Monday, July 27, 2015

Design Wall Monday Update

Hello! Yesterday I promised that I would show you some of what I've been working on lately. You may remember, before my "quilting drought," that I started an EPP hexagon quilt with patriotic fabrics. My goal is to make a large star quilt to donate to Quilts of Valor. I have gotten some work done on that since I last wrote about it. The hexagons are 2" per side, so 4" going straight across. The center measures 28" across:
The first two star points are finished, although they are not actually attached to the center yet:
This has become too large of a project to really take anywhere to stitch on, so this summer, I decided to start another EPP hexagon quilt.
I'm using Kaffe Fassett's delicious fabrics, with his "grape" colored shot cotton for the center. I have one little rosette finished. Eventually I plan on making some stars out of these hexies, so for now, I'm calling this "Hexie Stars". For this project, I'm using 1" hexies. Here are some more hexies, basted and ready to go. I basted these while in the car on the way to my in-laws' farm. Basting doesn't require too much precision stitching, so it's a great way to while away the 5-hour trip.
Shelley at Elsie's Girl had a fabulous suggestion: buy a Fiskars hexagon punch (available in the scrapbooking section of your local craft store) and use it to punch out all those magazine subscription inserts. The inserts are a great weight for EPP papers, and much cheaper than buying the papers pre-cut.
 
Besides these, I've started a new leaders/enders project. (If you're not familiar with leader/enders, here's a description by Bonnie Hunter.) I first fell in love with this pixelated heart quilt a few years ago, and kept it in the back of my mind. Then Sharon brought a pixelated heart quilt which she had made to quilt guild, and I knew I needed to make one soon. So I've been cutting out 2.5 inch squares of low volume/neutral fabrics for the background. I have a few sewn together so far:
Hopefully I'll have this done in time for Valentine's Day, but we'll see!
 
I have actually been working on some other things as well, lately, but the laundry is calling, so I'll have to tell you about those on another day.
 
I'm linking up to Judy at Patchwork Times and Jessica at Life Under Quilts.
 
Happy stitching!


9 comments:

Sarah said...

Whom ever receives your RW&B QOV quilt will be a very lucky lady or gent!!
I invite you to join my monthly hexie linky party on the 17th of each month!

Pamela said...

Those Kaffee Fassett fabrics are wonderful! Working with those colors will be fabulous.

Lisa J. said...

I love the red white and blue hexies. Looking forward to seeing a finish whenvever it comes.

Marti said...

I like basting hexies on car trips also. Love the colors you are using there. It's always fun to see them start taking shape.

Anonymous said...

I love your rwb start. Those 2" sides go a lot faster than my 3/4" ones! Not that I'm in danger of finishing either one - or the 1" or the 1.25 inch ones either. =) I thought about the punch, but realized I'd wind up making my carpel tunnel worse, and then one day, I ran into a lady at a quilt shop who had finished her hexagon quilt. She said she had hundreds of papers she didn't want, and she went right home and got them and brought the back to me! She was right, there were hundreds! So I'm set for a long time, I think. =)

Anyway, I was wondering what happened with your CQJP - that black one you were doing? It was so pretty and I wanted to see it finished, if you did. I'm still doing the project (not the 2013 war posters - those I finished), though I'm 2 months behind this year - Wizard of Oz book covers. 'cause I'm cq4fun on wordpress, too. =) Though I haven't posted this week - haven't done anything.

margaret said...

making a large quilt out of hxies is quite a challenge best of luck! I do enjoy hexies, did the hexie BOM last year and doing it again this year too

VivJM said...

Lovely work! I think the Kaffe Fassett fabrics are going to make the most gorgeous hexie stars ever!

Christa said...

What a great idea for using those magazine inserts, which are otherwise wasted! Your hexie stars are cute- great work!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Glad you are back!!!