Category Archives: quilting

Six Fun Things You Can Make with Hexies

Put a hex on it

Quilting with hexagons, “hexies” for short, might not be new, but it is definitely trending now. Most of you have probably seen one of the most famous examples of a hexagon quilt, Grandma’s Flower Garden. One little hexagon in the middle surrounded by six others as “petals” makes a charming flower motif. Stitch up a few zillion of these, by hand if you are really determined, and you can have a beautiful heirloom quilt. But what else can we make from this fun shape? Let’s take a look:

  • Pincushion – Make two hexie flowers as described above, stitch with right sides together leaving a small space for turning, stuff and whip stich closed. You’ll have flowers on your sewing desk all year long.
  • Easiest table topper ever – Start with one hexie of any size, let’s say 6”, and stitch strips to each of the six sides in a concentric fashion. Stop anytime when the topper is big enough for your taste. Go festive with holiday themed fabrics or scrappy to use up some stash.
  • Coasters – Make a sandwich of fun prints with a middle layer of stiff interfacing such as TimTex. If you make the bottom hexagon 1” larger all around than the top, you can do an easy self-binding.
  • I-Spy Quilt – Use a 4”, 5” or 6” template to fussy-cut novelty fabrics for an I-Spy quilt that is as much fun to make as it is to gift.
  • Needle Book – Make two lined and finished hexies for the front and back with a few felt “pages” in between. Blanket stitch them all together on one side and the only thing you will lose your needles in is cuteness.
  • The Perfect Portable Project – Once you’ve mastered this shape with some of these easier projects, make Grandma proud by tackling your own Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt. Those handfuls of little hexagons make the best take-along project ever. You can take everything you need with you in a lunch baggie – no sewing machine needed!

Have fun with some hexies today!

Not Those Scissors

Don’t even think about using my scissors for that

My family is always taking my scissors. It’s bad enough that they take them, but then what they use them for is even worse. My poor scissors have been used for everything from cutting tortillas (thanks, kids!) to roof flashing. Trying to keep the family from using your good scissors is a true exercise in futility.

Recently, I saw an ostensibly clever product for sale in a quilting magazine. It was a set of rubbery silicone tags (like those “bracelets for a cause” that everyone wears) with the “appropriate” use printed on them along with a corresponding icon. One was for paper, one for thread and another for fabric. Although adorable, I think this product will totally miss its mark because the very concept of the product insinuates that the offender does not know that they are using the scissors for the wrong purpose. The problem is that, to the uninitiated, there are no special purpose scissors. To non-quilters, scissors are scissors. They cut. They make one piece into two pieces. Any scissors can be used to bifurcate any thing.

You can try these cute little tags if you want but I think the only real way to keep your quilting scissors from being used to prepare tonight’s dinner or repair the roof is to hide them. Hide them, and just to be really safe, sprinkle a dozen or so cheap “decoy” scissors all over the house. You know, the kind you get for a dollar at the office supply store at back-to-school time. Sure, they won’t cut fabric or even paper worth a darn, but you know your family is just going to use them to cut wire anyway.

What to Do When You Run Out of Fabric


The “go to” defense of quilters accused of buying too much fabric is quite often “I have to buy it now because later it will all be gone!” This is a very valid claim. The way the quilting industry works is, most fabric lines are printed once or twice and then they are “retired”, never to be printed again. What if this was your favorite fabric? What if you run out in the middle of an important project? What are you to do? Here are some practical suggestions:

  • Find It at Another Shop – Obviously, you already checked the Local Quilt Shop where you made the original purchase. Now it’s time to look elsewhere, including online. You will need to know the designer and the name of the fabric line. You will find that information printed on the selvage. Many of the smaller shops, especially the online shops on eBay and ETSY, do not sell out as quickly as the larger brick-and-mortar stores. They are more likely to have inventory left long after the big shops have sold out. I was delighted to find fabric to make curtains from the same line as a baby quilt I made for my son this way.
  • Reverse Google Image Search – Believe it or not, I have successfully used a reverse Google image search to find fabric but I only learned about this capability recently. Go to the main Google search page and in the upper right corner there is a link called “Image”. Click there, upload an image of your fabric and see what Google can find. This works best for very distinct prints, but it does work. I once found some extra green and red candy-stripe fabric that I “needed” to finish a Christmas project.
  • Facebook – There are many Facebook Groups for Quilting and Sewing. Join some and upload an image of your needed fabric. You’ll be surprised at how many people not only know the name of the fabric line and designer, but also have some to spare. Quilters are inherently very generous people, they will share. I once found the very same vintage fabric from Denmark that my grandmother used to make a knitting needle case over 40 years ago!
  • Make Do – Well, you tried all of the above and are still out of luck. You are going to have to make do without it. Either find something “close enough” to finish your project, or deliberately mix it up and thereby “hide” your fabric shortage with some fabric that is completely different. Sometimes the most beautiful quilts are the improvised ones. Remember, that is how quilting got started – by cutting up old garments, flour sacks and other random bits and scraps.

Running out of fabric isn’t the end of the world. But, remembering those times that you did will be good justification for buying “just a little extra” next time!