Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Giant Hexie Quilt - Done and Gone

[sew].

Sewing till all hours of the night before you leave to Grandma's house for Christmas is fruitful. For my sister. Who ended up with this gift I like to call "Friday Night on the Farm in Saskatchewan in the Middle of Winter when your Husband is Away." Its a hexie quilt, a collection of romantic comedies on DVD, and a bottle of Baileys. 

Am I right?



I removed the borders.  I originally added them to make the quilt bigger since my first run didn't seem big enough for even a lap quilt. But, I didn't want to go through the work of ripping out half-hexies along the bottom and adding a couple of rows. All those zig-zags and pivoting made me a little dizzy. So, borders it was.

While the borders were ok (better in real life compared to photos posted), they just weren't doing it for me and I decided to lengthen the quilt the proper way. Late in the game considering I only had a few hours, but oh well!!



I did some simple quilting, as suggested in Karen's Giant Hexie Quilt pattern, outlining the hexies about an inch away from the edge. My word, it is VERY exciting seeing a quilt come out of its first wash and dry after being quilted and bound. The quilt rumples up and gets really cozy I tell you.


By far the best surprise for me was the backing because I fell in love with it. I had some of this Anna Maria Horner Night Garden in my stash - and saw that it was going to work colour-wise. But wow, when its quilted up? Wow. Let's just say I've ordered a LOT of it in this colorway (and in the pink because that looked delicious also) because its really rather stunning when quilted.  And exotic-looking. I like stunning and exotic looking, so I might just become more of an AMH fan. At any rate, I had just over a yard of it, so I had to creatively piece it with my Outfoxed Circles to come up with a full backing. 



I really loved making this quilt and loved giving it away, especially to my sister who totally appreciates this sort of thing! The hardest part was committing to fabric choices on the front, and to be clear I pretty much imitated Karen's gray/teal/yellow combination, throwing in a pop of red. I think it works ....


Happy New Year everyone xoxo. Hope to talk a lot more sewing with you very very soon :).

Edited to link up with Elizabeth at needle and thREAD.   And on that note, I suppose I forgot to mention what I'm reading ... I've got a few things on the go as usual, but one that has me glued to my handy dandy kindle is A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days at Sea by Rich Phillips.  Because I went to see the movie Captain Phillips the other night and it was amazing. The book is equally so.



Ok and that's really all for now my dear friends!!



9 comments:

  1. Love it! Beautiful job and great selection of fabrics.

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  2. Drool! This is amazing. Your sister is so lucky. Visiting from Elizabeth's.

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  3. It turned out fabulously!!!! :D Excellent job! And you are so right - pulling a quilt out of the dryer = happy dance time (unless, of course you have appliqued improperly. not that I would know any thing about THAT ;-)
    I see many more quilts in your future :-)

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  4. Stunning! Absolutely Stunning! I love the maizey yellow pearl bracelet binding... It really pulls the whole quilt together! I too have several yards of AMH Night Garden waiting for the perfect backing. I have my hexies cut. Do you have any hints for sewing? These babies are big :)

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    1. Thank you so much! Tips ... I used Karen's Y-seam tutorial and basically put together two vertical rows at a time - this happens automatically because as you add a hexie it forms two rows at once (alternating). I made sure to draw the 1/4" lines on the back but did this a I sewed but you can take the time upfront to mark all the hexies if you like. Then, I put the completed 2-row-columns together and this was finicky because you are basically sewing zig-zag pivots all the way down the row. I found that using a pair of tweezers was essential to help "straighten" out the tiny corner you are pivoting at. I pressed as I went along. I found it quite forgiving because the hexies are so large. I hope this will make sense as you sew! Good luck and I hope you'll add to Karen's flickr group so we can see!

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  5. I am Michelle's sister and recipient ("Lucky Lady") of this beautiful quilt! It was wonderful to snuggle under this cozy quilt after Christmas...when I came down with a nasty head cold ! Thanks Michelle ! Jose xoxoxo

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