Valentine's Day hexagons

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! It is cold here today but my heart has been warmed because I recently received some sewing gifts in the mail. I thought I would share this hexagon heart that I made as part of The Hexie Blog's 2014 quilt along.

This lovely little pincushion was made for me by my friend Paula in California. She hand pieced this little gem which sits in an antique tart tin. The whole thing is made with lovely little fussy cuts. I love birds and so does Paula. Thanks Paula, I will treasure (and use) this little pincushion.

I also received a wonderful red pincushion from Tubakk of Norway who blogs at Den Syende Himmel. Tubakk is making the La Passion hexagon quilt which was designed by Grit Kovacs. You can see the original hexagon quilt made by Grit (along with the free instructions) here and Tubakk's version done in greens is here. Tubakk put out a call for bright green fabrics and I had some in my stash so I sent them off to her. As I watched the progress on her quilt I could see bits and pieces of those fabrics in the quilt. So exciting! As a thank you Tubakk mad a red pincushion for me. How perfect is that for Valentine's Day? She also made me a lovely little card from fabric scraps and I can seen a bit of one of the green fabrics in the card!

A quilt maker can never have too many pincushion. I have oodles of them and I use and enjoy every one of them!

Carli of Good Earth Quilting asked a question about the fabric requirements for my 2016 Quilt Along (QAL). I will be sharing the fabric requirement very soon. What I can tell you is that the quilt is mostly made from scraps but there will be three fabrics for which you will require specific amounts of fabric. The three fabrics I chose are a solid white, solid Empire green and a slightly darker Empire green print. I would like to get the quilt top put together so I can calculate the amounts of fabric needed and you can make the decision about your fabric choices. The good news is that I am making really good progress and should have a quilt top to share with you very soon. Just to keep you interested here is a picture of the centre medallion now surrounded by the solid Empire green. Unfortunately the green looks a little washed out.There are another two steps before the medallion is complete.

That's it for today. It is still very cold so I'm going to make a nice hot cup of tea and then work on my QAL quilt top. Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

Easier Than Pie is in rows and an expanded sneak peek

It is cold today and it is only going to get colder; I do love this kind of weather because it is perfect for sewing! The forecast for tonight is -23C and I expect there will be some wind which will only make it feel colder. Brrrr! As a result of the cold temperatures frost/ice quake warnings have been issued. Frost quakes are caused by ground water freezing and expanding until the pressure is to great. The the earth cracks and there is a loud explosion caused by the release of the build up pressure. We had several last winter but there was no damage. They are a very strange phenomenon.

Back to sewing matters. This is the third row made of my Easier Than Pie & Beyond quilt made with hexagon rosettes from my booklets. For those who are interested the patterns are available in my Craftsy Store.

The first three rows are stitched together and I think that the effect is quite pleasing and there was a little unexpected surprise! More on that it a minute. You will notice that there are voids on the sides. My plan is to fill those with half rosettes and I will use the same rosette pattern and fabrics for each of them. What those fabrics will be will be decided after the rows are all stitched together. I will want to use something subtle to keep the eye in the body of the quilt. If I use a dramatic fabric/design my worry would be that the eye would be drawn to the edges.

So what was the little surprise that I mentioned? When I was cutting my two fabrics for the hexagons that surround the pieced blocks I used the print to line up my paper hexagons. This rosette is called Barn Swallows and it is from Book 5. If you look at the hexagons in the 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 o'clock positions you will notice that there are little brown circles at the outside edges. When I was cutting I was more focused on the brown "crowns" that are along the inside edges so I didn't realize that those little brown dots would create a secondary design when they were stitched to the beige triangles in the path.

Below is a picture of what happened. It isn't a big deal but it is a little detail that adds some extra visual interest as well as another design feature. The point I want to make here is that no matter how much you plan you never really know what a quilt will look like until you start stitching it together! There are always little surprises that emerge as you stitch it all together.

Thank you for all of the positive feedback on the sneak peek of my 2016 Quilt Along. I showed you the head of one of the applique birds in the quilt. Want to see what the birdie looks like? Well here she is, my little strawberry thief! I showed her to someone and he his comment was "a strawberry tree?" Listen buddy, it is my quilt, my bird, my strawberries and I'll do them my way! If I want a strawberry tree or strawberries clustered like grapes, that is what I will have. It is artistic license!

Time to make a nice warm drink and settle down for some cold weather sewing on my QAL quilt top. Until I post again keep warm, happy sewing and listen for those frost quakes!
Karen H

Mixing the ingredients for my Easier Than Pie Quilt and a sneak peek

Thank you to everyone who has purchased my Easier Than Pie & Beyond hexagon booklets. I hope you are having fun making beautiful hexagon rosettes. I've made open donuts of twelve hexagons from two fabrics and surrounded each rosette with these rounds. This rosette is called Chubby Star and it is in Booklet 4.

So now it is time to assemble the rosetted into a quilt top and I'm pretty excited about how it is looking. The rosettes need to be joined with a path (think of the path as a sashing). I could have used whole hexagons between the rosettes but instead I decided to use diamonds and triangles. I just think that they look more elegant. I have a soft beige fabric in my stash and the print looks like a linen. That is the fabric I will use for the diamonds and triangles.

To make the diamonds I cut hexagons into diamonds which are one third of a hexagon.

To make the triangles I cut hexagons into triangles which are one sixth of a hexagon.

Each rosette will need six diamonds and two triangles. I baste a goodly amount of diamonds and triangles and then attach them to each rosette. This keeps the project portable and manageable. I will also need to add two extra diamonds and one triangle at the left side of the first rosette in each row but I do that after I've decided how to lay out the rosettes. There will also be diamonds and triangles added to the bottom edge of the bottom row. This rosette is called Ground Floor and it is in Booklet 1.

This is the first row stitched together.The path fabric is very subtle but that is the look I am going for and I think it will work just fine.

This is row 2. You can see how it will attach to row 1.

Also I am working on my 2016 QAL. I still haven't come up with a name for it but I am SUPER excited about how it is looking. I've remade one block and have two more to make for the outer border. Then it is filler bits and I can sew it all together. I think it is going to be a stunner of a quilt! Want a sneak peek? Well here it is! This little guy will be in the centre block. He is appliqued but if applique isn't your thing then a lovely large fussy cut print will make a great substitute. My plan is to show you the entire quilt top put together before we start the QAL so that you know what you are getting into.

I'm linking up with Val's Quilting Studio where the Tuesday's Archives theme is butterflies! Pop on over if you have time and see what other bloggers are sharing.

Time for me to do some more sewing. Stay tuned for more updates on my Easier Than Pie & Beyond quilt top. Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

And the winners are.....

Thanks to everyone who left a comment about my Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklets each of which contained seven hexagon designs. You can see them here. I'm working on more designs so stay tuned for updates. I am giving away one booklet (of the winners' choice) to five lucky people who left comments. Unfortunately there were several no-reply bloggers which means I was unable to enter them in the draw.

And now the moment you've been waiting for....the names of the winners!

Karen in Breezy Point

Cathy

Carole-Wheels on the Warrandyte Bus

Jo Ferguson

Quiltsmiles

Karen in Breezy Point wrote "I think I would start with Book 1 since the hexies don't look Easier Than Pie--lol!". Karen, you will be surprised at how easy the hexies and you'll be sewing up a masterpiece of a quilt in no time flat!

Cathy wrote "What to do, what to choose...... If you pick my number, book five please. They are so unique." Cathy is a fellow Canadian quilter and she recently attended one of my workshops. She is an avid EPPer so I hope she has lots of fun with my designs!

Carole-Wheels on the Warrandyte Bus wrote "Karen you're hexagons are always so amazing, congratulations on the publication of these 5 booklets. I'm still sewing your Value Proposition Quilt which has taught me a lot about values, Such a hard choice I would be thrilled to win any of the booklets but if I had to choose any it would be #5. Thanks for the opportunity!".  I can't wait to see what Carole does with her Easier Than Pie & Beyond patterns. She does beautiful work and so I'm expecting some really beautiful hexagons!

Jo Ferguson wrote "If I have to make a choice, I'd pick book 4....or 5. They all look amazing." Well Jo, it looks like you will have to choose because you are a winner!

Quiltsmiles wrote "Great idea publishing you tips and tidbits as you've have kindly shared all the while through your blogging. If I was chosen a winner of this giveaway, I think Booklet #3 would be very helpful with my EPP." I've said it before and will say it again, one of the things about quilting that is the most satisfying is sharing with others!

I'll leave you with a picture of one of the hexagon designs from booklet 3; I call it Butterfly Wings and it is in Book 3.  It is surrounded with the two fabrics I wrote about yesterday. I think it is so pretty and I love the movement created by the striped fabric in the outer donut (ring or round if you prefer) of hexagons!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to EVERYONE for the lovely comments. You make me blush! Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

What to do with all the little beauties?

If you've been following my blog you know I have a giveaway running right now. I've just published five new booklets of hexagons designs in my Craftsy shop. You have until Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 09:00 EST (that's 9:00 a.m. EST) to enter. You could be one of five lucky winners of one of my Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklets of hexagon designs. To enter simply leave a comment on this post telling me which booklet is your favourite! The designs look complicated but are so easy you won't believe it! If you can baste a hexagon and sew a straight line you will have no problem mastering these elegant designs!

I've promised to show you what I did with my hexagon rosettes made using my Easier Than Pie & Beyond methods and designs. So let me start off by showing you what a bunch of them looked like tacked to a small design wall. When selecting fabrics they were not made to go together; they are all made with scraps and leftover strips of fabric. I made them simply to illustrate my designs.  Each one is a little gem but I think that when they are clustered together so closely they loose a little of their sparkle. They need some distance between them in order to shine.

So what is the solution? Well I could have cut squares of fabric and appliqued each one to a square and then simply stitched the squares together with or without a sashing OR I could have surrounded each rosette with another round of hexagons and then sew them together with a path of hexagons. Rather than make a decision right off the bat I decided to delve into my stash of fabrics and look for inspiration. My gut told me that the rosettes had a buttery feel to them so I focused on buttery coloured fabrics and this is what I pulled.

The top fabric is what I used in the centre of each rosette . The next fabric had some of the same colours. It isn't a fabric I would have normally selected when shopping but it was under $5/yard (this girl loves a bargain) so I bought a couple of yards with a view to fussy cutting them at a future date. I wasn't crazy about the fabric which made the idea of hacking it up much easier! The bottom fabric was a small piece of fabric sent to me by a friend. I love directional prints and this is right up there as one of my favourites. My plan was to surround each rosette with the bottom two fabrics.

I have also been holding on to a smaller piece of fabric that would make a lovely border and it worked perfectly with the colours I had already selected. I wasn't sure whether I would use the floral print as a border or the black and gold bar print portion. I didn't have enough of the fabric to be able to use both parts. That decision would have to wait. The first thing to do was make an open donut that would surround each rosette.

I made an open donut to surround each rosette. Notice how I captured just half of the brown print from the middle fabric. I think it looks like little crowns that will look perfect atop each hexagon in my rosettes. The buttery yellow striped fabric positively vibrates! I used the stripes as my registration marks to line up my hexagons for placement and then cutting.

I know you are wondering what the rosettes will look like when they are surrounded by the open donut. Here is the first rosette. It is called Blenderizer and it is in Booklet 4 of my Easier Than Pie & Beyond hexagon rosette patterns.

Here is another rosette, Tea Time from Booklet 1. Notice that I didn't capture the same part of the striped print as in the rosette above. That is because I wanted to use the fabric efficiently and the repeat (the distance between the beginning of the print) was quite large so the space in between would have been wasted. Instead I cut one set of hexagons and then moved just enough to cut the next set of hexagons on the strip. In doing this there was very little waste and while the part of the stripe that was used is different around each rosette they all work because they are cut from the same fabric.

Once all the rosettes were surrounded it was time to decide "what next". I have written about breaking down hexagons into component shapes such as diamonds and triangles.  My Road 66 is made with diamonds and triangles as connectors and that is what I decided to do with my Easier Than Pie & Beyond rosettes. I had a fabric in mind and hoped it would work. It did!

Tomorrow I'll announce the winners of my draw and will tell you more about the Easier Than Pie & Beyond quilt top! Don't forget to leave a comment here to be entered to win one of my books of patterns! Until tomorrow, happy sewing!

One last bit of business, I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network's WIP where Canadian textile/fibre/fabric artist bloggers share with others. If you are a Canadian blogger why not join it and if you are from other part, pop on over and see what others are doing!

Karen H

Introducing Easier Than Pie & Beyond PLUS a giveaway!

I am so excited to introduce you to my five  Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklets each of which includes seven designs for English paper piecing. I developed my methods that combine English paper piecing, foundation piecing and made fabric in the late 1990s and have used them to make quilts that look complex but in fact are very easy to make! The rosettes can be combined in a variety of ways to create truly beautiful and unique quilts. If you can sew a simple whip stitch or a ladder stitch you can make these fabulous designs quickly and easily! I've assembled some of my designs into five booklets each of which includes 7 designs! The booklets are available in my Craftsy Store.

You may have noticed that I've used the same fabric for the centre hexagon in each rosette. I did that because I wanted to ensure that the blocks had a cohesive look and feel. The rosettes were made from all my leftover scraps and I didn't give much thought to how these rosettes would look when they were put together to make a quilt top but I knew that if I repeated the fabric in the middle of each rosette that they would look like they belonged together. I will share what I did with all these rosettes and how I did it in the days to come.

And now for the giveaway! Five lucky winners will each receive a pdf  copy of the Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklet of their choice! To enter simply leave a comment telling me which booklet(s) you would chose! That's it! It order to win I need to be able to contact you so if you are a no-reply blogger your name won't go in the draw. You'll know you are a no reply blogger because you will not receive an email from me confirming that you have been entered in the draw. To get around this leave a comment and send me a private email with your address (be sure to include your blogger name so I know who you are) and I’ll enter you in the draw. That way your personal information is kept private but you’ll still have a chance to win! The deadline to enter is Sunday, February 7 at 09:00 EST (9:00 a.m EST). Good luck and I hope you've enjoyed seeing my designs! If you just can't wait and want your own copies of the the patterns now they are available now in my Craftsty Store.

*** NOTE: THE GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED. THE WINNERS

WERE ANNOUNCDED IN THIS POST ***

Karen H

Making stars in hexagons with diamonds

How about just a little more hexagon fun? I wrote about breaking down a hexagon into three diamonds,

and six triangles.

Triangles and diamonds made from the same size hexagons that are used to make rosettes can be used to join those rosettes. If you missed that lesson you will find it here. My Road 66 quilt is made with hexagons that are 1 1/4". The rosettes are joined with triangles and diamonds that were made from the 1 1/4" hexagons that were subdivided.

For even more fun try enlarging a hexagon using the copy feature on your printer. The larger the hexagon the easier it is to subdivide into even more shapes. The hexagons in my Hexagreens quilt were 2 3/4" in size.

To make the math easier let's enlarge the hexagon to 3". You can easily break down this larger hexagon into twelve diamonds to create a star inside a hexagon.

So how did I break it down? I started by creating a master template - I started with a 1" hexagon and enlarged it using the copy feature on my printer until I had a hexagon that measured 3". I should be able to fit several of these 3" hexagons on a single sheet of paper. This now becomes my master template (I mark it so that I know it is a master template) and I will use this master template to make copies of my paper hexagons. I never cut up the original, only the copies.

I start by making a copy of my master template but I don't cut it out. I draw lines from corner to corner on a hexagon.

The next step is to mark the midpoint on each of the six sides of the hexagon. The hexagon measures 3" on each side so the midpoint will be 1 1/2". Draw lines from midpoint on the side to the opposite midpoint. I do three sides to create a triangle (green in the diagram).

I then draw lines from midpoint to midpoint on the remaining three sides (blue in the diagran). The lines should intersect perfectly. Please excuse my sloppy computer drawing skills; the lines do not intersect perfectly in the diagram but they will on the template provided the midpoint is correctly marked on each of the six sides.

At this point it is made up of 24 triangles which you could use to create an interesting design but we want to make a star in a hexagon so the final step is to remove the lines that dissect the diamonds so that what we are left with is twelve diamonds! Again please excuse the sloppy drawing but you get the general idea.

If you remember my lesson from January 28th you will be able to figure out that the diamonds above have four sides of equal length and it is one half the length of the hexagon. This means that if you are working with a 3" hexagon the diamonds will be 1 1/2" long on each side.

You can fussy cut six diamonds to make a lovely star and then use a plain print for the remaining six diamonds that turn the star into a hexagon.

I like the star shown below because it is made from two simple tone-on-tone prints and it is the filler diamonds that turn the star into a hexagon that are fussy cut. I had originally planned to sew them together to make a star but it just didn't work so I though why not use them as the filler diamonds and they worked beautifully!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If I can answer the question I am always happy to do so!

Tomorrow I'll be publishing my new English paper piecing patterns in my Craftsy Store. And there will be a give away too! I have five booklets titled Easier Than Pie & Beyond and five lucky readers will have the chance to win an Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklet of their choice! So come back tomorrow to see my hexagon designs enter the giveaway. Until tomorrow, happy sewing!

Karen H