one edge of the triangle lined up with the ruler. The taping wouldn’t work quite so well if I was cutting them out of scraps though.

Cut eight big triangles of your pinks/oranges/purples and eight greys. If you are doing them in a strip you can cut a 6.5 inch high strip and then flip the template over after each cut to eliminate wasted fabric.

 

Then cut eight small grey triangles. You can use the template for this, or just cut 4.5 inch squares and then cut them in half along the diagonal.

 

Lay them out into two blocks so that the colours and greys are alternating. Then here is where the two slightly different blocks come in. Add small grey triangles to the greys on one block...

and to the colours on the other one.

Having these two different blocks will allow for the cool pattern shown in the first picture to come through.

Sew the small triangles to their respective big triangles and press seams (open seemed to work the best for me, but whatever you are comfortable with). 

 

Then sew each of those to the triangle that is beside it to create 4 sections.  Press seams. Repeat the process to create two halves, and finally sew the block together.

 

 

The blocks should end up being  12.5 inches square.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Hi everyone!
I'm hoping my hexagons will find a place in your quilt Genevieve...and that my stitching doesn't stand out too much. I must admit I was sooo grateful to read about Meg's early experiences with paper piecing. I definitely need more time to develop my skills :) I enjoyed exploring flannel and particularly love Nani Iro's 'brushed cotton' (fabric with the random small pink flowers).

Question for Genevieve

Hello!
Unfortunately I am still having difficulty printing off the template...ugh. I also realized that I do not have your address! I am planning to try a few different ways to print off the templates again and may just make them like Meg described. So sorry they will probably be a few days late. We are having MAJOR difficulties with the home we moved into in July and have been tied up with contractor after contractor and now an attorney. I will get the hexagons done and sent to you as quickly as possible! Thank you for understanding!
Amy (USA)

International Stashes Meeting: Switzerland

Today was such a fun day! I met up with Linsay this morning and she kindly gave me a hands-on tutorial on sewing together hexagons. We enjoyed a nice cup of tea and the view from her dining room table as we worked:

Her adorable doggie kept us company:

Then I came home and finished. I thought I would like working this way, and now I can say I love it! Genevieve, thanks for introducing me (us) to hexagons and hand stitching! I will have your pieces in the mail tomorrow:

While at Linsay's I got to know more about our lovely bee member. I'm sure she would be too humble to share, so I will brag on her a bit. She is making 22 lined vests (!!!!) for the band at the school of  her daughters. They will be used for a holiday program:

Lindsay has so many beautiful quilted pieces around her home, each one has a wonderful story behind it. This piece I just loved...she made it while living in Australia. The picture does not do it justice, there are so many fabrics, techniques, and other little bits to study and enjoy:

I also got to take a sneak peek at the blocks that we all made for Linsay in September. They are vibrant together and I know Linsay will add her magic touch and have another unique quilt to add to her collection.

Thanks Linsay for a great day!

Jennifer

PS: Book Recommendation

My Hega-go-go book arrived! If you have enjoyed sitting and sewing together hexagons, 

this book is full of fresh and fun new ideas!

Hexa go go

by 

 Tacha Bruecher