Sewing To Go

Saturday, February 13, 2016

We just got back from a week-long family vacation to Nashville. The drive is about six hours for normal people, but at least eight when traveling with toddlers. I knew I would have a lot of seat time, so I wanted to pack something to do.

I always take a quilt magazine or two, but this time I wanted to try something new. I decided to try my hand at making hexies.

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Hexies aren't anything new. They are just a hand-stitched hexagon. However, I loathe sewing by hand. My stitches are never perfect, so I get frustrated quickly.


I recently watched a series of video tutorials by ModernHandcraft on Instagram, and she made it seem very doable. Even for me! (Videos here: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.) The stitches are just basting stitches on the back to hold the fabric in a hexagon shape around a cardstock template. Later, you iron the hexagon, remove the paper template, and machine stitch it down onto a larger fabric. The hand-sewn stitches will never be seen!


I printed several sheets of 1" hexagons on cardstock and cut them apart. (I will definitely use my Cricut for that next time!) For fabric, I cut charm squares into fourths to get 2.5" squares.


I was able to sew two complete charm packs of fabric while on the trip! The first set of hexies are made with Honeymoon fabric by Sarah Watts for Cotton and Steel.



The second set is made with Dainty Blossoms fabric by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake Designs.


No plans yet with what to make with them, but it feels great to have been so productive!


On one of the days of our vacation, my husband surprised me with a day trip to Paducah, Kentucky to the National Quilt Museum! No photos allowed inside, but WOW! So inspiring!



I was able to visit Hancock's of Paducah, too!






I exercised an enormous amount of restraint and only bought Kona solids for an upcoming challenge. I left so much behind!


Two other quilt shops fit into our schedule, too. Craft South was in a swanky district in Nashville.



Stitcher's Garden was south of Nashville. What a place! Way more fabric than what the square footage should hold. Not sure the fire marshal would approve.




We also played a sort of "I Spy" game and found many "barn quilts" during our travels! (Only one was actually on a barn!)

I love finding barn quilts "in the wild." It's fun to know another quilter lives there! (Ignore the poor photo quality and just imagine you're riding in a car taking pictures out the window as you're driving by!)






Not technically a barn quilt, but this downtown building really stood out among it's neighbors!


It was wonderful to be able to squeeze in some sewing and quilting related things on our family vacation! I think I'm going to keep a hexie kit in my car now for when I have some wait time! I see many more in my future!

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