Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Hexie journey so far - Tula Pink's Saltwater

Over the past year I've become obsessed with Hexagon Paper Piecing. I discovered the fabric designer Tula Pink and her fabrics are now forever entwined with the notion of paper piecing for me. Here are the first five rows for my Hexie project, Tula Pink's kit Hex on the Beach.
Just have sew them together now before I move onto making more Hexies.
 
 
In January 2013 I bought the kit online from Fabricworm because I couldn't find anyone here in Australia who knew about it or put it on their websites, and it was already selling out in the US. I found Tula Pink's fabrics, especially her Saltwater range through Facebook I think or through another US-based online Quilting store, The Fat Quarter Shop when I used them to source some foundation piecing papers for another project I found online and had to have. Facebook has hooked me up with some great Quilting resources.
 
 
 
What really impressed me with the project was the terrific rhythm in using each of the fabrics in each of the colours in the Saltwater collection to create a beautiful colour wash picture of sun, land and water. I'm a big fan of Tula Pink Fabrics now. I just love her style and colour and whimsy. I totally understand how her kits sell out so quickly. I missed out on her Peaks & Valley's kit with her Acacia fabrics. Just lovely!
 
I've never been interested in hand piecing patchwork before. I've always considered it too small and slow. Which was stupid of me. For too long I've been trapped into using one room of my home for sewing and longing for a project I could travel with me or keep my hands occupied in front of the TV and my best movie collection. And here it was! 
 
I've been combing online sewing sources and learning about Hexie sewing for the past year. I know it's taken a year to complete two rows of Hexies but I'm not rushing this project. It's a long haul project. It always was going to be. 
 
It is weird that this week while my eyes have been assaulted with conjunctivitis I've done the most work on it. Blinking blearily through my stitches and unpicking. (Always check the placement of your rows before you begin sewing the rows together. )
 
I know I'm hooked because I've already looked up the Accuquilt Go! die block cutting machine and Hexagon dies and added them to my Amazon wishlist. One day!

No comments:

Post a Comment