JoyofQuilting

Well my Quilty friends, after a slightly indifferent start the Monday Ladies have taken the hexagon challenge and are running with it. They are really enjoying making hexagons now - aren't you ladies?. And quite a few of you are now well on you way to making my Hexie Handbag Kit. Do you remember when I posted the instructions for the Hexie Handbag Kit and there was some confusion over the size of the hexagons I used. (my fault). Well, below you can see the results. On the right my original Hexie Handbag Kit and on the left Ros's oversized Hexie Handbag Kit.  Both look stunning And my new project Joyofquilting group on a Thursday morning starts this Thursday 1st May. Among my new group I have four newbies and so thought I'd start them off with a simplified version of My Hexie Handbag Kit  I've been busy the last few days making up these kits. I've also be working on my own stitching. I've just finished my latest piece for this years

Hello there my Quilty Friends, no Monday Class this week - Easter - And I hope you all had a lovely weekend. The weather here in the U.K. South Wales has been glorious. And lots of us have spent quite a bit of the weekend outdoors. But the main reason for my post today is to spread the word to anyone living within striking distance of me that I am starting a new Quilting Group and I shall be holding a coffee morning this Thursday 24th April at 10.30 at The Youth Hall, St. Theadore's Church, Port Talbot. For you to come along, have a coffee/tea and chat to me about the new class.  So if you fancy learning some of the techniques featured here.    Above are samples of my work. We'll be covering both hand and machine stitched projects. At a pace to suit you - it's all about enjoying the journey.....not rushing to your destination. Anyone interested in joining the new Quilting group I'm setting up is welcome to come alo

For Hexie Handbag Kit part one click here  & For My Hexie Handbag Kit Part Two click here Firstly my Quilting Friends, even if your not making this kit, it's worth scrolling to the bottom of the page to see the music video I've selected for you today.....I know I'm just a tad older than these boys usual fans but I love their music anyway. Phew - nearly there now....final push... Hexie Handbag kit - part 3 - no cliff hanger today my Quilty Friends. Today we finish this kit! OK you should be all refreshed now and have a piece of work that looks something like this. Yes? Right next step you need to trim the backing fabric to a generous half inch (1.5c.m.) all around. Then using the tip of an iron (a travel iron is great for this) press over towards you work - see pic above And pin/tack it over onto the front of your work to create a binding around the edge. Stitch binding in place using a co-ordinating thread. Note - when stitching

As promised here is PART TWO of the picture lead instructions for making my Hexie Handbag Kit. So you can keep everything you need to make your hexagons ready for stitching. For part one click here  In part one you made 22 hexagons. Here is a link to the video how to stitch hexagons by Foltvilag  One two, one two, (This is also where I got my plastic templates from.) You can see 21 in the pic below The 22nd one goes inside the bag (see pic at top of page) I made Six blue, six orange, eight brown and two blue And stitched them together First in lines And then I stitched the lines together.  You stitch the hexagons and lines together using an over stitch I've used a contrasting thread here for you to see what I'm doing. But You should use a co-ordinating thread as you want your stitches to blend in. (Tip - if using papers try not to catch your stitches in them  as it will be more difficult to remove the papers later.) Next take your pape

OR How do you measure a hexagon? In actual Monday class this morning some of you, well, two to be precise had followed my confused instructions posted here over the weekend for part one of my Hexie Handbag Kit. The size of hexagons I used were 1" ( 2.5c.m.)                      and not One and threequarter inch (5c.m.) I had measured the diameter of said hexagon when I should have measure one of the short sides - doh. And as both Ros and Ruth can confirm one and threequarter inch hexagons are a tad on the large side for making my Hexie Handbag kit. OK, they are hugely too big. Now Ruth had only made one hexagon so not too tragic there. But Ros, well Ros was busy making them in class this morning - I confess I saw her making them. I even showed her a different way of stitching them. But did I realise they were for the Hexie Handbag Kit and therefore far too big? - Short answer - no. I let her carry on stitching. So sorry Ros but I do think the lovely larg

Hi there my Quilty Friends, I had promised to get the instructions for making my Hexie Handbag Kit uploaded by Friday (yesterday). But it's proving a far bigger task than I had anticipated. Sew Here are the first few instructions just to get you eager beavers started.... You will need enough fabric to make the 22 hexagons One larger piece for the lining aprox. 15"x7" (38cm18cm) One piece of wadding aprox. same as lining. Piece of felt aprox. 3"x5" (9cm.x14cm.) and some trim and a button. Above is a picture of the kit opened out with the contents displayed by the side. You are going to need to make 22 Hexagons. You can chose any combination of fabrics you fancy. I have chosen to use four different fabrics. Mine are from the range of fabrics the British V & A (Victoria & Albert Museum) brought out to celebrate the Quilting Exhibition they held a few years ago. Out of the middle fabric I made 8 hexagons. I made 6 hexagons out

Above is the hexagon video by the wonderful Hungardan Lady I bought my plastic hexagon templates from. One two, one two,  (she has 17 videos on youtube) And also as promised a link to her web-site Foltvilage KFT where you can buy said templates. I was going to say just a quickie this morning, but it's taken me almost an hour to find and upload these two! EnJoy