a sprinkling of far far away half hexagons

Posted on July 8, 2009

Can you guess what our weather was like over the holiday weekend?! Let me just say that it left plenty of time for sewing and quilting. Morgan and I even took Monday off from work to make it an extra long weekend, and still more rain. We did manage to sneak in a bit of beach time, a little lunch on the lake and a spectacular fireworks display though. And due to all the rain, I have another completed quilt for you!

ffa-hexes1

I hope you’re not disappointed in this one. I think my sneak peek may have led everyone to believe that it would be an entire half hexagon quilt, when in reality, there’s just a sprinkling of hexagons. I think an entire hexagon quilt out of the far far away fabrics would be wonderful (and I still might make one!)… I just thought that I’d try it out first before committing to cutting so many half hexagons!

I actually like this one quite a bit. I like the way the hexagons stand out and I think it’s a great way to showcase a favorite fabric, without having to use too much of it!

ffa-hexes2

I had bought a couple yards of the pink frog prince fabric when it first came out. I think I had it in mind to make a dress or a shirt out of it, but I never got around to it, and so I gave it up to use as the backing of this quilt. I love having a big piece of the far far away fabric on the back of a quilt because it’s so soft! Of course, if I had been thinking, I would have made sure to keep the top small enough so I wouldn’t have to piece the back…

ffahexesback

I stippled this one (on the new machine!) using a nice variegated thread. It worked well to tie in all the different colors on this quilt. And once again I used the lime green solid from Joelle Hoverson’s Net of Jewels. It matches the greens in the Far Far Away perfectly, and it has a similar soft feel. This quilt measures about 40″ x 50″.

ffa-quilting

I’m continually told that I have too many quilts, and while I disagree that you can actually have too many, I guess I have to agree with Morgan that we’re running out of room. I’ve started separating them into piles of “must keep” or “might possibly be able to part with”. I think this one might go to the second pile, since I already have two quilts made of the far far away fabric… It should also be noted that I did just sell two quilts from that pile… that’s progress people! (thanks to Sarah and Ginger!)

And this one’s now for sale here! Sold! Thanks Lana!!

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abstraction

Posted on July 7, 2009

I know I say it each and every time, but I love this quilt! You may recall that this one was inspired by the backing of my second time around quilt. I loved that abstract look, and decided to do another abstract design for the front of this quilt.

abstract

What’s kind of fun about this type of quilt is that it doesn’t really take too much thought. I didn’t spend any time selecting fabrics — instead I just used whatever was out – I grabbed pieces that were laying on the craft room floor, and other smaller pieces from my scrap bags.

abstract25

For the back, I knew I wanted most of it to be a solid. I opted for my favorite Kona green – I don’t know the exact color name, but trust me when I say that it’s a fantastic color. For a little added interest, I added in a strip of scraps… alternating scraps with the white fabric. (and this strip actually inspired my next quilt, which I’ll have to show you later this week!)

abstractback

The quilting is nice and simple – just straight lines. I did horizontal lines in sections, 1/4″ apart. I did a section of about 4 or 5 lines, then skipped down a bit and did another section of a few lines (and repeated for the entire quilt!). There are also a few vertical lines, randomly spaced.

abstractback2

This was the initial test of the GrandQuilter, and I can tell you that I’m quite happy with it! It was really nice to have the extra space to put a larger quilt through, and the speed of this machine made the quilting go by rather quickly. I’m a fan, yes indeed!

abstractbinding

Some notes on this quilt:

*Finished size – 58″ x 70″

*White fabric = Robert Kaufmann bleached muslin

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in progress.

Posted on July 2, 2009

I don’t have much to show today, since I seem to have fallen back into a bad habit of starting new projects before finishing the last. I’ll show you what’s in the works though –

I’ve been working on a scrappy quilt, again inspired by another quilt back. My scraps are once again out of control and I had hoped this would help, but so far I haven’t noticed it really making a dent. (is it possible that they multiply at night?)

scrap-quilt

And then, since I kept seeing such lovely half hexagon quilts, I had to get in on the fun. This one will be a baby quilt, with hexagons made out of Far Far Away fabrics.

ffa-hex-quilt

I also have the second abstract quilt ready to be quilted, but before I can do so I have to figure out how to use my new machine…

grandquilter

The name alone intimidates me. The GrandQuilter. I don’t think I really need anything so grand. Maybe they could have just called it the Quilter.

In any case, I have a manual to read. And then I should probably start practicing. Apparently it’s capable of 1600 stitches a minute, which just makes me fear for my fingers. I’m nothing if not clumsy… case in point? Just this morning I managed to dump my morning coffee right down the front of my shirt… not the outside mind you, but right down under my shirt – between my shirt and skin. Lovely! (luckily I like it with A LOT of milk, so it was only warm, not scalding!)

Anyway, hope the weather’s great where you are, and I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

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