Let there be hexagons

I've mentioned that there will be hexagons in my 2016 Quilt Along quilt which I call The Empire Quilt. Today I thought I would share a picture of one of the eight hexagon blocks that are to come. This design reminds me of a wagon wheel. I chose to use variegated shades of teal for the six spokes but they would be equally nice were they made from a single fabric (maybe fussy cut for extra zip)!

The bird blocks that I've shared seem to be very popular so here is yet another. These three little birds are kookaburras, need eyes and feet. Kookaburras are a type of kingfisher native to Australia; I know that the colours are wrong but I used the scraps of fabric that I had on hand so my kookaburras are pink! The little crests on their heads are made from leftover scraps from my Easier Than Pie & Beyond quilt border print fabric. Their wings are made from an earthy tone leafy fabric; I used it because the print looks like feathers. The background fabric is washed-out in this picture.

In this picture the background fabric colour is more accurate. Now my little birds have eyes and feet. I stitched their feet using a simple chain stitch but they looked rather small and flat so I stitched over the chain stitch with a satin stitch and the feel loot much more dimensional. I used a variegated thread so each bird's feet are a little different! The eyes were cut from a fabric with a circle print. I needle-turn appliqued them in place. They are small but they were appliqued in no tine flat. An alternative would have been to embroider little eyes or use my ink pens to draw then on. There's always more than one way to do things.

The next step was to reverse applique the birds to a square of white fabric. As cute as the birds are I think the block looks bland.

There was too much blank space so I once again did some broderie perse applique. A leaf was appliqued to the top of the circle, and to the midpoint on the branch. At the far left a cluster of blue flowers was appliqued. I'm much happier with this block with the extra bit of applique. Sometimes you just need to add a little more to make it right.

My blogging tine will be limited this week because I've got a trunk show scheduled and a workshop so I'll be away from home for four days. I'll try to squeeze in another post before I go. Until then, happy sewing!

Karen H