Monday, July 6, 2009

More Play

Ah ha! I've figured out for you--those of you who asked--which magazine the American Jane pattern appeared in! It was in the September/October 2008 issue of McCall's Quilting. Here's a photo:


I remember seeing the article and being amazed at how easy the blocks went together--in strips rather than set-in piecing, which I had expected with a hexagon shaped pattern. And once I saw that, I ran right over to my computer and started e-shopping for a 60 degree ruler, which I finally found--it seems they aren't as plentiful as one would imagine! But eventually I found this one:


Then, at some point, I saw a photo of a hexagon-type quilt that was done with string-type piecing, and that made me think I'd like to make these blocks using random width fabric strips. Here's how mine looks so far up on the design wall--I think I have all the triangles cut for the main hexagon blocks and other random fill-in bits and pieces; not everything fits on the wall though:


From the comments left on yesterday's post, I think there may be a few of you who would like to make this quilt--or something similar, so I thought I'd explain my steps so far.

First, I started by cutting strips from scraps in various widths from 1" to 2" and everything in between! You'll need the strip sets to be the length of the width of the fabric, around 40". Because I'm making mine scrappy, it didn't bother me one bit to piece two strips together to get the 40" length, and that allowed me to use smaller pieces from my scraps and stash.


Once I had a good pile of strips, I started piecing the strip sets. I decided to cut my triangles with a height of 5-1/2", so I made my strip sets at least 5-1/2" wide, although sometimes they might end up as much as 6" or so wide.


To cut my triangles, I'd line up the 5-1/2" line at the base of the strip set and cut along either edge of the triangle.


I'd then flip the triangle ruler and use the other edge of the strips as the base and cut the next triangle--in the piece above, I'd have a second set of triangles with the green as the bottom strip. Each block requires 6 triangles, and a 40" strip set would give me enough triangles to make two different blocks.


Tomorrow I'll show you how the blocks are pieced in rows--or at least I WILL if I get more play time! I have a couple days off work, but I've neglected my chores around the house to an alarming extent, so I'll need to take care of those first! See you later!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Very interesting , Kim, You have gotten a lot done these past few days off work. That is a big ruler and very different than what I have. Are you going to leave the edge of the quilt as is? Makes a neat looking scallope but not so easy to finish. I did it on the "Flower garden. which is small hexigons.

Sheila said...

Looks great! I love making hexagon quilts.

Jessica White said...

That looks absolutely awesome, and not to mention, but not too hard to do either!

Darlene said...

Well, I had to stop by and leave a comment - this quilt is ME so it must be for ME! ROFLOL!

Shelina said...

Great tutorial - thank you for sharing. I've been wanting to make a quilt like this for a while. Can you tell me about your fabric choices - are you using anything and everything in your scrap bin, or is there some sort of philosophy you are using?

Shelina said...

Oops, I noticed that you answered the question in the previous post!

Anonymous said...

Kim, Love your version of the magazine quilt. I made that quilt the minute I saw it in the magazine. I used all Kaffee fabric and love the results. It will be hanging in the Sisters Quilt show next weekend. But it is on my blog if you want to check it out. In fact I will be teaching that quilt at Honey Run Quilters in November. At least a version of it, I changed the pattern a bit to make it square. and I put a border or two on it and only used one jelly roll. Great job on your quilt!

Lizzie

Mary said...

Thanks for posting this! First, I thought they must be half-hexies but these are even better. I love your quilt. I had just gotten a 60 degree ruler for a quilt from Anka's Treasures I'm making. I love that there's a whole new world out there for this ruler! I can't wait to try this.

Sinta Renee said...

I just love what you can do with that ruler! Just when I thought I have seen all the possiblilities... there you are with the adorable string version you are making! Love it!
(I have some versions on my blog also)

Anonymous said...

Your quilt is beautiful! I have been wanting to make a hexagon quilt for some time now. Thanks for the inspiration.
Mary in Missouri

Betsy said...

This is a beautiful quilt. I may just have to ass it to my to do list.

Greenmare said...

oh I am sooooooooooooo loving this quilt!!!!1

Anonymous said...

Oooo, Fiesta, how do you "ass" your to do list? ROTF

Sorry, we Kims are...well, anyway!

SO cool, very Material Obsession-ish, I love it! Did you press your seams open or to one side?

Mama Spark said...

So neat, Kim. I would really love to do something like this eventually. Keep up the tutorial!