Hexagon Finish and a Giveaway!!!!

First up is my Hexagon finish!

These are the hexagons that I worked on this summer during my road trip to Winnipeg.  It was so much fun to fussy cut the Cotton and Steel fabric.

The quilt is from the NEW book, "The New Hexagon  52 Blocks to English Paper Piece."  The author is none other than our own quilt shop owner, Katja Marek.

To say she is a little excited, is an understatement.

A week ago she was presenting her book at School House, during Quilt Market.  One of the quilts she showed was mine.  EEKKKK.  What can I say, I'm a little excited that my quilt is in the gallery portion of the book, as well as one that I quilted for Sharon.

Katja is hosting a book signing on November 1 at her store.  To share in the excitement she has agreed to give away a book on my blog, as well as Margaret's andCarla's.  Carla will be a couple of days getting her blog giveaway going.  Check them both out to triple your chance of winning.

To win a copy of Katja's book from me, leave a comment below.  If you are a no reply blogger leave me some way to find you.  I will pick a winner Friday Nov 7th.

Linking to Finish It Up Friday.

Sunday Ride

Sharon recently finished piecing her "Sunday Ride" quilt, and then gave it to me to quilt.  What fun!

As always, Sharon's appliqué was very well done.

She let me quilt it however I liked.  I used Glide thread in blue and white.  It does pick up the colour of the fabric under it, so the match is great.  I did have a little trouble quilting in the fused pieces with gumming of the needle.  With a little patience, it is finished.

If you would like to see the quilt, pop by Katja's in a few days to check it out.

I am off to Quilt Market in Houston.  I will post pictures as soon as I get back.  If you want to see pics as they happen, check out my instragram account lindasquiltmania.

Kamloops Modern Group Show and Tell

This past Saturday was the monthly meeting of the Kamloops Modern Group.  Our challenge this month was Orange Fizz.

A great variety of orange ranging from halloween to Cotton + Steel.  Love them all!

Katja brought in sone of her many orange things.  Miniature to Queen size, quite the collection of orange.

Two more regular show and tell items, both of which just happened to have a little orange in them.

The next meeting is November 8 at 1pm at Katja's.  New members are always welcome!

Sylvia's City Sampler

I was delighted to quilt Sylvia's City Sampler!

She had asked for a little something extra on this quilt.  I was happy to do so!

I got out my trusty blue water erasable pen and a ruler, then started marking a few lines.

Not quite as pictured in the Tula Pink book, but close enough.

I love teaming up with Sylvia to create something beautiful.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Cotton Bars

I wanted to show bigger pieces from the Cotton and Steel fabrics, so I came up with this design.

Since some of the fabrics are retro, I decided to go retro with the quilting.

Diagonal lines and orange peel.  Oldies but goodies!  The Fireside on the back REALLY shows the quilting.

To make this quilt you need nine fat quarters and 2.2 metres or about 2 1/2 yards, of background fabric.

Cut each fat quarter into three 6 1/2" squares and three strips 2 1/2" wide.  You will have a bit left for binding or your scrap bin.

From the background cut twenty-one 6 1/2" squares and nine 2 1/2" strips.  Cut the strips in half to match the length of the strips from the fat quarters.  You will have enough left for binding if you so choose.

Sew together strip sets as shown above.  You will need eight sets of the top set and 9 sets of the bottom set.  Press all seam allowances towards the feature fabric.

Cut into 6 1/2" squares.

Lay out the quilt in vertical rows working from the top down.  The first row consists of a 6 1/2" square of feature fabric followed by a strata block of background/feature/background.  Repeat till you have eleven blocks down ending with a feature square.
For the second row, start with a strata of feature/background/feature, but drop it down two inches from the first row.  This creates an offset.  Follow with a background 6 1/2" square and repeat till you have eleven blocks ending with a strata block.  Remove the last 2 1/2" strip from this block so it is even with the first row.
The third row repeats the first row, but once again drops down two inches.  Instead of a block at the bottom, use the strip removed from the last block of row two.
The fourth row drops the feature/background/feature strata down two inches, leaving room for a background square above it.
I hope by now you have figured out the pattern of dropping down by two inches for each new row and alternating between feature blocks and background blocks for each row.

When you have all nine rows across, remove strips from the bottom to make it even with the first row, and use these strips to fill in where needed at the top.  Refer to the picture at the top of the post for placement if you are confused.
Sew each row together pressing seams towards the feature fabric.  Sew the rows together, quilt, bind and enjoy.

If you want to work from scraps, rather than fat quarters, go for it.  Below is a scrappy version, downsized a little.

This was some REALLY old fabric I had hanging around, supplemented with a little hockey fabric from a friend.  It will make a great community quilt.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

Cotton and Steel Lawn

Yes, I'm in love!  The Cotton And Steel Lawn is sooooo soft and soooo delightful against my skin.  If I was a better seamstress, I would make a blouse.  Since I'm not, I made an Infinity Scarf.

Gerry was gracious and agreed to be my model!  I used the hatbox lawn and this pattern as a guideline. I bought 1.5 metres (60 inches) of fabric, cut it in half lengthwise and removed the selvages to create two pieces 20" x 60".  I  used a french hem for the lengthwise seam, and a regular hem for the join.  I now have two beautiful scarfs, one for me and one for a friend!

If you would like to check out the Cotton and Steel Week that I posted in June, click here.

I'll be back tomorrow with and original pattern using Cotton and Steel.