Stitching In The Dark

Tonight we sit in the dark, desperately waiting for the cool breezes to come from off the Pacific and save us from this hot murky day.

Since light gives off heat, we have opted to be in darkness this evening. The only light I have to work with is from my laptop. So I am stitching in the glow of that light.

I am working on the direction which I plan to take with my blog. For some time now I have wanted to give back what I have learned through using hand stitching as meditation. It is a skill that can not only benefit those with PTSD and/or chronic illnesses. It can also help those who find it difficult to meditate in the traditional way or for those who seek a way to grow closer to God through the work of their hands.

I believe that the greatest gift is to give back what you have learned in order to help others. This is my gift back to the world and my 'Thank you' to God for the many blessings he has given me.

So, I sit in darkness, stitching and contemplating how I will bring my message to the light.

Free EPP Pattern: Double Ring Hexagon Quilt

Connecting Threads has several free English paper piecing patterns on their website. The one that I want to share with you today is the Double Ring Hexagon Quilt.

Double Ring Hexagon Quilt

I love the modern solid colors used in the sample shown. You can use the colors as shown or pick your own color scheme. I think in shades of black, grey and red, this quilt would look striking and will most likely end up confiscated by any teenager in the house.

Forget Me Not Sew Along First Rounds Done

A nice road trip to Disneyland and back gave me the opportunity to work on the next two rows of the Forget Me Not Sew Along pattern. (Add yes, I did do a bit of sewing inside the park as well). I love how scrappy this piece is turning out to be.

Now it is time for me to add the points that will turn this flower into a star. I'm not sure how big Sue Daley has planned for this quilt to be, but I plan to stop once we get around a baby size blanket. 

Joining In On The Forget Me Not Sew Along

Here is my starting hexagon flower for the Forget Me Not Sew Along hosted by Sue Daley.

I decided to use some vintage fabric. The fabric is from the stash of the Prayers & Squares chapter at Pacific Beach United Methodist Church. I had intended to use the fabric for a simple patchwork baby quilt. But why settle for the quick and easy when you can take the time to do much more!

I'll continue to keep you posted on my progress. I'm a bit behind in starting but I plan to catch up.

How Do You Baste Your EPP?

(photo credit: Quilt Now)

The good people over at Quilt Now showed off their love of EPP in their magazine issue #13. Now they are curious to know how to do baste your EPP? Some people are die-hard thread basters. There are those who are prefer glue basting and then their are people who do both.

(photo credit: Quilt Now)

You may not know, but there are actually two ways of thread basting- one is where you baste through the paper and fabric; the other you baste through the fabric only. I am a thread baster and I only baste through the fabric.

So what sort of baster are you? Go head on over to Quilt Now and let them know. And while you're there, grab on of their cute images like the one above and show off your basting pride. 

Dritz Is Down With EPP

Have you seen these babies popping up in your local quilt or craft store?

I know, right?! Cute paper piecing shapes from Dritz Quilting. I was checking out the "Take & Teach" classes being offered at the upcoming Quilt Market in Houston, when I saw that Dritz was offering a class on English Paper Piecing with their notions. Well, needless to say, I hopped on over to their website to have a look. I found six different pre-cuts offered on their website.

Dritz also offers instructions on three different ways to English paper piece using their pre-cuts. You can find that tutorial HERE.

Great Plans, God and Twilight's Garden

Pile of English paper Pieced Hexagons

I mentioned in an earlier post about working on a quilt for a contest hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild. The challenge was restricted to using the Riley Blake Cottage Garden fabric other permitted Riley Blake fabric. You can read about it HERE. Well, the quilt is complete and was entered into the contest just in time. This whole project has been kept under wraps, but I thought now I could finally share with you my journey in making this quilt. Enjoy!

Prepping hexagons for my original desing

I had great plans when I first saw the fabrics that were to be used. I had designed the entire quilt before the fabric even arrived! For weeks I English paper pieced hexagons. I ordered extra fabric to use and became a crazy hexagon making woman. I was just sewing along, convinced that I had it all in the bag. This quilt was going to be a breeze.

Letting go and letting God take over the design work

It was while we were vacationing in Hawaii that I realized I had over half my pieces done. So I decided to lay out what I had and see how awesome it all looked. With my detailed diagram in one hand and a pile of hexies in another, I put the pieces together like a puzzle. Once I had the quilt laid out, I stepped back to admire my work. And guess what? It looked like shit! WTF! I couldn't believe it. I had went into all that work drawing, graphing it out, I even used color pencils! Maybe it just looked funky because I was tired, or I had too many Mai Tais the night before. So, I shoved the pieces back into the suitcase and continued to just work on the individual hexagons. I knew my design was perfect. It had to be.

My pieced flowers

Back home, with all the hexagons finally done, I pulled out all the pieces and began putting them together again.  Every piece was right where my drawing said it should go. With the whole quilt together, I stood back again to admire my work. And guess what? It still just looked like a hot mess. I was frustrated and angry. Why didn't my design work? It was suppose to work. I did everything right. This was suppose to be my kick-ass design that was just going to blow away the competition. Now with this pile of mess in front of me, I just felt like giving up. If it can't be what I want, then I might as well not enter at all.

Sewing the pieces toghter

Then that small still voice that I've been learning to listen to started to speak. 'Do your work as if you were doing it for God, not for men.' I realized that I had entered this competition with the wrong frame of mind. I wasn't suppose to be doing this to prove I was better then someone else or to validate myself as a quilter. I already know that I am a quilter and all my work was to be a reflection of what pleased God, not someone else. So I did away with my need for the perfect design and my desire to
win.

Watching the quilt grow, piece by piece

I let go of any pre-planned ideas, tossed aside all my drawings and just started moving the hexagons around on the floor. I went into play mode and watched as the hexagons started to take the shape of flowers. Without thought, I moved the pieces until each found their home. In a short time, a completed quilt emerged. I was amazed at what I had put together. It looked nothing like my original drawings, but it was beautiful.

Binding the quilt

As I stitched the hexagons together, those creeping thoughts of doubt came into my mind. "What if this is wrong? What if I just needed to rework my original design? What if this quilt looks like an amateur made it?" I dug deep and committed myself to this design regardless of my doubts. I was already running out of time. I had to just go ahead and finish it.

The entire quilt was reverse tied.

There is this song by Anita Baker and the Winans called, "Ain't No Need To Worry". The lyrics in the song go, "Ain't no need to worry what the night is gonna bring. It'll be all over in the morning". It is a song about being in darkness and trusting that God will bring you back into the light. In making this quilt I felt like God had pulled me out of the darkness of the unknown, yet I wasn't sure if I was fully in the light of realizing His intention. It felt like I was in the middle of day and night. Not fully dawn. More like twilight. So, I decided to name the quilt, Twilight's Garden.

Twilight's Garden by Michelle Cali Mattingly

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Free EPP Hexagon Downloads

Love of Patchwork & Quilting has these cute hexagons that you can print and cut out for your next EPP project. They are available in 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch sizes. You can learn more about them and get the link to download them HERE.

Paws, Health and Hexies

This is about as much as I've gotten done on the bear paw block. I know, I should be done with that block by now. I was able to draw on the lines to make my half square triangles before my quilting was put on hold. I had all of Sunday to myself while my hubby took our daughter to spend the day at Magic Mountain with his uncle and his family. The plan was to complete the bear paw block, start on a new quilt for the church group I just joined  and maybe even get the bow tie quilt top basted. Alas, the rainy weather and the stress I put myself under getting the house cleaned before their weekend stay with us, caused my health to go down hill.

My ankles swelled and that along with a slitting headache saw me quickly abandoning my quilting for two aspirins and trip to the couch to keep my feet propped up. Even today, I'm still not back to myself and I have my in-laws coming to visit this weekend.

On a positive note, I did manage to make nine hexie flowers over this past week. All my Instagram #Hexiefreinds will be seeing hexies in the mail from me this week.

Hopefully my health will pick up before the in-laws come knocking at the door.

Hexified!

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed that my quilting world is slowly being taken over by hexagons.

Yes, I kissed a hexie and I liked it! *giggle*

Craftsy has a great post on English Paper Piecing (EPP)

As we speak I have three different hexie quilts in the works along with making hexie flowers for the Hexie Friends group I joined on Instagram.

I actually thought this hexie love would only last for just a season, like a summer love. But it seems my relationship with hexies have entered into a more serious level. I'm thinking this may become a permanent relationship. And I'm fine with that!

Check out Julia C. Wood's blog and hexie block of the month

I have this desire to explore the hexagon in quilting and see how far I can push it creatively. I love both the simplicity of just using one shape and the complexity of designs achievable with that shape.

The fact that this work requires almost all hand sewing is just the icing on the cake for me. But so as not to neglect my sewing machine, I will continue to make other types of quilts as well.

Sue Daley is an EPP Specialist with an awesome blog

So, now that I have given you fair warning on what to expect, I hope you will continue to come back to my blog and share in my continuing journey and growth through the world of quilting.

Feel free to share some of your current hexie or EPP work in the comment section. I would love to see what you are up to.

Product Review: Fiskars Hexagon Squeeze Punch Extra Large

Today I am reviewing the Fiskars Hexagon Squeeze Punch (Extra Large).

I first noticed this punch on Instagram. Several people showed using them to cut out hexagons for English Paper Piecing (EPP). I was skeptical at first, seeing that the only ones I noticed being used were for smaller sized hexagons. It wasn't until someone mentioned that the punches came in extra-large size that I decided to take an interest.

The extra large hexagon punch cuts out hexagons which measure 2 inches across or 1 inch on each side. This is equivalent to what most of us in the EPP community refer to as a 1 inch hexie.

So on Monday afternoon I went to my local Joann's Fabric store and purchased one for myself. 

In the San Diego area the extra large size will run you around $18.00. 

(The fact that Joann's was having a 40% off sale on all Fiskars' items made it an even better price.)

First thing I noticed about the hexagon punch? 

The large handles. This makes the punch easy to grip and use.

A simple squeeze is all it takes to cut out the hexagons. 

The punch cuts the paper and then pushes it out for easy removal.

You insert the paper you want to cut inside the slot shown above. The company website says it can be used for 65-lb card stock or lower. This is nice considering that the paper thicknesses used by quilters doing EPP varies about as much as the quilters themselves.

To show how it works I used a heavy card stock label from a pillow I recently purchased. 

I inserted the label into the cutting slot.

Adjusted the label to where I wanted it to be cut.

Then I gripped the handle and started applying pressure.

Just like closing a pair of scissors or applying the handlebar breaks on a bike. When cutting in slow motion like this I could actually start to hear the paper being cut.

Then suddenly, POP! The piece of paper popped out of the cutter.

Easy, clean cut with little effort.

I can see this hexagon punch saving me a lot of money. I no longer have to purchase packages of pre-cut hexagons or waste paper and ink printing out hexagons to cut. I can use papers I would normally just toss in recycling. Those postcard-style subscription forms found in magazines, the free song download cards I always pick up at Starbucks, and price tags on clothing- these are all now fair game for making hexies. Every piece of junk mail will now get evaluated to see if it is hexie worthy.

Pros: It works just like it says!

Cons: Hey Fiskars, you guys think you could make one for me in indigo? (It's my favorite color.)

Have an item you would like me to review? Drop me a line at michellecalimattingly at gmail dot com

(This is NOT a sponsored post. This is just me sharing information for information sake.

 Why? Because I'm just cool like that.)