I kind of got myself in gear yesterday and got busy working on things. Before you know it I was finding things I had forgotten about – it all started when I was looking for my boxes of strings to see what kind of green colors I had to use for stems for the Dresden’s and I found two boxes of hexies left over from Handful of Scraps! A lot of them – I had originally planned on a larger quilt then what I finished with. The colors are already basted the neutrals aren’t – this might be just the thing to take along on our upcoming fall trip to the mountains! A new Handful of Scraps? I haven’t a clue how large or small this would be and might need to end up cutting more sometime along the way. I still have a bag full of these 7/8 inch hexies from Edyta Sitar. I don’t know why I don’t have more of her books and patterns I think I have one book only which was called Handfuls of Scraps which is where I got the name for the quilt I made. One thing that puts me off I suppose is the ton of tiny applique that she includes on a lot of them – I left the applique border off of the quilt I had made. My hands sometimes ache too much with doing EPP but I actually think it is Sue Daily’s papers that do that to me – hers are thicker and make more awkward to use I think ( but easier to remove the papers if you glue baste as she has a finish on them that the glue doesn’t seem to stick as hard on).
Anyway I did eventually go through boxes of strings to see what green I have for stems and leaves and I have plenty and pulled them out – one day I really need to get busy and make a string quilt or two as I have plenty to work with – these two boxes are tightly packed with mostly fold strings.
I have the centers glue basted in place on the Dresden’s and the body of the butterfly glue basted also – these are all ready for applique now and an embroidered antenna can be put on the butterfly – I will wait to do applique though until everything is made and pinned or glued in place – right now the big pieces are pinned to the wall so I can still play with arrangement. Maybe two more large flowers and a couple small ones, leaves, stems, and maybe another butterfly. This piece will have a bright colorful border that will use left over pieces from the Dresden’s maybe in a wedge shape.
Here are some close ups of these centers
The dotted one I had to get very close to or it just blurred. There are two with this center
Kathi wondered if appliqueing these pieces are the same as needle turn and they are actually easier as all the ends are turned under already – I will need to do tiny stitches though with a neutral thread so it won’t stand out – maybe a light to medium gray – for the flowers as the color changes so much – the centers will have matching thread and the stems also – the flowers would just take so many thread changes to have it all match up though I doubt I will do that. (one could of course machine applique but I don’t think my machine work is good enough and I don’t want the stitches to stand out)
The stems to – already ironed over
I will make about 3 or 4 more plates and see what it looks like. And here is the quilting on Crossroads
I don’t think I showed the quilting for a couple days. I will be linking up Slow Sunday Stitching — Quilting is More Fun than Housework — Life in Pieces —
Here is what the sweater looks like now – the front done – I slipped it on to get a feel for it – the seams of course will be done when the crochet is finished. Now will it be comfy? I hope so – the back has the sleeves done and I’m starting on the body.
Bluprint has some new sales going on as this is their birthday month – here are the listings if you are interested. The sales are from today through the end of the month. I have the links in the photos to go to the sales.
This one expires on the 20th
The background looks so inviting on your Dresdens….lovely. Forgot that you did the hexie quilt! I have hexies all over my house, I swear as they are perfect for carrying to the senior center. Susan
I’ll stick those hexie boxes in the camper with some thread and pick them up to work on then. they are easy to carry around –
Hi Karen,
I’m working on a hexie quilt and I punched a hole in the middle of each hexie paper. This makes it easier to remove the papers, I just insert my blunt tipped scissors into the hole and pop the paper out!
Blessings
I normally do not find the papers hard to remove unless I have glue basted and then you have to gently remove and tug all the ends up with your fingers
Maybe, pretty Please share where you got the pattern for your sweater! It is so pretty! You did get busy and made wonderful progress!
the sweater is a free pattern from the Danish site called Hobbii – here is a link to the sweater: https://hobbii.com/product-patterns/free-patterns/indradha-jumper
Thank you so, so much!
Loving the layout and with a few more added flowers it’s going to be ready to go!
the wall hanging photo that I am going by has a lot of stuff on hers I do not plan to have it quite as packed full as her is but I do want to add a few leafs and buds too
Thanks ever so much for all the info on how you plan to stitch down the dresdens and the color thread you plan to use… I am LOVING this project 🙂 So many hexi’s you found oh my!!! You could add some hexi flowers to your dresden project or add hexi flowers or diamonds in the outer border that is to come.. just a thought.
I love your quilting progress and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Your sweater… I hope it is done for your trip out west.. you will use it there for sure!!!
Have a wonderful day and I am so glad you had such an eventfully full Saturday too!
Kathi
I don’t plan to add hexies to this project and I will save them for them for something else. I should be able to finish the sweater this week or next – it is coming together rather easily and then I will not start another for awhile but I am planning on bringing a crochet project on the trip just not sure what it will be – I have yarn for an afghan and another sweater
Those boxes of already basted hexies are a fun find! Great idea to take along when traveling. I love the stems connecting your Dresdens, too. So nice that you found just the right strings that will work for that project. Your sweater is really coming along – from the picture you would almost think it was finished!
I’ve got about 10 inches or more to crochet on the back of the sweater. The stems kind of show where I am going with the project I think – now to do some leaves and blossoms too
The Dresdens make me smile every time I see them. I love the whimsy of this piece. So lovely!
thanks! I’m glad I happened to glance at the wedge ruler that day and the charm packets and thought hey this could work!
Everything is progressing so nicely. I love the sweater!!
I do think I can finish the sweater this week!
The dresden quilt is going to be so cute!
thanks – I’m having fun with it-
Boy, you were busy yesterday with all your projects and ideas for new ones too. Your sweater looks great on you, such a lovely color. You found a lot of hexies too that will be keeping you busy. I’ve been finding a lot of different things I had forgotten about too while packing up, its just so crazy when you forget about them, lol! I certainly will be glad to have them all in one place instead of everywhere. Have a wonderful Sunday, back to packing for me.day
Oh Dottie I can just see you finding projects already started or put aside that you wonder when you got them – I have 3 quilting kits put aside from Black Friday and none have been started and at times I wonder if I should just add the fabric to the stash or make them with the patterns! And yes and then I found the hexies and still have others started that I really want to finish – maybe next year should be the year to finish all that has been started before making anything else — as if that will happen LOL
Many others hand piece hexies while on the road. Dresden flowers look perfect. I think you’ll be better satisfied with hand appliquing them in place than fiddling with the sewing machine. Hand quilting and crocheting progressing along nicely!
yes hexies are easy to take in the camper to work on – they do not take up much space and already cut! I love hand work so yes will prefer that to trying to do applique by machine
Your idea using the dresdens is so clever. I’m really looking forward to seeing this one done! I’m going to look at that jumper pattern it does appeal.
the sweater has been very easy to crochet – I have to constantly count stitches though as I tend to drop them more than add.
I didn’t realize at first that the sleeves were below the elbow or I would have made them longer but this might be comfy with a lightweight long sleeve tee shirt under it too
That sweater looks like it is going to be warm and comfy. I am impressed that it is crocheted. I love those dresdens. That is going to be a pretty quilt. Your quilting on Crossroads is beautiful. Enjoy working with those hexies.
I need to learn to knit better before I try a sweater! I have several learn to knit classes on Bluprint that I need to watch one day – I find crochet pretty easy to do and like learning the new to me stitches.
I love the addition of the butterfly and stems to tye dresdens. Its becoming a very pretty whimiscal quilt. I have trouble with my hands when I do EPP too so I just stick to hand piecing in moderation
I like these paper pieces from Edyta Sitar’s package they are very light but Sue Daily’s are much heavier almost like heavy poster board and do not bend easy – but I can’t EPP for hours. I added some little buds and more stems to the Dresden’s not a lot more to do but must get some leafs cut too
Those Dresden’s are so bright and beautiful! Such a happy quilt! Your EPP should keep you occupied when you are travelling!
yes I would think they could, I would also bring yarn and one other project – maybe the Dresden’s to applique.
I have a whole pile of prepared hexies too – not idea what I’m going to do with them! I have the same problem with my hands when EPP with thick paper, I have discovered an Australian designer ‘Tales of Cloth’ they use thin recycled card, it’s much easy on the hands and she has some fun modern designs.
I like these thinner papers from Edyta Sitar it sounds like they might be about the same as the ones you discovered – some papers are so thick for this work. I’m not sure but I think the papers from Paper Pieces are thinner like this also — I don’t know what company the hexies are from as they have little quotes on them. I have taken a long break from EPP – the quilt called Brimfield Awakening I was using EPP and I was working on another design at the same time with the same kind of papers but hands started to get really sore so I switched to hand piecing it – I was doing too many I think.
I really like the Paper Pieces weight. I agree that the heavier card stock is harder to EPP with, especially since I hand baste through the papers. I have a couple of hexi punches and recycle a lot of junk mail that way, but sometimes, I just have to toss the really stiff ones because it’s so hard to get the needle through that it hurts my hands after a while.
I prefer to thread baste if the pieces are one inch or under but usually glue baste larger – but the thicker the paper I agree the harder it is to thread baste through them. I have heard a lot of people say they collect up the junk mail order forms that are in magazines as they are right weight – I agree with that but I don’t get magazines! I would need to grab all that I see in doctor’s offices or other places that I see magazines at LOL
When doing EPP I do not stitch THROUGH the paper, just baste the corners down. I’ve got a Hexi that I have not worked on this year, and a Tumbling Blocks one that also is in time out. Other more pressing things have come to the fore. BUT when I do work on them I need to remind myself to quit after one or one and a half hours or that night and the next couple days my hands will ache. We have to be careful and pace ourselves as we get older. Perhaps the Dresden’s and stems could be machine appliqued? That would help alleviate some of that pain if you choose.
I don’t have pain with applique just when I hold on to the papers for EPP after awhile – applique though has never bothered my hands. If the EPP pieces are large I glue baste and do not stitch through papers.
When I cut my EPP I started with those cards in the magazines but then bought card stock copy paper to cut with rotary cutter for my paper foundations. It works well till time to connect the blocks to the next ones, stiff, and less forgiving. But helps keep a nice sharp edge.
I have used freezer paper for EPP papers they are very light!
Love your Dresden flowers! That is going to be such a fun quilt. Lots of progress on multiple fronts last week. Hope this week has been as good. Thanks for linking up with the 15 minutes to stitch each week.
I guess for me we should change that to 15 hours to stitch LOL — I need to get back to the Dresden’s today seeing as it will be back to warmer weather this afternoon and I know I won’t be outside too much.