Film in the Fridge » hexagons

tufted tweets in the kitchen!

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:26:23 +0000

Our kitchen is pretty neutral, so I try to add color with kitchen towels. And what’s brighter or more fun than Laurie’s new Tufted Tweets fabrics?!

I used two of the prints to make a couple new sets. Each is backed with flour sack towels, and paired with a little vintage cotton rick rack around the edges.

In our kitchen these towels do a double duty. Sometimes they act as hand towels, hanging on the over door (and adding a little color!)-

and sometimes they end up over here in this spot next to the sink where we pile the just-washed dishes. This size fits there pretty perfectly, and I like seeing something pretty while doing a chore I dislike!

And then, since I had already been working on some Tufted Tweets hexagons, I kept on with the kitchen theme and turned them into a couple cute potholders.

I hope Laurie likes Tufted Tweets in her kitchen too, because these potholders will soon be headed her way. It seems only appropriate, since they have her name on them!

___

Notes:

You can find a tutorial for rick rack napkins here. The dishtowels are made exactly the same – just larger! Mine measure about 20″ x 24″, but you could make them whatever size works best for you!

For the potholders, I used 1 layer of Insul-brite and 1 layer of cotton batting

a slow week…

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:24:58 +0000

…sewing-wise, anyway.

I have absolutely nothing to show you. Except maybe what I’ve been doing instead of sewing –

Admiring the flowering trees -

sitting by the lake -

and watching new leaves emerge -

There’s been a tiny bit of sewing – a little hexagon potholder for my sister -

and a new market bag for us -

(fabric is by Mod Green Pod. I bought it at a local shop, but it can also be found online here)

Up next… perhaps a little something Poppyish…

I’m loving this fabric! (Poppy, by Laura Gunn).

I also have plans to quilt two string quilts, so hopefully there will be quilty stuff to show here soon!

Hope you’re out enjoying the weather where you are!

I made pillows…

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:14:00 +0000

…with hexagons!!

(I know, I almost can’t believe it myself.)

So you might remember my recent adventures with hexagons. I loved making the individual hexagons, but after making a bunch of them, I realized that I really disliked sewing them together by hand. I ended up giving most of them away, though I held on to this bunch, since they’re a match to a quilt I’m working on.

Spending last weekend sick on the couch must have helped, because I got four rows of hexagons sewn together (and no, I still don’t enjoy the process!). I pieced that hexagon strip in with some Kona Snow and came up with this pillow.

I quilted it with just a few simple lines running horizontally across the pillow and finished it with a little striped binding.

I wanted a second coordinating pillow, but knew that I couldn’t tolerate any more handsewing, so instead I went with something else I never do… applique. This one is inspired by a comment someone left during my hexagon giveaway, suggesting that it would be easier if I just appliqued the hexagons on individually – no handsewing required!

I scattered the hexagons across the Kona Snow somewhat haphazardly and then stitched them to the base fabric. I used similar simple quilting lines on this one, but did these on a slight diagonal.

I don’t think I’ll be making any more, but I really, really love these!

And now I better get working on that matching quilt!

flea market fancy hexagon giveaway

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:42:35 +0000

It’s been a long time since the last giveaway… we ought to remedy that, right?

This is kind of silly, and maybe some of you won’t be interested, but remember those hexagons? I love making them, (and I’ll probably continue making more!) but it turns out that I don’t like sewing them together…

It’s sad, because I’ve seen such lovely hexagon projects on other blogs and on flickr (and I really wanted a hexagon pillow!), but I guess my patience for handsewing just isn’t there. At the rate I’m going, I really don’t think I’ll ever get to the point of having a finished hexagon project.

Anyway, that’s where you come in. I have this stack of hexagons made out of lots of prints from the Flea Market Fancy line… anyone want them? I’m sure there’s someone out there who does have the ability and patience to sew them into something really wonderful. (or if not, maybe you just want the FMF fabric – you’re also welcome to just remove the basting stitches and you’ll have small squares of FMF)

To enter, leave a comment here letting me know what you think of hexagons – (have you tried making any?, do you like them?, how do you feel about handsewing? etc…), and maybe what you’d make out of these hexagons if you won. We’re heading back home from California today and I’ll be sitting in the airport for a good part of the day, so your comments will keep me entertained. I’ll pick a winner on Thursday…

These hexagons are 1 1/4″, and I should also note that I cut out the paper hexagon shapes by hand, so I can’t absolutely guarantee that they’re all perfectly exact. I did my best though, so hopefully they’ll fit together as they should!!

Oh, and of course international entries are accepted!

Thanks for all your wonderful comments! Comments are now closed and I’ll pick and announce a winner tomorrow morning!

hooked on hexagons

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:49:21 +0000

I knew I would be. I don’t know why I put it off for so long.

So I caught the hexagon bug, and badly (and it seems I’m not the only one!).

It started innocently enough – I just figured I’d try one or two to see what the fuss was about. I always loved looking at all the beautiful hexagon projects on Flickr, and in my mind I knew that it was something I’d eventually get around to trying, but I had convinced myself that I didn’t like handsewing and consequently wouldn’t like these.

So anyway, needing a bit of entertainment (and a little fabric fix while I was going to be away from my machine) I cut up a bunch of fabric and took it with me to California. And now I can’t stop – I’m working on hexagons in a few sizes, flea market fancy hexagons, and hexagons to match a quilt… plus, (not pictured) hexagons in Echino and also Little Folks voile!

I don’t know what they’ll turn into, if anything, but they sure are fun to make. If you haven’t tried them yet, you might want to! Below are a few posts I looked at before starting -

The Sometimes Crafter – two posts about sewing hexagons here and here.

Posie Gets Cozy – Hexagon Piecing

Here you can print out your desired size hexagon templates (or you can purchase them already cut here).

And lastly, in the right sidebar on this page, you’ll see a listing of what size squares of fabric you’ll need for the various hexagon sizes. (I think this is what convinced me to start making these – the realization that I could just cut out squares of fabric rather than having to cut out hexagonal shapes!)

But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

a sprinkling of far far away half hexagons

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:47:35 +0000

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!

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!

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…

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″.

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!!

in progress.

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:03:14 +0000

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?)

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.

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…

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!