Hexagon Quilt Update

August 28, 2013March 10, 2014 See Kim Sew2 Comments

I started this English paper pieced hexagon quilt back in April since it seems like everybody and their brother is making one. I don’t want to be left out! I think it’s cool when the new craze is really something old. I thought it would be a great take-along project to use up even the tiniest scraps. This is a variation on the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. Most of those patterns have another layer of colored fabric around the flower but as usual, I dove into this project before really looking at the patterns so this is how mine is going to look. That’s what I love about quilting, there’s really no wrong way to do things.

I found a free hexagon template sheet online and printed it out on card stock on my printer. One sheet had 28 hexagons on it and I think I’ve printed out 3 sheets now. I cut out the templates and they make a nice stiff pattern to sew around but are still flexible enough to pull out. This is sort of an inch-worm project. I cut out some tiny pieces of fabric, sew them into hexagons using the templates/patterns, sew those together, pull out the templates on the inside pieces and start over.

This is a great project for watching TV, long car rides (when you’re not driving of course), watching 3 hours of talent at the Miss Missouri State Fair pageant, etc.. I’ve done a lot of these activities this summer so I’m making pretty good progress. Now that I’ve gotten this far, I started thinking about how to finish this project. I wasn’t sure how to square things up. A quick search online looks like some just go with a jagged edged quilt and some just cut the hexagons to make a straight edged quilt. Obviously I have a long way to go but you get to thinking about these things when you’re piecing little tiny pieces!

Kansas City Star August Block of the Month

August 25, 2013March 10, 2014 See Kim SewLeave a comment

This month there were two block patterns! I was happy to find out that they were easy blocks so no problems putting them together. My biggest problem was deciding which fabrics to use in my dwindling supply of reds. I looked at the picture of the entire quilt and I think there are only 4 more blocks; obviously since there are only 4 more months left in this year. So I think I’m going to be able to stretch my red fabrics out until I finish this quilt. I can’t wait to see it all together.

Signature Quilt

August 19, 2013March 10, 2014 See Kim SewLeave a comment

It’s been a busy summer but I’ve dragged myself back to the sewing machine. I wanted to finish up this quilt top since it’s made from blocks that I received last fall! These are signature blocks that were made for me when I left Germany and the Black Forest Quilt Guild. Those sweet ladies sent them to me after we got settled in here.

These are scrappy friendship star blocks that most of the ladies signed for me. I got an odd number of them so I had to make a couple to get everything to come out square.

Here’s my cat trying to help me. Since the blocks didn’t make a very big quilt, I decided to add some sort of border. With all the scrappy colors, I thought a scrappy piano keys border would look nice. I added a small white border to separate all the colors and bring out the light background around the stars. I also made smaller friendship stars for the corner blocks.

It’s a very colorful quilt! But I love that my friends signed the blocks and I’ll always be able to remember them. I have no idea what fabric I’ll use to bind this quilt. I could use the white or maybe some dark fabric.