Hexie Swap

It's been a while since my last post. I got caught up doing Uni, then Christmas, job hunting, no lights for 3 months etc. Now Uni is back on!! But I've been doing a little bit of sewing. I've been involved in a hexie swap. We are swapping 1" hexies. It's been fun. I've learned that I don't really like glue basting even though it's quicker (once you get over the learning curve).

These are the hexies I've sent other people.

These are the ones I've received in return. Next time, I'm going to pick a specific colour instead of fabric ranges (I said Civil War, 1930's or brights). Too much of a mixed bag with the options I offered. Now I just have to decide on a colour!! I think maybe yellow. I want to do a yellow and white quilt. Yeah, yellow next time.

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Japanese Yarn Dyed Hexagons

In another fit of madness, I've started ANOTHER set of hexies. This time 3/4" using scraps of my Japanese yarn dyed fabric. I am progressively cutting out a future project using my yarn dyed stash and "processing" the scraps as I go. Due to the odd shapes of the main project, there are lots of small, odd size scraps that aren't much use and I hate to waste them. So another hexie box is created.

I use a variation of the freezer paper method, using recycled photocopier paper wrappers. They work exactly like freezer paper but are double the thickness, which gives much better support when doing EPP.

I love these fabrics. I wish I could afford to make some dresses out of them.

 

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Hexagon Pincushion

I finally needed to make something with all my hexagons. So I made my first ever pincushion!

Here are the flowers sew together.

And here they are with the papers taken out and pressed.

In order to up my recycling quotient, I stuffed it with the inside of an old pillow.

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Hexagons

I have joined the craze! I have been using these as my handsewing project. Something to do infront of the TV or when waiting somewhere. I am doing them in 1930's repro fabrics.

I had planned on doing them with a yellow floral centre, but I am thinking maybe a more traditional yellow centre? Or is the plain yellow too bright? Opinions wanted!!!

I also couldn't help buying some of the new range of blenders that I saw at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago. Really loving the colours and patterns. I thought they lent themselves to 1800's repro patterns.

This is the range in a better light.

And here is Cleo helping me. I had them ready to iron after washing. They looked comfy!

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Hexagon Crazy

I have finally weakened and joined the hexagon craze. I have to admit I've always been a bit biased against the poor English Paper Pieced hexagon. I could never for the life of my work out why this technique was used as a beginner quilter method! It's not hard, but it ain't easy either!! Or fast!

So I have been enjoying all the projects people have been making and was persuaded to join in when Sizzix released some hexagon dies. I didn't want to hand cut the papers or buy them. I also didn't want to be using paper clips etc to hold them together. So what I've done is basically use the method I use for doing applique.

The Sizzix dies allow you to cut a variety of materials, including fabric. There hexagon dies come in a series of graduating sizes. So you can cut the papers using one size and the fabric the next size up. What I did was use the largest size to cut the papers and then just strip and rotary cut the fabric.

However, I didn't use normal paper. I used my freebie freezer paper substitute. Waaay back in the olden days when I was last doing alot of quilting and before Internet shopping was all the rage, getting hold of American freezer paper was quite difficult and expensive. The frugal quilters of Australia worked out that the wrapper paper that Reflex photocopy paper came in was pretty much the same thing. I worked somewhere that went through that by the box load. So over a period of several months, I saved dozens of sheets of it. So this is what I use for applique and what I used for cutting out my hexagon templates.

Above, you can see the die, the cut out reflex paper (with holes punched in the middle to stick a needle in and lift the paper from fabric for easy removal once all sewn up) and the templates ironed onto the wrong side of a 2 1/2" strip of repro fabric. I then rotary cut (very quickly and without a ruler - too much time), between the template pieces.

Above are the cut out bits. The bottom of the photo shows an individual unit before sewing up and after. I haven't gone through the papers, but rather under and over the fabric. This should make the papers reuseable and allow me to keep the papers in during construction.

Finally, here is what a finished piece looks like.

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