Change is Good

Liberty of London Hexagon Quilt ~ English Paper Piecing

I don't quite know how where to start with this blog post, and I made several attempts at writing it, but let me begin by saying that the last 10 years have been an absolute blast, and I am so grateful. I have been fortunate in many ways, I have been supported by the many readers of this blog (20 million+ page views!), have had financial support from many wonderful sponsors and businesses, and have revelled in the making of so many quilts - I haven't counted just how many quilts. I have also been fortunate to see my quilts go to homes all over the world, many to repeat customers. I have learned so much!

Click on any image for a larger view.

It is now time for me to take a break from actively running Red Pepper Quilts as a business - at least for the foreseeable future. While this decision wasn't an easy decision, it feels very much like the right decision, and one which will give me time to prioritize the things that ultimately are more important than quilts and fabric, like health, family, and friends. 

I will still be making quilts (including quilts to sell - see my Etsy Store) and I will continue to update this blog with all the photos, but there will be no regular/scheduled updates (no more Sunday Stash). This blog will continue to be a quilting blog! Blog posts will be published when time allows and I am not yet sure what that is going to look like. I have a long list of things I'd like to do with my more flexible schedule, and that includes more work with yarn, more time for slow sewing (maybe even learn how to hand quilt), but also more time spent with family, and time tend to my neglected garden (no, I am not writing a book 😂 - #frequentlyaskedquestion).

A BIG shout-out to all of my long time sponsors - those businesses whose click-through logos you see in the left and right side bars - for understanding my current circumstances, and for having been a pleasure to work with. I will shortly be moving the sponsor logos off this front page, so if you sometimes stop by here to click through to your favorite fabric shops, be sure to book-mark these stores.

ALL ABOUT THIS QUILT:

Liberty Hexagon Quilt

Quilt top measures approximately 50 inches x 61 inches.

English Paper Pieced.

783 Hexagons.

Hexagon Size: 1¼" sides.
Hexagon Papers available from from Tales of Cloth.

27 vertical rows of 29 hexagons.
Fabrics:
Liberty of London Tana Lawn - all from stash.
STARTED: July 2018.

TOOLS AND NOTIONS

 1¼ Inch Hexagon Papers.

1¼  Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.

Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.

Straw Needles - Size 11.

The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads.

Relevant blog post:
Liberty Hexagon Quilt - Work in Progress
Liberty Hexagon Quilt - The finished Quilt

And I am so very grateful for the support I have received from all of my blog readers, many of whom have followed my quilting journey from day one, and many who regularly stop by to see what I have been up to. I hope you will continue to stop by, check in on my quilts, and I hope to continue to deliver the quilty eye candy. Thank you, thank you. It hardly seems enough.

It is exciting, but it is also scary to take a step back from something that has been such a big part of my life for ten years, and I am reminding myself that change is good. This is not goodbye.

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Rita

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

The Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt

There's a sew-along happening! The Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt Sew-Along is hosted by Sewtopia, The Next Stitch and Denyse Schmidt (Denyse is the designer of this timeless version of a traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt). This pattern and sew-along is for the updated free-wheeling version of the original Single Girl Quilt pattern and includes guidelines for improvising the arcs for each block.

The Single Girl Quilt has been on my quilt bucket list for several years, and more recently (in the last 3 months) I had purchased both the Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt pattern and templates. So when the sew along was announced I was ready to go. It was the nudge I needed to just do it.

Now, free-wheeling (improvised piecing) is not exactly my preferred sewing style, and the 36 arcs required for this quilt were pieced over a one week period. Not that I struggled with the pattern or the instructions. In fact, it was easy, and together with the templates, all the blocks came together so well.  It is more that I like to measure .... everything. In the end, having to let go of creating identical pieced arcs was freeing, and I could not be happier with the finished quilt.

I have used two of my most loved fabric collections to piece the arcs: Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope. Both these collections are by Denyse Schmidt, and both have been reprinted in more recent years. Many of the fabric pieces used are from the original collections and in color ways that are now very hard to find. It was a joy working with these long stashed fabrics, and it seemed appropriate to cut into them for this quilt!

I have quilted the quilt with an all over 1/2" grid of intersecting quilting lines, and I have used a heavier weight thread (Aurifil 28wt - the grey spool) for the top thread. The heavier/thicker thread gives the stitch a lovely definition. Yes, the quilting took forever; hours and hours of mindless stitching (and almost a whole spool of top thread - 750 meters), but the texture is so worth it.

Click on any image for a larger view.

For the back of the quilt I have used a single floral/ribbon print from the reprinted Katie Jump Rope collection. I love this print and was happy to have sufficient yardage on hand to use for the quilt back.

And for the binding I was rather thrilled (and surprised) to find a half yard of stripe fabric from the original Katie Jump Rope collection in my stash. The green/black/white/ stripe adds a nice contrast finished edge to the quilt. I also decided I needed to spend some extra time with the quilt and hand slip stitched the binding to the quilt back; time to reflect and enjoy the make journey.

QUILT DETAILS

Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt

Finished quilt measures 62.5 inches x 62.5 inches.

Pattern :

Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt by Denyse Schmidt

36 quarter circle arc blocks.

9 complete circles.

Fabrics Used:

Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt.

Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White.

THREAD for quilting:

Aurifil 28wt thread (the gray spool) for quilting:

 (28wt top thread - 40wt thread in the bobbin).

Batting:

Low loft cotton batting - bleached white.

Of course, it is not too late to join the Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt Along! It has only just begun and it is a no-pressure and at your leisure project, plus both Sewtopia and The Next Stitch offer useful hints/tips via email and Instagram videos for successful completion. For all the sew along details, pattern, and acrylic templates (although the acrylic templates are not a requirement, they sure are useful!) please check out the following:

• Sewtopia (United States)
• The Next Stitch (Australia)

And so it goes ... another quilt ticked off my bucket list. I could not be more pleased with this quilt. Thank you for scrolling through the many photos. Taking photos of a quilt with so much white fabric is tricky and I thought that as these photos turned out ok, I might as well show them!

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Sunday Stash - Flea Market Fancy Reprint (February 2012)
Sunday Stash - Katie Jump Rope (December 2015)
For more Freewheeling Single Girl Quilt inspiration check out the Instagram hashtag:

• #freewheelingsinglegirlsewalong
• #freewheelingsinglegirlsal
• #freewheelingsinglegirl

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

Sunday Stash #453 Arctic by Elizabeth Hartman

Arctic by Elizabeth Hartman for 

Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Arctic is Elizabeth Hartman's most recent collection for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The collection is inspired by the icy landscape of the northernmost region on earth. This collection features polar bears, ice capped mountains, feathers, and tiny dotted snowflakes in a cool wintry palette of blue, green, grey, and blush. It really is the most gentle color palette!

This is a quilting collection and it consists of 24 fabrics; six unique designs each available in four colorways. You cannot go past the polar bears for cuteness, but I do also love the berry blossom designs (above).

ARCTIC BY ELIZABETH HARTMAN is available from:
The Fat Quarter Shop
I Love Fabric
Pink Castle Fabrics
Jones & Vandermeer

Arctic - Starlight and Snowfall

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COPYRIGHT and DISCLOSURE: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. I have personally selected (and purchased) all featured Sunday Stash fabrics/products, unless clearly stated otherwise. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

A Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Part 3

I am pretty pleased with myself for having finished my Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt. I have so loved working on this quilt, from sorting through my fabric scraps and stash, to cutting hexies, glue basting fabric pieces to papers, and stitching hexagon flowers, to finally basting and quilting this quilt. It was a journey that played out over many long evenings with needle and thread, and one that I would happily repeat. I have lots of photos to share so please do bear with me! 

I finished this quilt top in July and for all of the month of August the quilt top sat neatly folded in a corner of my sewing area. I couldn't decide if I should send it off to my long arm machine quilter or if I was game enough to tackle the quilting myself. Yes, I still worry with each quilt that I could mess up the quilting, especially so with larger quilts. Earlier this month however, I threw all caution to the wind and basted the quilt one afternoon, and started quilting the next day. And I am so glad I did! 

I love the simple straight lines of quilting! The lines are spaced ½" apart and run from top to bottom edge of the quilt. It took hours and hours of slow stitching and quilt wrangling to complete the quilting but it was well worth the effort. 

For the back of the quilt I have used a single white daisy design on a grey background. This is a Japanese fabric and the selvage reads: Favorite - Presented by Kei Fabric. I had been holding on to this piece of yardage for just the right project and this was it!

And I have finished the quilt with a red/white stripe fabric for the binding. Having spent so many hours hand piecing the quilt I thought it only appropriate to spend an hour or so hand slip stitching the binding.

QUILT DETAILS

Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt 

The finished quilt measures 55 inches x 72 inches.
Started: May 2018 Finished: September 2018.

English Paper Pieced.

TOOLS AND NOTIONS

 1 Inch Hexagon Papers

1 Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.

Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.

Straw Needles - Size 11.

The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads.

SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION DETAILS:

MAKE:
50 WHOLE Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Units (pictured on the left).

8 HALF units for the left and right edges of the quilt (pictured on the right).

LAYOUT:
Lay out and arrange the Grandmother's Flower Garden Units in 9 horizontal
rows. Start row 1 with a whole Flower Garden Unit
and similarly end row 9 with a whole Flower Garden Unit.
(see photo of the whole quilt for guidance).
Pick up all pieces in order in rows - I like to keep each
individual row in a Ziploc bags.

PREPARE UNITS BY ADDING BACKGROUND HEXAGONS:

Then (row by row) start preparing the units for row sewing by

 adding background hexagons:

as pictured above - for whole Flower Garden Units - 

and as pictured below for left and right side half Flower Garden Units.

(4 half Flower Garden Units for the LEFT side of the quilt

and 4 half Flower Garden Units for the RIGHT side of the quilt).

SEW ROWS TOGETHER
Once you have prepared all the
units for the whole row, sew the row together.
Then join together horizontal rows.

Row 1 and row 9 will require additional background hexagons
to be added to fill in the top and bottom quilt edges.
Removing papers after you sew each row together will make piecing
much more enjoyable. Remove only those papers for which all six
sides of the hexagon have an adjoining hexagon.

Hexagon Papers and Fabric Requirements:

• A total of 1572 - 1 inch Hexagon Papers.
• Scrappy fabric for Grandmother's Flower Garden Units.
• 3 YARDS of background fabric* based on cutting 1" hexagons with 3/8" seam allowance - standard width quilting cotton (cut a total of 526 background fabric hexagons).

*I have used Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Ballet Slipper for the background fabric of my quilt.

I hope that all makes sense? Please don't hesitate to email me (redpepperquilts@gmail.com) or leave a question/comment below if you have any questions or require further clarification.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
A Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Part 1
A Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Part 2

More RPQ English Paper Pieced Quilts:
Mandolin Quilt 
Liberty Stars Quilt
Daisy Chain Quilt 

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.