Hexie Part Deux: Ready for Binding

I have had a love hate relationship with this quilt.  I love the fabrics (civil wars) and the process of English paper piecing, but it was hard to love my overall design.  After I got this far, I knew it was time to wrap it up.

I quilted with a simple meander.  Given it was hand-pieced, I originally had plans to hand quilt, but even letting it side idle a span of time didn't motivate me for it.  This year is the year of finishing stuff, so it was time.

All done!

Then came the problem with the binding.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with all these edges.  It finally hit me that I could curve them.  Why not!?!

...and after cutting.

It seems to look alright.  I just have to dig up fabric for binding.  I have never sewn binding on a curved edge, but I think I can figure it out easy enough. I can't imagine a life anymore without YouTube.  Don't know how to do it?  There's a video for it!

I am gifting it as a table topper for a lovely lady who always shares her scraps with me.  She always does things for others, so it will be nice to do something for her.  I travel briefly to New York soon for a job interview, and this mini quilt will slowly make its way to its destination then.

Stay tuned!

Post-Vacation Update

I had a nice post completed yesterday and when I hit post, it was lost.  If I had completed the post on my PC, a draft would have remained.  Since I completed it on my cell phone, no draft was saved.  Grrrrr.  I had to walk away from it for a day.  Today is a new day, so here I am!

While on vacation in beautiful Maine, I made great progress on my EPP project.  I also kept up with my exercise, which made me happy.  Exercise is such a huge part of my routine; without it, I feel like a slug.  I won't bother you with any post-exercise pictures (I wouldn't take any anyway), but I have some hexie photos to share.

I finished a stack of 28 blue hexie flowers.  They now wait for their turn to add to the mother ship.

I also made great progress on the ring of neutrals which will be next to add to the mother ship.  Out of 30 needed, I have 19.  Perhaps these will be done before I move to Florida at the end of the month.  As I look at the design, I think I will add another ring of neutrals.  I want the band of neutrals to be a bit thicker than what is shown.  Thoughts on that?

Finally, I want to share with you a somber sight.  I packed up my sewing area this past weekend.  I hope I can find a small corner of our (smaller) Florida digs to set up station.  I will post pictures when that happens.

Also, I wanted to thank some of my fellow bloggers, including JulieK, Sharon, and others who went out of their way to contact me and inform me I was listed as a "no reply" blogger.  I hope I have fixed the issue!

I have linked up to Life Under Quilts to share my hexie journey.  Check them out!

Hexie Update 427/???

Greetings all!

Time to update everyone on Hexie Part Deux!  I have made a lot of progress this week.  Thus far, 427 hexies have been added to the mother ship.  I will use Civil War neutrals to make the next ring of hexies, followed by a ring of orange or red, then the blues.  I suppose after that, it will be time to start lengthening the quilt, because it will be quite wide after the next two rings.

Just as a comparison, I am including a picture taken one month ago (below).  I suppose time stuck in an airport and on planes helps with EPP projects!

Check out Life Under Quilts for more EPP Projects!

Hexie Part Deux

I was laying out my next ring of hexie flowers and realized I can't count...I have to make ten more red flowers.  I might just have to go shopping for more reds!

This is not the best picture.  7 of the outer red flowers are attached and the rest are just waiting for free time.  I guess I will start counting and keeping track of my progress as an incentive to continue.  I will count my hexies once they are attached to the mother ship.  So far, the mother ship has 308 hexies; this week I have completed 49 of them.  So I guess I would rate my progress as 49/308/???.  I actually have no idea how many will be in the finished project.

This week I have also basted 196 hexies and cut out fabric for more than 200 (my neutral ring).  I bought a pack of civil war neutral scraps from etsy a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised with the variety.  I think I purchased about 1.25 yards worth for 9.50 (after shipping).  Not too bad.  I cut about 90% of them for this project.  I use my dining room table for my cutting.

I am linking up with Life Under Quilts to share my hexie progress!

Flight Prep

Today I am stuck in the house because my oldest is sick with a head cold.  Poor thing.  Thankfully a weekend full of events seems to have prevented my youngest from being stir crazy - he is such an active kid!

Later this month I travel to FL to find housing while I finish my internship year.  The airport time will give me an ample opportunity to work on my hexie project.  Here is the project to date.  I finished the green/yellow later.

I mentioned in the last post that my hexies were 1.25," but I was mistaken.  I am using 1" hexagons for this project.  In the last week, I have spent time on cutting out cardstock hexagons, cutting fabric, and basting.  Here is my main hexie sewing kit.  Recognize anything, Joan?  I have the next round of reds ready to assemble.  My grandmother unloaded a bunch of cheap thread (Coats and Clark) on me which has come in handy with the basting process.

I am more than halfway through basting a blue layer I will need later on in the pattern.  I wanted to be sure I had enough for my upcoming Maine vacation AND the flight to FL.  I am making good progress.  I purchased a cheap pair of 4" scissors which I hope will make it through airport security.

Next I will need to start collecting more civil war neutrals.  I don't have many, and will need plenty for the "background" of this hexie quilt.  This weekend, my LQS is having an anniversary sale, so I will go then to see what I can get my hands on (which will include the outer border for Acappella).

Have a fun week!

Hexie: Part Deux

I told you today would be the day I would share my hexie progress!  Well, here it is:

I am working on attaching the ring of reds now.  I think I am about halfway done.  I probably will be taking my hexie assembly on the road while connecting them to the "mother ship" while at home watching TV.  Ok, I will be honest.  Past August, I am not sure I will have much time to work on this.  It will be around, however, for the bits and times I have to do something without the luxury of being able to work at my machine.

So far, my stitchery is better.  I am using 1" hexagons, and getting about 15 stitches to the inch.  Most are pretty invisible too.  I am happy with the progress I am making, technically speaking, and am pleased to take my time to make sure the work stays precise!  After all, I will be working on this a few years!

Here is a closeup photo of one of the hexie flowers.  I don't know what qualifies as an "invisible" stitch, but I am happy with how it is coming out.  The stitches on the last GFG quilt were far more visible.

Here is a back photo.  I basted my fabric on the flower without piercing the card stock form (I ended up being cheap and cutting out a bunch myself).  Last time I basted the fabric right down on the card stock.  One other change is pressing my work more frequently.  I didn't do it enough last time and it made a difference when it came down to preparing the quilt top for quilting.

Lastly, I will share a photo of my travel box.  See your bag, Joan?  It has everything I need to work on some hexies in my free time.  On Wednesday, I had my kit with me at school and was able to finish two between classes.

Mockup

I played around in EQ5 (yes, EQ5), and came up with a mock up including the outer area of the quilt.  Feast your eyes!  The picture is horrible and cut off in the corners, but it will serve as a great guide for number of flowers needed and color scheme.  I plan on some feather quilting in the open corners.

Who needs EQ when you have...

....graph paper and crayons!  Well, if I had a few hundred to throw around I might just pick up a copy.  Until then I will do this the old fashioned way!

This is an approximate layout of the new quilt.  I don't have room to take sewing equipment with me on vacation, so I am starting the next english paper piecing project.  I am not a huge fan of the black and I will replace that color with gold tones.

I ran out of room and could not mess around with the corners, but this will be the main part of the quilt (above).   Below is a picture of the civil war fabrics I have been stashing for more than a year.

Below are the greens and neutrals.  It seems I may need more greens, but I like the range of colors.



Below is one of my favorite fabrics.  I bought it on sale at my LQS and they don't have any more.  This is a fabric I could buy in bulk!

Do you have a favorite fabric you wish you had more of?