Teepee and canoe, the man in the moon and another hexagon project

I've completed another tiny world make-do pincushion. I found this wonderful pottery dish at the local thrift shop. I liked the earthiness of this dish and thought it needed a pincushion with an outdoor theme.

So here it is.....a teepee and a canoe that are lakeside. This was a fun pincushion to make and it is my own design! I call it Teepee at M'Chigeeng. M'Chigeeng is a town and a lake on Manitoulin Island. It is the largest fresh water island in the world and it is located on one of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron.

Here is a close-up of the teepee and canoe.

I had promised to show you some close-ups of the hand quilting in A Pound of Stars. My camera and computer are co-operating (for the time being) so I was able to take some pictures. I started at the edge of the squares and simply quilted concentric squares until I got to the middle. I had no idea how to mark a quilt so this was a perfect solution!

Here you can see an even larger area which is made up of four squares. Rather than quilt them individual I quilted them as one large square.

In the ice cream cone border I quilted a crescent moon, Saturn, stars and in each corner the man in the moon.

Close-up of the man in the moon

Finally I've decided on just one more hexagon project. This one should be relatively quick and easy because it is entirely machine pieced with 4 1/2" hexagons and equilateral triangles. The quilt is in this lovely book. I don't normally make quilts from patterns but there are some lovely ideas in this book so I just couldn't resist. I'll put my own touches with colour selection and quilting!

The name of the quilt is Hexagon and Blue Star.

 

 

I have a nice pile of charm squares many of which are more along the line of reproduction fabrics and I think they will look great as large hexagons.

 



 

I've been through my stash and selected the background ad border fabrics.

I have had the lighter blue fabric for some time and I thought it would work well. It is a nice soft blue with a hint of green so it will work as a neutral and really show off some more colourful fabrics. I recently saw this striped fabric and decided it is the perfect inner border. I'll use only the blue stripe because I think the yellow and golds are a little more subtle and they add a nice highlight.

The first step will be to make the hexagon templates to make the cutting go a little faster. The second step will be to cut the border strips from the length of the fabric so I don't have to piece the border and from the leftovers I will cut the equilateral setting triangles.

Until I post again, why not keep me company and start another hexagon project?

A couple of things that have been on my mind

Today it is glorious outside. The sky is a rich azure blue, the temperature is mild and the trees are starting to change into their Autumn colours. And it is Canadian Thanksgiving!

There are a couple of things that have been on my mind lately. They are quilting (hand vs. machine) and pressing seam allowances.

Do you press your seam allowances open or closed. More and more I am thinking that open is the way to go and this is why. Pressing to one side results in very bulky seam intersections which are difficult to quilt through. When seam allowances are pressed open the intersections are less bulky. Lately I've begun pressing seam allowances open. I like to machine quilt and since I tend to quilt rather densely those seam allowances are well secured. With Lazy Punk I didn't press my seam allowances open and so the quilting is more challenging in those areas, especially around the cornerstones, and therefore it is less fun. This means I dread quilting those areas and so I put off the quilting which is why it isn't finished!

Quilting the cornerstones in Lazy Punk

And speaking of quilting there appear to be different points of view and some hand quilters look down on machine quilters. I've quilted many quilts by hand and by machine but my poor hands find the hand quilting makes the joints hurt.

 

Hand quilting from the back (I made this in the mid-1980s)

 

Hand quilting from the front

I want to protect my hands so I've shifted to machine quilting. Like hand quilting the basic method is straight forward and also like hand quilting it is a skill that takes a lot of practice to master. My machine quilting is not there yet but I'm working on it!

Lazy Punk quilting today

Hand quilting is beautiful and amazing but I can say the same of machine quilting. Just take a look at the quilts made by the likes of Harriet Hargrave and Diane Gaudynski. It is definitely heirloom quilting.

Diane Gaudynski's book - one of my two favourite books on machine quilting

Harriet Hargrave's book - my other favourite book on machine quilting

Close-up of Harriet's machine quilting

Close-up of Diane's machine quilting

My lovely Grandma, pictured below, homesteaded in northern Alberta, Canada.

 
 In addition to clothing, she made quilts and comforters. When she had a machine she sewed by machine and when she didn't have a machine, she used her hands. I once asked her about quilts and hand quilting and she told me this: when she sewed by hand because she had no other option but if she had a machine it would all have been done by machine. Her quilts and clothing were made to be used. Those that we consider heirlooms are heirlooms because she made them. The fact that some stitches are hand done and others machine done doesn't our appreciation of her quilts and comforters.

What is most important to me is to find happiness, joy and satisfaction in whatever I do and that means a little hand quilting when I can but lots of machine quilting. And the other thing that is important to me is to share knowledge, ideas, methods and techniques with others and to inspire them to create. My blog is the vehicle I use to fulfill that objective and machine quilting allows me to make more quilts so that I can give them to the people who are important to me.

On this Canadian Thanksgiving Monday I am thankful that you read my blog and I my hope is that I inspire you to do your own thing in your own way. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks - just find the joy and happiness in every stitch you take whether it is by hand or by machine!

Until I post again, happy sewing!