I am interrupting our regularly scheduled program (Modern Baby Quilt) again with TWO pieces of news for Julia Wood’s Hexie Blog Hop!
ONE! Julia Wood is self-publishing a new online magazine called Hexie Love, and you could win one free issue. ($5.99 value)
Julia has assured me that Hexie Love is not just about English Paper Piecing and I have agreed to write an article about Inklingo for an issue later this year.
Hexagons are not just for quilters who use EPP!
TWO! I am offering the Inklingo Hexagon Quilt Design Book ($20 value, PDF download) FREE until midnight on Tuesday, April 14, so read on!
Printing shapes on fabric with an ordinary Inkjet printer and Inklingo is a hexie lover’s dream come true!
There is fabulous hexagon inspiration everywhere these days.
However, if English Paper Piecing was the only way to quilt, I would probably not be a quilter at all—let alone gluing and basting and picking paper out of hexagons! I would have found another hobby.
I hear the same thing from Inklingo quilters almost every day. Gluing, pinching and whip-stitching is not fun for everyone and can be very hard on hands and wrists.
ENGLISH PAPER PIECING RESCUE
I often hear from quilters who are stalled on a project they started with EPP, discouraged by how long it takes. You can finish with a running stitch!
English Paper Piecing Rescue is one of the most popular pages on my website.
Lucy Boston has inspired quilters all over the world with Patchwork of the Crosses and other hexagon quilts. She taught herself to sew by mending clothes and old quilts. English Paper Piecing was the only method she knew.
The brilliance of Lucy Boston was the artistic way she used designs in the fabric–fussy cutting—not her sewing method.
The Patchworks of Lucy Boston by her daughter-in-law, Diana, illustrates and describes all 20 of her amazing quilts. It makes me sad to think how many more masterpieces would be part of Lucy Boston’s legacy if she had the advantages we have today.
In Millefiori Quilts and Millefiori Quilts 2, the Dutch artist Willyne Hammerstein uses English Paper Piecing but says it is the least favorite part of the process for her too.
“Choosing a pattern, selecting the fabrics that go with it and piecing together a small part to see the result, gives me the most pleasure. Thereafter, my perseverance is tested. Quilting is not my favorite occupation.”
Do you admire all the hexagons you see in books and magazines and on Pinterest and other websites, but can’t imagine basting and whip-stitching your way to a finished quilt?
Hexagons are not just for quilters who use EPP!
I quilt for relaxation and to express my creativity. Life can be hard. I don’t need my hobby to test my patience!
There is an easier way to sew Willyne’s exquisitely complex quilts with hexagons, diamonds, pentagons and other shapes. Quiltmania understood that making the shapes in Willyne’s quilts Inklingo-able would make these stunning designs accessible to more quilters, not just quilters who EPP.
Last month we introduced two shape collections for Passacaglia, the quilt on the cover of Millefiori Quilts.
EPP FORESAKEN!
When a project takes so long that I lose interest and abandon hope of finishing, it creates feelings of guilt.
Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville is part of Julia’s Blog Hop too. Bonnie stuck with her vision for her hexie quilt for FOURTEEN years, not including time to quilt it. Bonnie is an inspiration for all of us, but oh, my!
HEXIE LOVE!
- I love hexagons, especially the 90° hexagons in Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses.
- I love a portable project.
- I love precision.
- I love relaxing with a needle and thread for some slow stitching—a running stitch.
- I love fussy cutting.
- I love finishing what I start.
Hexagons are not just for quilters who use EPP!
I can sew with a running stitch instead!
There are at least two good ways of preparing hexagons for hand piecing which are faster and more accurate than EPP, so you can make wonderful hexagon designs in a fraction of the time.
1. Prepare the shapes with freezer paper templates and sew with a running stitch. This is the method I teach in my Quilted Diamonds books.
This method of hand piecing gives you complete design freedom!
If you can print or draw the shapes on freezer paper, you can cut them apart, draw sewing lines on the fabric with a pencil and sew fabric pieces together with a running stitch. It is the same for hexagons AND any other shape.
I decided to reprint Quilted Diamonds 2 this winter—while hexagons are hot—because it can help quilters who are looking for an easier, more portable way to sew hexagons or any other shape, not just the diamond designs in the books.
Every copy of Quilted Diamonds 2 includes the comprehensive two-hour hand piecing lesson on DVD. The lesson takes the mystery out of this simple, relaxing technique and includes all my best tips.
2. Print the shapes on fabric with Inklingo (VIDEO) and sew with a running stitch.
Of course, this is my favorite method. Precise, simple, fast, portable.
Print, rotary cut several layers at a time, and sew! The video shows every step.
Hexagons are not just for quilters who use EPP!
Everyone loves the portability of hand piecing, but it is also easy to machine piece hexagons when you have the lines printed on the fabric.
I hand piece hexagons that are smaller than 1 inch and machine piece the larger sizes. I also like to combine hand and machine piecing in the same quilt, a hybrid.
I hand piece when I need portability and machine piece for speed.
The same hand piecing and machine sewing techniques also work for 300 Pieced Hexagon designs (video above) and for fussy cutting.
8 GOOD WAYS
On the other hand, if you do enjoy English Paper Piecing, there are 8 Good Ways to Use Inklingo for EPP. 8 Good Ways on QuiltingHub.
In addition to the flexibility of printing your own templates and choosing your own perfect template material, Inklingo includes illustrated yardage requirements and TWO wonderful methods for fussy cutting!
FOLDED CIRCLES
If you use Julia Wood’s method of folding fabric circles into a hexagon shape, you can skip the tracing and print circles on fabric with Inklingo instead!
Hexagons made from folded circles are pretty thick, so you will want BIG circles. A three-inch fabric circle folds into a hexagon with sides less than 1 inch (comparison above), so instead of cutting 225-250 hexagons from a yard of fabric, you only get about 120.
1. Leave a comment to enter to win an issue of Hexie Love.
I will be posting more hexie photos on Pinterest and Facebook during Julia’s Blog Hop, but the winner of the copy of Hexie Love from Julia Wood will be chosen from comments left below—not anywhere else.
Comments on Blog Lovin or other blog readers or on Facebook or anywhere else will not be in the draw. Please comment on this page to be included.
2. Order the Hexagon Quilt Design Book—free.
Order on the website.
Tell your friends!
Normally any Inklingo design book is only free when you buy the related Inklingo shapes.
If you already have the Hexagon Quilt Design Book, there is no need to order again.
After midnight on Tuesday, April 14, the Hexagon Quilt Design Book will go back to $10—or free when you buy a related shape collection. (Details – 60° hexagons, 90° hexagons for POTC, shapes for Willyne Hammerstein’s Passacaglia, Colonial Garden or Periwinkle Octagon).
THE BLOG HOP CONTINUES!
For more information on Hexie Love Magazine and Julia’s books about folding circles into hexagons, please visit Julia’s Blog.
Visit these links for more chances to win!
April 6 Bonnie Hunter http://quiltville.blogspot.ca/2015/04/hexie-love-e-magazine-give-away.html
April 7 Catherine Redford http://catherineredford.com/hexie-love-blog-hop/
April 8 Linda Franz http://www.inklingo.com/blog/hexie-love-blog-hop/ (me)
April 9 Cheryl Sleboda http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/blog/
April 10 Geta Grama http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com
April 11 Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com
April 12 Becky Campbell https://www.facebook.com/sewforeverquiltingbybeckycampbell
April 13 Joan Shay https://www.facebook.com/joan.mooreshay
ARE YOU SUBSCRIBED?
I will write more soon about the Modern Baby quilt design you can make with the new Inklingo for Quilted Diamonds shape collection.
I post one or two photos on Facebook every day, but Facebook only shows my photos to about 20% of the quilters who have “liked” the Inklingo Facebook Page, so the best way to stay up to date is to subscribe to the blog (top of right sidebar).
REMINDERS
I will keep the special sale price of $15 on the new Inklingo for Quilted Diamonds shape collection for a few more days, okay? Main Quilted Diamonds Page
There are FAQ about Quilted Diamonds on the blog and you can see my first Modern Baby Quilt designs too.
I will be sharing more photos on the Inklingo Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, please “like” and “comment” and “share” my photos. It spreads a nice friendly feeling!
I’m looking forward to reading your comments about hexagons. Good luck in the draw!
Linda & Monkey
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New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.
$10 Coupon! 8 Year Anniversary Special on the handbook
25 Signs YOU are an Inklingo Quilter
I realy love hexis and are looking every day soon I will get the 60* ones. would like to see the magazine. Keep up the good work on your work Linda. Have a couple of your cd from way back. Have more time now that I am retired and patient.
I am new to the whole Inklingo process. I would love to win this book and explore it further. It might just be what allows these arthritic hands to hand piece again. I enjoyed EPP for a long time and miss it.l
Wow! That’s amazing. I will check further. Thanks for drawing opportunity.
I love hexies too! I like creating different designs with the same fabrics & enjoy the calming effect had sewing brings me as well as the portability.
Time to get out my needle and thread again. Love the patterns and books!!!
So glad I found your blog through this hop! Loooking forward to learning more about Inklingo and relationship to doing hexies.
I took classes on English paper piecing last year and loved it. This sounds really great!!!!
Would love to win the book. New to hexies and need ideas!
Love hexies, love hexies with Inklingo even more!!
I will be checking out Inklingo as enjoy hand sewing when I travel or sit and watch TV can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks
would love this .never tried the hex
Thank you. Love hexies. Still like to do by hand as are so portable.
love hexagon patterns done several, doing lots of handwork these days while husband takes chemo
I am currently working on Lucy Boston and a number of other hand piecing projects. Need to get back to quilted diamonds. Thank you for the chance to win, the magazine looks very interesting.
My eleven year-old loves hexies. Since everything she knows she learns from me, I need to learn how to do hexies so I can teach her. She’s begging to do a grandmother’s garden.
I’m currently working on “La Passion” hexagon quilt using Inklingo. I wouldn’t have tried if I had to use EPP. Thanks for the opportunity to win this magazine Linda and thanks, again, for Inklingo. You rock!
I would love to learn how to hexie. Thank you very much for the free download! I will try it out while I am on my days off.
I’m already a Inklingo convert. I love Hexies and I would love to win Thank You for a Great Give-a-Way
This is lovely! I’ve only had a couple classes in regular paper piecing and not sure if I understand but love resullts! The fussy cuts steal my heart!
Hexies….bring them on! I love them all, big small and especially fussy cut!
Linda, you and your blog are truly an inspiration to quilt on! I’ve learned so much from you and your site.
i am hooked on hexies….from a woman who doesn’t care for handwork!
Just discovered Inklingo a few months ago. I am having so much fun with the free shapes. I will be ordering the hexagon shapes for my next project
I just received my Quilted Diamonds2 book. It is a lot of fun to see all the different diamonds.
this magazine sound great. Would love to win an issue.
Never a fan of Grandmother’s Garden, I was titally drawn in by the many new modern variations and am loving it!
I would love to have a copy of the magazine. Just getting into hexies using EPP, still finding my way.
I collect all things hexagon shaped and often make things with hexagons. Would love to win an issue of Julia’s magazine! Thanks for joining the hop, Linda.
I have done a bit of EPP,but it was years ago.I am a bit confused about what Inklingo is Thanks for a chance to win a copy of the Hexie Magazine .
Oh I would love this. I love hand sewing it keeps me relaxed. I love the spirit of community behind patchwork and the Internet has just made us all a worldwide family.
Feeling blessed
Love
Susie
I love Hexagons too!
Inklingo really help me much and I’m addicted and relied to it so much since last year as it save me lots of time and fabric with preferred designed I wanted to print.
This year I started Karen’s Value Proposition Quilt from her Faeries & Fibres blog. This beautiful quilt is based on an antique quilt made of 1″ hexies. I really wanted to make this quilt so that I could learn more about using the different values in fabrics. I wasn’t a hexie person, couldn’t imagine hand piecing a whole quilt and had done some EPP which was ok but labour intensive. I thought quite a bit about what method to use and I was SO glad that I decided to use Inklingo it has made this project so enjoyable and ‘do-able’. I love hand-piecing the hexagon rosettes and will probably machine piece the pathways. It has been a great stress-free project whilst we have been undergoing major kitchen renovations. Thanks Linda for Inklingo and for the opportunity to win the Hexie Love Book.
I’m a new convert to Inklingo and loving it. I have hand pieced for years but Linda’s method is so much faster.
Not sure if my first comment wen through. I have been working on a EPP project for 20 years…more off than on. Lokking forward to more inspiration!
I have been working on an EPP hexie quilt for about 20 years (more off than on!) I love the patterns but would love some fresh inspiration!
I’ve loved watching you stitch for several years now. You make it seem so easy and so relaxing. I’m currently stitching 1/2″ hexies using laser cut papers. The resulting flowers are cute but pretty tiny. After following the progress of others doing Patchwork of the Crosses I recently bought the book and everything needed to make these blocks. All I have to do now is find a little extra time to cut out the fabrics. I’m hoping to round up a few of my stitching buddies so we can enjoy this adventure together.
I love hexies!
I am starting Flower Garden by Edyta Sitar. I do not like doing EPP and love hand piecing so I am very thankful Inklingo is there to make it easier. I love looking at the different ways to use Inklingo, so thanks for the opportunity to win.
I never dreamed there was so many ways to use Hexies and I love sewing them using Inklingo. It is so relaxing. Thank you for the inspiration.
I love hexies! I have 14 blocks finished on my POTC quilt.
Judy
Gotta love those hexies–I’m right in the middle of a great little hexie project–many thanks to Inklingo and Linda!!!
I am really interested in these methods and also already have this years subscription. I will enter to win, but if I don’t (not the luckiest in these chance things) I will definitely keep my subscription!!! I am addicted!
Love hexies! I have just started working with them.
Thanks to Linda and Inklingo. OH! and Monkey too!
Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Love inklingo, Love hexies, !! Thanks for the freebies you give and thanks for the chance to win!!
Can’t wait to see the magazine!
A Hexie magazine would be great! Thanks for the opportunity to possibly win a copy!
Love hexies, love inklingo!! Thanks for the chance to win!!
Already an Inklingo convert, but would love to win the Hexie Love Book. Hexies are all the go at my local patchwork group. So who am I to not get with the programme??
I am moving toward encouragement. If my POTC will look like the back of the one on this post, I will be elated! My very first POTC by hand was was not so pretty on the back. This was before I discovered Inklingo and after I bought the Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses. I love fabric so much and this is one way to get to use more of my stash as well as a new eye for POTC and now hexies! ♥
I was drawn towards EPP quite a few years ago and feel fortunate that I had enough projects to keep me busy until Inklingo came along! ANd who says procrastination doesnt pay off on occasion…