I'm back from a lovely, lovely beach holiday, and feel so refreshed and ready to be back. How are you?
I was really hoping to have this quilt top finished, and maybe even basted by today, but just as I was laying it out a couple of weeks ago, I discovered I was 3 blocks short. WHAT??!! It turns out I'd only made 4 Winter Jasmine Stars. I just couldn't even face going backwards, so I packed it all up again and moved onto something else. I love having multiple WIPs for that very reason. Now that I've had a bit of a break, and some distance from the disappointment, I'm seriously thinking of just basting 3 more large hexagons and being done! Who's going to notice, right? ;P
Choose your triangle fabric!
If you've decided to add triangles to your layout, I recommend testing a few different colours, unless you're going to go scrappy like I did below.
You want a colour that's going to support the feel of the quilt blocks. If they are bright, does your background help them shine? If they are muted, does it help them stay soft?
I loved the idea of dark teal triangles, but I just couldn't find one in my stash I was happy with. I didn't want it to drown out the blocks. If I was to use teal in the future, I would make that decision FIRST, and then choose the colours for each block to go well with it.
I ended up choosing pink, but now all my pink triangles are attached, I'm a little uncertain! It feels a bit too freckly and dull. Maybe it's just the light I'm sewing in? Perhaps plain old white would have been best afterall? I'll sew up the top this month, and send you one last email in November so you can see!
If you've decided to add triangles now that you've made your blocks, you can purchase them separately below.
I always plan my layout at the end, and very rarely use colouring sheets. The colouring sheets provided in the Hexie Handbook are just a guide if you wish to use them. You definitely should prioritise balanced colour and an even block spread over following the colouring sheet for laying out your blocks (unless, like Jackie, you've followed your colouring sheet to make a rainbow!)
Here's some tips for getting a good, even layout:
Separate your blocks by colour. With my quilt above, I made piles of blocks according to dominant colour, and a pile for blocks that were scrappy. This is a great way to get an even spread of colour, especially if you favour some colours over others. I often find I get to the end and have 20 pinks and 3 yellows! Putting them in piles gives you this information before you start laying out. As you lay out your quilt, reach for the pink pile more often than the yellow, and you'll get an even spread of colour, rather than only having pinks left at the end.
Separate by block. If you've made a quilt that's primarily one to two colours like my quilt below, or my low volume version, split your blocks into piles of blocks. Then reach for them at a similar rate. You don't need to lay them out in order, but having them in piles can show you that you've still got 7 of one block left, and you've reach for this other one 3 times already.
Start at the corner. I tend to work my way corner to corner, as in top-left to top right to bottom right to bottom left. I do it this way because I work on the floor and I want to move around down there as little as possible. It also means you're working in chunky portions rather than slim rows, which I think is more helpful for getting an even spread.
Take a photo. I have no idea why I see things better in a photo than looking directly at the quilt top, probably because it gives you a better birds-eye view. Zoom your phone camera out to 0.5 and you'll easily fit the whole quilt in the shot. Look at the big picture. Are all those yellows clumped together in one corner? Do you want to spread out the darker blocks more? Keep in mind that once you start moving things around, it's hard to stop. Each move will bring new problems. So I usually stop and ‘good enough’. Take a photo of each iteration, because you can look through them at the end and see if there was a better version a few moves back. Then, once you've decided on a layout, delete all but the photo you'll use for reference while sewing the blocks together. Trust me, it gets too confusing if you've got them all there in your gallery!
Take your Papers out!
Finally, I can't recomend enough, taking your papers out as you go. It makes sewing your blocks together SOOOO much easier. And if you give them a little press, once you've done that, it's also much easier to press the quilt top at the end. Trust me, future First name / you will be so grateful!
(also, if you kid who loves to work for treats or pocket money, this is a great job for them!)
Helpful Links
My EPP for Beginners is full of very, very beginner-friendly instructions, pictures, and handy tips!
First name / Friend, This was going to be our last email, but I'm just not quite ready to end it! ;P I'm going to come back once more early November, to let you know about our next club, and to offer one lucky Hexie Harvest member a free EPP kit (INCLUDING FABRIC!) for my 2024 BOM. I'll choose one photo from the whole #hexieharvestquilt hashtag on Instagram. I'll also hopefully have a couple of finished Hexie Harvest quilts to share!
I'm right in the thick of making all the fun decisions for our next club, and I would love your feedback if you have any. Did you enjoy the pacing? Did you lose interest half way? Did you find it easy to catch up if you came in late? Did you use the Facebook group? (I'm terrible at Facebook and haven't been in there much, sorry!) Were there topics not covered in the newsletters that you'd enjoy seeing next time? Did you notice the changes to Instagram hashtags (you can no longer see them in chronological order - this made choosing prizes and seeing what everyone's been up to this month tricky!) Did the offering of prizes affect you signing up? All the video content was on Instagram. Would you prefer it in something like an online course format so it's wasn't hiding in a social feed?
No pressure to answer all or any, but if something strikes you as worth letting me know, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for hanging out with me this year, First name / friend!
