Sunday, June 24, 2018

Lots of progress

It's amazing how portable hexies are! I've been making hexie flowers everywhere, mostly so that I can have the opportunity to take pictures of them. These are both very addictive activities. 😊

Kingfisher Stitch-Along

If you follow me on Instagram, you will see how addicted I am to taking photos of my hexie flowers among real flowers. What I like about Instagram is that you can "Like" as many posts as you want without driving your non-quilting friends crazy! I've also been saving the posts that I like so that I can go back to them on my computer and read the corresponding blog posts. Well, in theory I can, and will eventually when I find the time.






On my way to work, it made my day to stop in a little park to take pictures of my latest hexie flowers.

I love the photo below of the dappling sun on the flower and making the fabric even more interesting.

That day, I experimented with posting images on Instagram using my computer. I was able to do it, thanks to some helpful googling, but I was only able to post one picture at a time. It's good to know that it can be done.


The sun playing on one of my favourite batik fabric

The last bleeding heart flower of the season
Later I took these pictures in my back yard.

This photo is of the last flower of the season on my bleeding heart. It's gotten too hot for these lovelies.


I took a photo with a daisy, the only one growing in the garden. Technically it's probably a weed, but a flower is a flower and I have very few of them left right now.




















As you can see from some of the pictures, I like to hand-baste my hexies. Actually it's my favourite part, so there's no way I'm going to glue them. That's also the part that's the most portable since you don't have to be as careful about your stitches.

I was also able to capture this bee doing its business. Isn't digital photography amazing? You don't have to process all of the images to get that one good shot. You just keep clicking and then delete all the others!

A bee doing what a bee does...
This week at the Kingfisher Stitch-Along it's time to cut out the background diamonds. I'm glad that Stitched in Colour created a good tutorial because I could see myself cutting out one diamond at a time. I'm not very good at thinking in 3D. Turns out you can just cut strips and then cut off triangles at both ends. Don't take my word for it, check out the tutorial in the Related Links section.

Hexies with background
Here is my background fabric. I haven't started cutting it yet. That's a project for this week. Also, I never cut all of my fabric at one time if I can help it, so there may be time to purchase one or two more light batiks. They aren't easy to find.

Hexies with background

The background colour isn't that obvious in this picture but it's an off-white with some pink and grey. I also have a couple of fat quarters that are off-white with some brown and yellow.



Finally here is my stack of hexie flowers to date. There are thirteen in the stack and I am basting 3 more. That's the magic number for my June OMG! I'll be posting in a few days.

Thirteen hexie flowers completed :-)
Free Motion Quilting 

Outlining the pattern which is now the back of the wholecloth quilt
I've really enjoyed all of this slow stitching, but I do miss doing FMQ. Since I don't want to start a big project, I remembered that I have some thread sketching to do on my second wholecloth quilt from last year's Learning Quilt-A-Long.

Thread sketching is just FMQ in a very small area and it is good to be doing it again.

Below you can see what it looked like before I started to add colour. I just FMQ around the outline of the fabric's pattern
The front of the wholecloth quilt, before adding colour
I love doing the thread painting but it is a very slow process. I am now working on some of the leaves and the strawberries.
Slowly adding colour to this piece
For this project, I am using my collection of Kimono silk thread from Superior Threads. They are truly amazing and such beautiful colours.

Details of the wholecloth quilt. It's a very slow process.

What I learned
  • You can probably tell that I'm having fun with my batik hexie flowers. I love batiks, hexies and real flowers, so it's a great combination.
  • It's easier to do the thread painting in daylight. I've found that it's harder on my eyes to be working in the evening, even with the light on. I do want to invest in a second smaller light for this kind of work.

Related Links
Kingfisher Stitch-Along posts:
Wholecloth quilt posts:
Linking parties
I am linking up to many parties this week. Check out what is going on out there in the quilting World.
Free Motion Mavericks, To-Do Tuesday, Slow Sunday Stitching, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Fun, Monday MakingMain Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Move it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Wandering Camera,

Great News! My Wholecloth quilt was featured on Muv's Free Motion Mavericks. Thanks Muv!


13 comments:

  1. I too love hexies and I like the way you have photographed them! Your thread painting looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Sarah! I've really enjoyed taking the pictures but I may have to come up with something else. There may be such a thing as too many hexie & flower photos!
      That thread painting project is going to take a long time, but that's cool! At least I have something to FMQ whenever I want to.

      Delete
  2. Beautiful hexies and photos! Such creativity!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Miaismine for your kind comment :-)

      Delete
  3. Those hexies look fantastic with all that beautiful greenery in the background! And your thread sketching is AMAZING! I'm in awe!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Christine. The thread sketching is really all about going slowly and practice. For me, the hardest part is figuring out what colours to use. I have to be creative otherwise it would all be green :-)

      Delete
  4. Your hexies look fabulous and the photography really set them all off. Your flowers are such pretty backgrounds!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have enjoyed my visit with you this morning. Great idea, photographing your hexie flowers in a garden setting.Also your whole cloth thread painting is beautiful, and sort of a continuing saga for you to enjoy. I'll be back
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Andrée,

    Taking photos of the hexie flowers in the garden was a great idea. The colours show up so beautifully.

    The FMQ project looks great fun. Fabric designs can be fascinating when you work with the outlines. Colouring in the detail with the silk thread is a wonderful touch.

    Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks. Your quilt is this week's featured project.

    Love, Muv

    ReplyDelete
  7. LOL. I love those hexie flowers!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful hexies and so fun to see them in your flower garden!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fabulous idea of photographing the hexie flowers in your plants. They are lovely as are the flowers in your garden! Your thread painting is gorgeous! So amazing!
    Thanks so much for linking up on Wandering Camera.

    -Soma

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love quilts, but other than making crazy quilts, quilting is Greek to me. Your hexie flowers fascinate me. I might give one a try to experience what it's all about. Your photos of the hexies with real flowers are very cool and fun!

    ReplyDelete

Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)