Hexagons: Getting Started

This is how I make my hexagons. There are several ways, but my mother taught me about 25 years ago to English paper-piece and so this is the way I know...

Step 1. Decide on your size.


I worked on the basis that I wanted to replicate the hexagon quilt my mother made. I used to lie on her very scrappy version and find all the rose bits so I decided mine should be mainly rose fabrics. Instead of using the metal templates my father made donkey's years ago, I went online and found a site that offered free hexagon templates that you could print out. I put in the size I wanted, printed it off and then photocopied the hexagons until I could fit as many as possible on one sheet of paper. I then photocopied that page full of hexagons. (This saves paper when you are cutting out your hexagon 'inners'). I remember my mother used old magazines for her 'inners' and that she had 2 templates. One smaller template was for cutting the papers and the bigger one for cutting the fabrics. If you want to make a template or templates you can use template plastic, old x-rays or even a lid off a thin plastic container etc (just watch that your templates don't have rough edges!)

I used an online free graph paper site which I now cannot find, but I still have the original pdf which I downloaded so if you'd like to make the same size hexagons as me, then let me know. Otherwise this site has a free paper template in 2 sizes:
http://www.lizardofoz.com.au/free_stuff/design_papers.aspx
and they also sell papers, template packs etc as do many other sites I am sure...


Step 2. Cut your papers



Step 3. Cut your fabric allowing for a quarter inch seam allowance all around.



If I am fussy cutting, I pin the paper on to the right side of the fabric and cut around moving the pin and paper to the wrong side after cutting.





Step 4. With a pin keeping the fabric in place and with a quarter inch all around, I begin by folding the fabric over the paper on the first edge.



Step 5. Baste your fabric to the papers with a neutral thread (this is in case you leave your basting thread in a long time to avoid colour runs). I do NOT knot the end of my thread, instead I simply back stitch and then continue basting.


(TIP: Use a cheap thread and save your 100% cotton thread for stitching the hexagons together later!)

TIP: If the end of your thread is not knotted then you should find that when you come to remove your basting stitches and papers later it is much easier.


Step 6. Fold your corners sharply.



You want nice neat edges so stop a stitch short, then fold your fabric over the edge and continue basting.




Do this for each corner. At the end back stitch a stitch or two again.


Step 7. Now you are ready to start sewing them together!



(Above you can see I am adding my hexagon to some already sewn together. I pin the new hexagon like that to start ONLY to see how it will fit in with the overall look. Then I pin it as I explain below to stitch it!)

Place 2 hexagons right sides together. I pin the edges of the side I am not going to start on.

(Above I am pinning my new hexagon to 2 already sewn together. The same principle applies: you sew 2 together first, then re-pin as you get ready to sew your hexagon to the next one... Does this make sense?)

Step 8. Hold your hexagons together, making sure that the edges match together perfectly. Start stitching a quarter of an inch in and then sew back to the beginning edge.




Then sew over those first few stitches towards the pin.


This means you don't need to knot your thread and that your first stitches are secure. I sew very small stitches and continue sewing to the pin. A few stitches before the end, I remove the pin and sew to the end.

Step 9. When you get to the end, do the same and sew over the last few stitches to secure them.



I do this even if I am about to sew another hexagon on straight away! You never know if you may need to unpick or that through wear and tear of your quilt top some stitches may come loose so I sew each end very very well.

Step 10. Ta dah! You are ready to add another hexagon and watch your quilt top grow.

Above you can see that I have sewn both sides of the new hexagon on to the rest. Once you sewn your first 2 together, you will see how easy it is to join them all together and there will be no stopping you!!

Step 11. Have fun! Hand work is a great way to truly enjoy those special fabrics!

TIP: Always leave the papers in until you are ready to baste the quilt top, this prevents your top from stretching out of shape.

Please let me know if I have not explained anything clearly. I LOVE English paper piecing and hope you will too.

Passing on the Quilting bug

Yesterday my lovely friend M came to visit. M had phoned during the week and said that she wanted to come and sew. Horrors!! My sewing room looks like the washing machine and tumble dryer have been breeding and there are childrens clothes everywhere!! (Due to my current disability it's easier if I have a stock of clothes downstairs for dressing little people, but it's getting ridiculous!) Anyway, M came and I asked what she wanted to sew... As she had nothing special in mind I showed her my Lilies...




and my hexagons...



M liked the hexagons so I have started her off her with a bag full of my spare hexagons already over papers. I look forward to her progress and I am delighted that my friend has an interest in this crazy hobby of mine :-)

While the hexagons were out to show M, I got to thinking about all the lovely rose fabrics I have received lately and the fact that it's only stalled because I need to put the rose panel in:

So I have cut templates for the edges and as soon as I have them in I will be ready for assembling the panel to the pieced hexagons...


Once the panel is in I can get ready to put the whole top together and after that I will just need to do the filling in of odd bits and most of the edges... So not much really :-) and I plan to tackle it soon... (except I have Lilies on the brain LOL)

I have been trying to decide on a Lily layout...


And I am pleased to have the help!

I guess he must think it's like a jigsaw :-)



A parting shot of the little ones on the farm trying to make a big escape!

It's my party...

It's been a lovely birthday this year.


There was cake.., (GF of course!)


Family to visit, so we had a lovely trip out...






T insisted on wearing my hat!




J informed us that there was another person on crutches which I found quite amusing (least he didn't shout it out LOL)


and lovely presents...

Thanks Hubs

I can't wait to start cooking with this baby!

Thanks Kate!

(Kate those hexagons are TINY!!!)

Thanks MIL!


I'm hoping something grows :-)

Thanks Estelle!:

So bright and summery!

Thank you VickyC!

So wonderfully rosy, I love the FQ and the card with roses and spots!

So I was thoroughly spoilt and very grateful for all the wishes, cards, thoughts etc... Thank you!

Wish you were here...

A friend I studied with in South Africa once said to me that she never got homesick unless the sun was shining. And it's true. When the sun shines I miss my South African family and friends very very much...

In England you find things like this bench at the side of the road...


And in Africa you can find things like this by the side of the road...

I bought this sewing person in Franschhoek from a vendor who had a little stall on the roadside.

His head, arms, legs, hand crank and scissors are made in a darker wood to the rest of the body, sewing machine, seat and table. The darker wood bits appear to have been glued on.

I love the ethnic fabric that he is 'sewing' and the bit of string representing the thread.


I do love things that you can sometimes be lucky enough to see at the roadside.

African swap block

Kate and I are still swapping African blocks, although now we are doing 6 inch instead of 12 inch blocks. I rustled one up quickly this week while looking for fabric to swap with Elsie who sent me some wonderful reds for my Lilies.



These were just quick blocks to let Kate know that I am still in the swap and will do something better next time I promise!

As always, photo taking in this house is tricky if you're not fast enough :-)



Birgit sent me a completely unexpected and lovely Easter surprise:


Thanks Birgit!


I received another lovely swap parcel this week as well which I will blog shortly. And I also won a giveaway so to celebrate that bloggers/quilters... are generous people I will soon be having a giveaway myself... also very shortly I will have been blogging for 3 years!

Has it been 6 years already?

Happy Anniversary Darlin'. Here's to at least 6 more! :-D

Cheeky Little Monkey

My little monkey quilt for our friend's baby girl is ready to be delivered...


I phoned to check the spelling of her name for the label and learned that they had decorated her room in non-gender specific colours i.e. reds and creams, but I love that this little quilt/playmat... is very gender specific. I think for Mom's like me, who only have boys it's nice to make something pink once in a while!!

The back is beautiful soft flannel from the same range of fabric and the fabric is all (except the shocking pink) from my win on VickW's blog way back when. I made the label from a scrap piece of pink monkey fabric...


I do hope she likes it enough to use it, throw up on it etc etc - :-)


My Double Delight is back from the Longarmers. It could have been here months ago, but I guess not every one knows that you should never leave a message with my husband if you want me to get it :-)))


I still need to unpack it and to decide on the binding for it, but I can't wait as it will live on our bed as soon as it's done!


Yesterday we did an Easter Egg hunt with the boys in the garden. I love this photo of what looks like a strategy meeting :-)


And they liked the baskets I made them too!

Happy Easter

We have not had any sun to take pictures since I finished the Monkey quilt so I thought I'd show some of the Easter crafting we've been up to in this house instead...

Normally I wouldn't craft specifically for Easter, but the boys had to make bonnets and eggs for school.

(DS2 refused to wear his so DS1 modeled both!)

Four cracked eggs later...


We ended up with 2 eggs for school....

Hopefully lessons were learnt that you can't play with them or hide them in your room!

One of my online groups had a challenge for March which was making fabric eggs.


The pattern can be found at: http://retro-mama.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-is-in-air.html

Lots of Lilies

I am still hand-stitching* my Carolina Lily by Marti Mitchell the English Paper Piecing way. (*The original pattern by Marti is for machine sewing, but I changed the sizes and just decided to do it the long way.)



Slow and steady wins the race as they say although I am in no rush anyway, I only work on it in the evenings or while waiting at hospital or physio appointments if I can. Now that I feel more confident about my leg, I sew for a bit on the machine on other projects or sometimes I just relax - vegetating in front of the TV is new to me, but sometimes neccessary as hopping and crutching around the house all day is exhausting, so I'm not always up to much even though I have many projects in hand yet again!

I discovered fabric glue works a treat for keeping those stems nice and straight - my second Lily's stems were very wonky after they had only been pinned in place...



Two whole Lily units are completely done with all three flowers and stems. One Lily unit needs the leaves and stems stitiching down, another needs the 4 units sewn together and then stems and leaves... and then I have many other flowers in various stages...

All in all I need 8 units with 3 flowers, stems and leaves and then some more flowers for the borders so I was delighted to receive a swap parcel from Elsie with more reds! Thanks Elsie! (Of course I have forgotten to take a photo of Elsie's great parcel, but perhaps I'll take one later and show it together with what I will send Elsie in return...)


The pink Monkey quilt has been basted, S.I.T.D.'d and I hope to sew the binding on tonight if I don't fall asleep while putting the boys to bed...


So more Monkey business next time...

Monkeying around again

Our friends have had a baby girl and so I thought I would make use of more of the wonderful monkey fabric that I won on VickiW's blog some time ago. Thank you yet again Vicki!! There were so many great bits of fabric in the parcel as well as one 8" nine-patch orphan block (with the green squares) and one 8" plain square of fabric (the one in the centre) so I used those as my starting point.

I decided on a simple layout which meant that I then just needed seven more 8" nine-patches which I cobbled together from some of the pre-cut strips and scraps. Then I needed sashings. I searched my stash... I'm not really a pink girl and only had a fairly bright pink that I could use. I cut the sashing strips only to realise I was a bit short, hence the pieced centre sashings :-)

I am not good at quilt maths which is why it is no surprise that I was short for the sashings, so even though I believe that "if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail", I also believe that quilting is fun and that surely you are meant to 'patch' things together with hopefully happy results...? I am happy with the result:


I am not going to put any borders on, but I am going to use some of the lovely stripey fabric in the parcel for the binding and also in the parcel was some soft and gorgeous flannel which I will piece together for the backing...

I hope to baste it and quilt it as soon as possible.

I had a hopsital visit today and although there is a tiny vision of bone regrowth, it's very slow and so I am still non-weight-bearing or at a maximun 'touch'-weight-bearing until further notice. I am so exhausted from these crutches and when my surgeon asked how I was, I moaned: "I'm cooking, I'm putting kids in the bath and to bed, I'm doing laundry, I'm running around after kids etc etc" and he said:

Drum roll please.

"Good!" LOL. I guess it's better than lying around all day, but it really is quite tiring!

Something Old, Somethings New

A few observant people noticed that I changed my blog header to a photo I took almost 2 years ago. . .



I guess that's not really UP-dating then is it LOL!

The original post with a few other photos of my version of Bonnie's Orange Crush quilt on a travelling caravan is here. I remember I drove around with the quilt top on my passenger seat hoping for just such an opportunity and even though a German tour bus stopped to watch me, it was a thrill to see my quilt displayed on such a work of art. I think these caravans are just amazing. Slow and a traffic nuisance, but amazing!!

Chris, the Longarmer, says my Double Delight quilt top is ready so perhaps I will drive around this summer (crutches and or leg - willing) with that quilt in the car, with the hopes that a friendly traveler will let me have another photoshoot. I do hope that wasn't a once in a lifetime thing :-)

On another note, I have put some of my coin purses in my Etsy shop.





More to come, I hope, but quality production cannot be rushed :-)