Hexie Baby Quilt

Need a quick and easy baby quilt? This might be what you are looking for.

I have a hexie tutorial here if you haven't done hexies before or want to check out the method I use.

You will need:

1.25 yards background (I used a natural linen)
Frixon pen (or other marking implement)
long ruler
70- 2.5" squares of fabric (you can use Moda Candy, jelly roll, or scraps)
1" hexagon paper piecing papers
1.25-1.5 yards backing ( I like a little extra backing when basting and lining up my top)

Step 1:
-sew up your hexagons using your preferred method
-iron the hexies and take out the papers

Step 2:
Mark your fabric
-draw your first line down the right side 5" in from the edge
-draw a second line 7" from the edge
-third line is drawn 9" from the edge
-the last line is down from the top 2.5" between the first and second line. This will help place the first hexie

Step 3:
-place the hexies and pin in place as shown. I pinned and sewed in 3 sections. For me, more than that and the pins would be a problem

Step 4:
-sew up and down each hexie row. It looks like a zig zag.
-I wasn't worried about the bottoms and tops not being sewn down as the quilting would tack it all down

-all done.
-quilt as desired. I am thinking about writing up a tutorial on the method I use to mark, baste, and quilt my quilts.

All of our Up Parasol bundles are on sale and the fat eighth bundle would be perfect to make this quilt.

fat eighth bundles $5 off
fat quarter bundles $10 off
half yard bundles $8.99 per yard

If you are looking for yardage convo me at our Etsy shop and I can set up a custom listing for you

 

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Hexie Tutorial

Welcome to Vintage Quilt Thursday! Last week I shared a few fantastic vintage Grandmother's Garden quilts made with hexies.

Today I am sharing how I sew my hexies. There are several different method and each has its merits.

This is my hand sewing kit. I can take it with me or have it sitting my my sofa. In it I keep a small pair of scissors, neutral thread, sewing needles, hexie papers (I am using 1" papers), and 2.5" squares.

The bag is made with the Sew Together Bag pattern. Heather wrote a Sew-A-Long for this pattern and made it easy for anyone to make a triple zipper pouch.

Moda Candies are the perfect size for the 1" hexie papers. 
I used those and hand cut 2.5" squares from scraps and fat quarters. When hand cutting I lay one paper on the fabric (folded several times if a fat quarter or large scrap) and use it to eye ball a square and cut.

In my left hand (I am right handed) I hold one paper and one square, the paper on the wrong side of the fabric.

Fold the top right corner down and then fold the adjoining side down. Hold with your thumb.

With a threaded needle, single strand with a knot at the long end, go through both fabrics in the corner.

Take two stitches in each corner. Do the same fold and 2 stitches in each corner.

All done. You can see I did not go back to the original corner so you see no thread stretched to that corner.

I do not trim my fabric but leave it as a square.

Joining 2 hexies.
Place 2 hexies right sides together.  Use small, shallow stitches to whip stitch the 2 sides together.

Using shallow stitches will ensure your stitches do not show on the front. And if they do, thats ok too.

Ta-da.

Here is the back.

There are many different configurations when joining the hexies.

I am going to share 3 hexie projects (2 quilts and one accessory) that show 2 different configurations.

The first project, a quick and easy baby quilt, will be up Saturday. See you then!

Fancy Fox with Emmy Grace

 I looove this quilt. I had intentions of giving this to middle daughter but now oldest daughter wants it. I am thinking of making another fox quilt out of this fabric for her.

Like the jump ropes and twine tied to my tree? They are going to have to be cut off, those girls can tie knots.

Heather quilted figure eights and its perfect. Did you know you can mail in your quilt top and backing and Heather will quilt your quilt and mail it back? Check it out!

 

The fabric is Emmy Grace by Art Gallery. This company has the softest, best quality fabric.

We have only a few bundles left of this line and some bolts left. I need to get some yardage for a pillowcase soon. I have decided to make a matching pillowcase for every quilt I make. Then they can store the quilt in the pillowcase.

The pattern is Fancy Foxes by Oh, Fransson. I am thinking about making a few blocks for a pillow out of some of these fabrics too.

I have this quilt hanging in the shop so when you come in you can feel just how awesome this fabric is.

Sewing Machine Mini Quilt

I am pretty pleased with how well this mini quilt block went. I am sure I thought it would be harder than it looks.

I still can add a little needle with floss. I may have to outline the "SEW" with a darker perle cotton so it stands out a little better.

I used Lori Holt's Cut Press Sew Quilt Pattern. There are 3 other mini quilts to make and I think the 4 blocks could be put together to make a whole quilt.

For now it I think it will go in a pile with my other blocks I have made from Vintage Quilt Thursday. I am toying with the idea of putting all the blocks together into one quilt at the end of the year.

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Grandmother's Garden

Hooray for Thursdays and vintage quilts! Today I am sharing 2 Grandmother's Garden quilts from Heather's personal collection.
 

Each flower features lovely fabrics and many are fussy cut, like these pink roses.
Each flower also has the traditional yellow center.
Can you imagine the hours, years that it took to make this. Yes, women didn't have television or malls to visit (or Pinterest or Instagram!!) but they did have laundry to wash and meals to cook from scratch.

Then! all the tiny hand quilting. Those boxes on the green are about an inch big.

I'm not sure what kind of batting is in here (cotton of some sort, flannel?).  Check out the bottom right corner and you can see a peek of the back of the quilt. The backing is all white but you can clearly see through the quilt with the light shining through. It s very light quilt!

Heather also has a  red and white hexie quilt. I love this quilt too but I think I would be bored out of my mind stitching up only 2 color hexies.

Next week I will be sharing how I stitch my hexies and a baby quilt pattern. Don't worry, I won't have you making a year long project. This baby quilt can be made up in a weekend (or less).

I will be using 1/2" hexies and we have some in the shop (and a few other sizes too).

And remember how I said Far Far Away is my latest fabric love?  Check this one out. Gah, I want to make all the quilts! I do have a pattern picked out and I am trying to decide which fabric line would work best.

Vintage Quilt Thursday:Dresden Plate Tutorial: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Dresden Plate Tutorial. You can find Part 1 here and the Vintage Inspiration here.

First, an apology for the delay. I got ridiculously sick with the flu Thursday morning and was laid up for several days. It feels good to be up and about again.

You will need:
Background fabric 18"X18"  (I often cut my fabric to be appliqued on slightly bigger and then trim it after. The applique process can shrink the square a bit. I cut this square 18.25")

Pins, I like applique pins. They are smaller and I don't get poked with them like regular pins

Hand sewing needle and thread to match

Start with your 18" square background fabric. Fold it in half and press the fold with your finger.

Fold in half again and finger press the seam. Open your square and you will see a cross hair pressed on the fabric. If you have trouble seeing the lines you can lightly press with an iron.

Use this to center your plate circle.

 

You can see (barely, sorry) the middle cross hair is lined up with the center seam of the two blades.

Place a pin in each blade to hold it in place (I am showing regular pins here). Don't stretch out the blades or your center circle will not fit properly. 

Needle turn the edges under 1/4 inch.

The way I do it is to bring the needle up from the back, flick the edge of the fabric blade under with my needle and catch the edge (like you are sewing a binding). I turn under less than a quarter inch.

This is the back showing my stitches.

Place your prepared circle over the center, pin in place to hold, and stitch around to secure. You can use a blanket stitch, a decorative stitch, or a simple straight line. I straight line stitched very close to the edge of the circle.

Voila. I have a variation blade to share with you so you can mix up your dresden plate blocks. I also have another fun vintage block for you coming up starting with the vintage quilt inspiration this Thursday.

You can check out our previous Vintage Quilt Thursday posts and the tutorials by searching Vintage Quilt Thursday in the search box.

My next great fabric love is this line by Heather Ross, Far Far Away. My youngest daughters and I came up with a fun project to make with this.


Block details:
Background Fabric
Plates and Center fabric

Link for Fabric Members
Background Fabric
Plates and Center Circle

Want to find out about Fabric Memberships? Here you are

Part 1 Here

Vintage Quilt Tutorial: Dresden Plate Part 1

Welcome to Part 1 of the Vintage Plate Quilt Tutorial!

Today I am going to show you how to make the blades and center circle. Next time I will show you how to attach it to your block

You can check out my vintage inspiration here

What you will need:

Template Printout
Scraps, fat eigths, fat quarters for blades (you need a piece at least 3"X5")
cardboard or template plastic
Frixon pen (or pencil)
thread and needle

You can see I just traced the paper but if I made more I would trace it on to cardboard or template plastic. I use a Frixon pen to trace because the lines come out with the heat of my iron. I don't worry about making mistakes and leaving behind ink marks.

You need 19 blades per plate (blades are the individual pieces I am tracing above. A plate is the blades all joined together)
You can use as many or as few different fabrics as you like.

With right sides together sew all 19 blades together at the sides (1/4" seam allowance).

I made a mini design board and laid out the blades in a pattern I liked, carried the board over to my sewing machine, and sewed the blades together. Lori Holt has a great tutorial for these design boards

You can press the seams open (like above) or to the side. For my finished block I waited until all 19 blades were sewn together and then I ironed the whole piece, seams to one side.

Tada!

Now on to the middle circle.

Use the large circle template to trace and cut your fabric. I fussy cut this awesome bird from Heather Bailey's Up Parasol

I dont have a picture of this step but you can see it sort of in the next step.
Hand sew a basting stitch around the edge of the circle. Make sure your thread has a know at one end. It doesn't have to be pretty. When you get to where you started go a few stitches past. Leave a thread tail

Place your smaller circle template in the middle of the wrong side of the cut out larger circle (for this part you will need to trace the paper template on to cardboard or template plastic)

Pull the thread tail holding the cardboard in place. The fabric edges will gather up over the circle.
Iron the front and back of the circle. Remove the cardboard.

There you have it. Now go and sew up a bunch of blades!

All fabric is from Heather Bailey's line, Up Parasol. You could easily use a fat eigth bundle for this project.

Fabric Members here is your link  . You can also find yardage of the fussy cut bird fabric there too.

Download the templates HERE
Part 2 here

See you next time!

Eerie Mini Quilt

Hello Tuesday! Today I am sharing a mini Halloween quilt I stitched up.
Anyone recognize the pattern?

The fabric is Eerie by Basic Grey.  It uses a charm pack and 1/4 yard of background fabric.

It's Thimbleblossom's mini house pattern, Dwell.

I hand stitched  a few places with perle cotton and machine stitched around the houses.

I had enough charm squares left over I used them for the backing. In fact, I had enough charm squares left over I could have made another mini quilt (with more background, of course).

And, in full full disclosure, I haven't finished the binding. Half of it is pinned so I could take pictures. I have a few binding projects just waiting to be finished.




Here is the Eerie lovliness in all its glory. Basic Grey is one of my favorite designers, We also have fun fat quarter bundles available.
I also made a few kits