Midnight Snack Hexagons

To encourage newer quilters and build friendships, several members of SCVQA started Quilting 101. This open-membered group meets monthly to sew. There's always a short lesson taught by someone in the guild. Needless to say, Q101 is very popular.

Jane demonstrated a fussy-cut hexagon quilt last month. She's made many of these from Asian and African inspired fabrics that are beautifully sophisticated. Although I admire them, I need another baby quilt. Think small and happy. A bit more than two yards of cheerful fabric created this top measuring about 48" by 52".

Midnight Snack quilt

Could you determine the print of the original fabric? Look at all this drive-in food: hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, soda, cupcakes, ice cream sundaes, popcorn, popsicles and candies.

Midnight Snacks by Alexander Henry

Fabric is cut at the repeat and then stacked six deep. When the equilateral (60 degree) triangles are cut, there are six alike. Then the fun begins. The kaleidoscopic effect changes depending on which triangle point is in the center. This is definitely a quilt that benefits from a design wall. No matter which arrangement is originally chosen, changes need to be made.

The first layout was too busy. (Funny. I usually use 50-200 fabrics in a quilt but using one is "too busy.") I wanted a place to rest my eyes. I forgot to take photos until solids were added but you can get a feel for it by looking at the lower right of the completed top.

Trying out two possible solids to mix with this fabric

 

I found three solids that might work. Two are above. The darker one looked better against the yellow sections so I thought yellowish green might work against the bluer sections.

Previewing blue and yellow solids 

I cut some of each and rearranged the triangles on the design wall. The two solids are also being tested as borders.

One of my favorite sextets is the group of cherries in the lower left. They are lost in the photo above so I added more solids and rearranged again to give them more presence.

A third yellow star added to the lower left of the design.

Here are some detail shots. My favorite hexagon has a spinning ninja star effect.

Spinning ninja star from soda bottle and cherries.

Hamburger buns form the hexagon at the center of this star.

Hot dogs surround this hamburger star.

Lara at BuzzinBumble wrote an intriguing post on matchstick quilting with different threads. Something similar might work here.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Final Tour: Propellers and Planes with a List of Previous Posts

Propellers and Planes, my Steam Punk, hung in our guild show this week along with many fabulous quilts by members of SCVQA and BAM. It's the first, and probably only, photo of the entire quilt. The colors aren't quite right; they are much truer in the previous posts, but at least you can see the entire layout of the quilt.

Propellers and Planes quilt

Here it is again in lighting that shows the colors better. But it's not hung high enough. This really is a softly colored quilt with small bits of bright fabrics on occasion.

Propellers and Planes quilt

There is a huge variety of fabrics in this quilt. The oldest was purchased in Boston about twenty-five years ago. The newest were purchased last year. Sue Benner gave me one of her hand-dyed pieces. After being saved (and petted) for more than a decade I used it here. There are scraps from quilts I made for my children, my new daughter-in-law, my parents and my dear friends. Some, like the 50's mannequins, simply make me laugh. All bring back memories of people and places I know and love. Now we sleep under it. What great good fortune. I wish everyone could wrap themselves in cherished memories every night.

A collage of some of the fabrics incorporated in Propellers and Planes

Not wanting to piece batts, I looked for a really large cotton one. There were not many choices but Pellon (yes, the interfacing company) makes one. It's 100% cotton with a very flat, almost felt-like appearance that reminded me of Warm and Natural. It is also warm, heavy and has a beautiful drape - think brocade. It would be a great choice for a wall quilt. Unfortunately, it was only 120" in one direction and I had to piece about four inches of batt in the other direction. Grr.

I used YLI invisible thread (nylon monofilament) for ditch stitching along the sashing then switched to Aurifil Mako 50/2 in grey and light green for the rest of the quilting.

Here are links to previous posts.

Steam Punk Blocks, February 2014
Second Set, March 2014
Third Set, June 2014
Fourth Set, July 2014
Fifth Set with Construction Notes, July 2014
Final Set, July 2014
Putting Steam Punk Together with Sashing Notes, August 2014
Where Do You Get Your Ideas, August 2014
Steam Punk Back, August 2014
Enlarging Circular Blocks (How I Made the Large Propellers), December 2014
Quilting Steam Punk, January 2015
More Quilting, January 2015
Binding, February 2015
Quilt Show Ready, February 2015

Wow. A year of work and fifteen posts. I like to read about your processes and hope you like this much information, too.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Quilt Show Ready

As you know, there are so many little details before a quilt is truly finished: burying threads, binding, label, sleeve (if it's in a show), washing, blocking. But finally, all three quilts are ready for the SCVQA quilt show March 14-15 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.  It's not judged; simply a way to share what we've been working on the last two years. And Bay Area Modern has a section, too. If you're in the area I hope you will come.

My entries are Round Robin Improv (workshop), Curved Improv and Propellers and Planes. There's no room in my house to get a photo of the entire quilt. Hopefully I can get one at the show. And that will be my last photo of this quilt. Promise!

Propellers and Planes (118"x118"), partial view.

Now to clean up the sewing room, relax a bit and then see what I can do with those New York Beauty blocks. Don't forget Pi Day! 3.141592653... translates to March 14, 2015 at 9:26.53 AM. How are you celebrating?

Enjoy the day,