SFO -> JFK

SFO -> JFK
119 one-inch hexies basted
JFK -> SFO
70 one-inch hexies basted, plus some piecing. For some reason I'm never as efficient on the flight home.

The wrenches continue to be the most controversial fabric in this project. But I love them, so there.

Hexagon WIP

I've made quite a bit of progress on my hexagon quilt lately.

It languished in a corner for several months, but recently I've spent a fair amount of time on airplanes, and hand-piecing hexagons is a great way to pass the hours. This is not without its hazards, as my fingers tend to be pretty sore by the end of a six-hour flight. On one trip I wore my right elbow raw on the armrest from the repetitive stitching motion. I didn't even realize it until I stood up to get off the plane.

The design has expanded a bit since my original sketch and may yet grow more. I'm currently working left to right. All of the large four-inch hexagons are done (with some machine piecing) and I have mostly small one-inch red ones to add to the right side.

My favorite detail so far is the way the small shapes meet the big shapes with half hexagons.

Hexy update

The one-inch hexy count has reached 820. I've started hand stitching the pieces together into larger hexagon blocks. Over the holidays I hope to start working in some four-inch hexies over the holidays.

Wedding quilt

We just gave this quilt to some good friends for their wedding. The pattern is 'Sexy Hexy' available for free from Amy Butler. It was a lot of fun to make and I enjoyed working with the bold bright prints. It was also my first experience working with glue stick - the center hexagons are stabilized with freezer paper, the seam allowances glue sticked to the back of the paper, and then top stitched to the already assembled outer rings of the hexagon. It made the tricky business of matching the corners very easy.

The biggest challenge on this project was completely self imposed. I fussy cut all the hexagon sides (except the columbine and lindy leaf, if memory serves) for maximum kaleidoscope effect. That's a lot of fussing! But I'm glad I did it.

The pieced back is a calmer palette of two blue fabrics.

I ran with the floral theme for the quilting. It's a free motion loopy daisy pattern (photo by Stacey Sharman).

The quilt is finished with a hand-embroidered label attached to the corner binding on the back of the blanket (photo by Stacey Sharman).

Fabrics:
Lindy Leaf, Pocketbook  and Welcome Road by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit
Sunflower, Flower Fields and Columbine by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit
Bubble Burst by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit
Lotus Pond by Amy Butler for Free Spirit
Sophie's Garden by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit
Posh Petals by Khristian Howell for Anthology Fabrics
Mod Trees by Giancini Atelier for Anthology Fabrics

Something different

Here's a peek at another project I'm finishing up. In the past I've worked with finer, more tonal prints, so using large-scale, mostly floral fabrics was intimidating and exciting. The color palette also stretched my comfort zone. I'll have more photos soon.

It's been a while

I put down my sewing projects for a while, but lately I've been busy again. I have several quilts in progress that I'll be posting about. Today I offer the hexy count update: 617

I think it's time to start sewing them together.

When I started quilting...

I swore I would never do this:

Obviously something has changed. My first 125 one-inch hexies are basted and ready for piecing.

Hexagons

I'm thinking about starting a hexagon quilt project. I have so far avoided hand piecing in favor of the efficiency of my sewing machine. I am such a slow hand sewer. But these days I get fidgety when I have a free moment and nothing handy to sew. In the interest of always having something to take along on a train, in front of the tv or with the kid at the park, hexagons seem like a perfect long (long) term solution. 

I am going to use the English paper piecing method, which involves wrapping fabric around paper hexagons with a temporary basting stitch, hand stitching adjacent hexagons together and then removing the paper and the basting thread. 

The palette will be based on the rich red and royal blue in a shawl Hamish brought me from India.

I haven't settled on a pattern yet, but I know I'm not a grandma's-flower-garden type of guy. I'm toying with mixing small and large hexagons (3/4" and 3" sides, or 1" and 4" sides), with large fading into small. I colored up a few copies of a quick concept sketch. 

Red bigs fading into blue smalls:

Blue bigs fading into red smalls:

Blue fading to red, big and small:

I thought I was going to like the mixed colors best but right now I'm leaning toward blue bigs and red smalls. I guess that decision can wait until after I choose a size and cut out a boatload of paper hexagons.