Thursday, December 21, 2017

Y-Seam Power Piecing!!

Last week I left you with a pile of six hexie flowers destined to become hotpads.
I think a set of two is preferable so I needed to cut out enough hexagons for two more earlier this week.
Happily, stitching those hexies into flowers saved me from a fit of frustration a couple days ago.  Stitching by machine is a zen-like experience so I often retreat there when I'm struggling to stay calm and focused.
The holidays tend to unravel me so I was glad to have these ready and waiting.
I love the smooth rhythm of chain-piecing which is why I find the Set-In Piecing Simplified technique so exciting! 
AND if you purchase the downloadable PDF by December 31, 2017, the coupon code YSEAMPOWER will get you a 20% discount on it!
It took a little over an hour to stitch up two more flowers and add diamonds around all the flowers.
The technique is efficient, too!
I wait until the entire flower is assembled to press because it is easier to keep the first and second seams out of the third seam "y"!
 
Now I had four pairs ready to layer with two layers of cotton batting, a layer of Warm Company's Insul-Bright, and a backing fabric.  
I experimented with the stitching patterns and kept it simple using King Tut cotton thread. 
I like this stitching pattern -- need to keep some pictures of it in my "idea" file for future hexie projects! It is two continuous lines of stitching -- each one moving through three of the hexagons.
It took an hour or so to quilt all of them counting thread changes.
Here are the four sets trimmed and ready to match up binding fabric. 
I cut the binding strips 1 5/8" wide and will use single rather than double fold binding.  Once the machine stitching is finished, the stack will move to the hand-sewing zone for evening stitching.
I have a few days to finish that step. 
Three sets for gifts and one set for me!
Best part is there won't be any UFO's as a result of this project!!

Willie continues to work on his transition to house cat -- doesn't look amused does he?
Actually that ball of yarn can be quite a bit of fun when he's in the mood -- perhaps not as much fun as a mouse or chipmunk, but still fun!!
He's wishing for catnip for Christmas to take off the edge!?!
I wish all of you celebrating during the month of December many blessings.
And a Happy New Year!!
I'll be back at it after the first.
Mary Huey



4 comments:

  1. After your last post, I dove in deep to researching about sewing hexies on the machine...ordered some templates, have stalked the mailbox since the day after-they are out for delivery today. Yeah! I am so excited to start this and this will be the perfect 1st project. I want to replace all of my potholders now. Thank you for sharing this and creating all this new excitement for me.

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  2. Merry Christmas to you, Mary, and to all your family, too. Another great hexie finish. See you next year.

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  3. Lovely hexies! (Which set is yours?)
    I'm a big fan of your set-in piecing. It's so nice to be able to stitch hexies on the machine, plus it really simplifies sewing my Glitter blocks!

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  4. You have such an amazing collection of bird and nature prints, Mary. I would be inspired to make hotpads too, if I were not trying to tame my wild pile of UFOs. :)

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