Teaching and sewing

My mantra is "less talking and more sewing" however as of late I've been doing the reverse. I've been to London (Canada, not England) to do a trunk show of my work and to teach my English paper piecing techniques. The London Friendship Quilters' Guild is a great bunch of quilt makers. They were warm, friendly and inviting. If you live in the area and are looking for a Guild to join, you won't be disappointed. One of the unique things that they do is invite area quilt shops to most of their meetings so that they can talk about their shop and share their wares. What a great service, especially for those who don't drive. This month they had Laurie and Robin from Stitcharie in Wyoming (a small town in Canada, not a state in the US).

They had such interesting fabrics and they also carry Tulip Hiroshima needles and they were very well priced. We made a special trip to the shop after the workshop and I picked up a few pieces of fabric to add to the stash. The women who run the shop are friendly and they clearly love what they do. It was a real treat to visit such a lovely little shop.

I think the members of the London Friendship Quilters' Guild enjoyed my trunk show and the workshop. There was certainly lots of excitement when I started sharing my techniques for made fabric. I think they would have enjoyed having more time spent on fussy cutting so I think I will make some revisions to my course so that I can give more instruction in that area. I didn't take pictures but I know that others did and if and when they forward them to me I'll be sure to share with you.

All this teaching and talking hasn't left much time for sewing but I have completed my Road 66 hexagon blocks and here they are!

I love the wavy red and blue print. There is so much visual interest in a wavy print. I just wish there were more of them on the market. I especially like those that would fall into the reproduction category.

I was sent some pink ombre print by my cyber friend Paula and I used it to make the six hexagons swirling around the middle. It is such a great print. It also comes in yellow and green. I've managed to find an online shop and have purchased some more of it to add to the old stash.

I didn't quite get the white print lines matched up when I was making this block but a little touch up with a brown Sakura pigma pen and you can't even tell. If it isn't right there is usually a way to make it right!

This is the final block. I'm not thrilled with it but I can live with it. I do really like the red flower in the middle and I suppose the yellow round works well. There is a bit of a black print at the outside edges of the yellow hexagons and it softens the corners so that the yellow hexagons actually look rounded. Maybe it is growing on me!

All of these rosettes will be connected with a path made of diamonds rather than hexagons. If full hexagons were used it would result in a much larger quilt. My quilt Butterscotch Ripple was joined with diamonds. It creates a different look to the quilt, one which I really like!

Butterscotch Ripple by Karen H 2013

So where will I get the diamonds? Easy peasy! A diamond is simply one third of a hexagon. In the following picture you can see that I've dissected a hexagon into three diamonds. I already have a master sheet of hexagons that I used for my Road 66 blocks so I'll simply make a copy, dissect the hexagons, make copies of the dissected hexagons and then cut them out.

These diamonds will be relatively small given that the hexagons are 1 1/4" so what I will do before basting is to fold the seam allowances over the paper and give them a finger press; this makes it very easy to ensure that the diamonds have lovely sharp points. In addition I plan on basting through the paper rather than basting from the back. Why you ask? Simply because it will be faster, easier and I don't plan on reusing the papers so if they have needle holes it won't matter.

Before I sign of I want to remind you that diamonds aren't just for connectors. Three diamonds can be fussy cut and then sewn back together to create this sort of effect.

Or how about this one?

If the fabrics aren't fussy cut but instead you use a one dark, one medium and one light fabric you have a tumbling block. Here you can see they are joined with triangles. Where do the triangles come from? Six triangles make the same hexagon so you just divide a diamond in half and voila....magic!

Want to have even more fun? Twelve diamonds make a hexagon star. You need six for the star and six for the background. What I particularly like about this star is that it is the background that is fussy cut and the star is cut from two tone-on-tone fabrics. The fussy cut background was intended to be made into a star but it just didn't work so I hung on to the diamonds until I figured out another way to use them. Never toss those basted hexagons or diamonds because at some point they may come in handy!

If you are interested in reading more about constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing hexagons you can read my blog post here.

I've got almost 30 quilts to unpack, refold and store away until my next trunk show. But first I'm going to make myself a nice cup of tea.

I'm linking up with on Help for Hexie-aholics at Sarah Did It.

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Cornucopia Part Deux (or two)

Today I've got more blocks to share with you and a second class sample... so it is Cornucopia part 2!

Let's get started with three more of my Mom's Africa quilt blocks.

Mom loves grandmas, children and chickens. This block has two of the three!

I love this elephant block. You can see she embroidered a little eye and the tail is not entirely stitched down so it can swish the flies away!

There are seventeen applique blocks in total and they will be alternated with blocks that are a variation of the drunkard's path block. She has used all sorts of scraps to make these blocks. The off white fabric with writing is a Christmas fabric! There is actually one block in the quilt that has that same fabric and right in the middle of the pie shape is "North Pole"! How funny is that I ask you? But it all works!

Mom has all of the blocks stitched together and I am going to quilt it for her. My goal is to have it finished in time for our next Guild meeting! I'm going to have to work my fingers to the bone to get it done in time.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my Mom (Anne) or her work here is a picture of her taken last year at our Guild's quilt show. She is standing in front of a collection of her African wall hangings. She received the third place ribbon in Viewers' Choice.

I've got two more Road 66 blocks. The design for this quilt is from Di Ford's book Primarily Quilts. I made this first block in the winter to try out the large hexagons. The outer ring of hexagons was made from a scrap of fabric and I was really pleased with how the block turned out.

I love the blue and red serpentine print fabric. I looked for a blue that was similar and used it in the middle. I wanted to create the effect of one large piece of fabric and I think that I succeeded!

The last piece I want to share is my second class sample. I will be teaching all of the techniques I used to make this piece at the London Friendship Quilters Guild next month (that's London, Canada). I sent off both samples and they were shared with the members at the last meeting. I hoped that they enjoyed seeing them and that they are inspired to take the class and create their own unique masterpiece!

For those of you who want a copy of my pattern 81 The Giant Monstrosity, now is the time to download a copy. It will be free for only another couple of days so get your copy here now!

I'm linking up with Angie over at Quilting Readers Garden. Pop on over for a visit. There's lots of inspiration plus Angie is running a giveaway! And don't forget to visit Esther's link up party WIPS on Wednesday; there's always lots to see there too!

That's it for today, It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada so it is time to get cooking. Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H