Tula Hexies was by far the most challenging quilt to quilt. I decided to use the same orange peel design I used when I quilted the placemat. Moving a placemat around under the needle is much easier than moving a whole quilt!
The orange peel curves are not always smooth but the quilt is finished! The orange peel quilting is not free motion quilting, I marked every curve but still couldn't follow the lines.
Even though the quilt 'sandwich' was spray glue basted, I still pinned in the center of each hexie. I wasn't taking any chances with fabric slippage.
After washing, Tula Hexies measures 50" by 78".
The black & white stripe is the perfect binding for this quilt and the mini Tula placemat. Tula Hexie is staying here at my house and I'm using the mini Tula as my personal placemat.
Okay Blogger, don't place the picture horizontally!
I even purchased a special backing fabric for Tula Hexies, these hexies are a larger version of the smaller hexies in the quilt.
I was inspired to to hand piece my Tula hexies when I saw Deb and Hanne making their hexie quilts last November at retreat. Hanne also hand sewed her hexies while Deb utilized the EPP method. Hand sewing was easier on my hands than EPP.
Tula Hexies is the last quilt in my machine quilting journey this summer. I'm ready to move onto other projects now.
I do feel more proficient with machine quilting. I don't think I'll let a whole year pass before machine quilting something again.
Linking to Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Free Motion Mavericks, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts
Your Tula Hexies turned out fantastic, Gretchen! I think those “continuous curves” machine quilting designs are really difficult and you did a great job with them. In order to get those curves any more uniform and smooth, I’d suggest using a ruler foot on your machine with either an arc or a circle quilting ruler (with something grippy on the back of the ruler to prevent it slipping). The challenging thing about that is that it’s hard to know ahead of time what size arc or circle ruler you need for a particular quilt block if you don’t own the entire set of sizes and the sets can be pricey, but if you compare the cost of rulers to the cost of having someone else long arm quilt for you the rulers begin to look amazingly affordable! :-). Lisa Callie’s Quilter’s Groove rulers are my favorite because she has marking lines on them for alignment in all the places you need them and she has some great online classes now for ruler quilting on both domestic and long arm machines. You are doing great with your machine quilting!
ReplyDeleteLove those large hexies. I had not seen that backing fabric - it is wonderful and could you tell m where you got it? I might just need to get it for the back of one of mine.
ReplyDeleteI love both of them.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think you did an awesome job quilting this! What a gorgeous result. Love it.Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/07/31/wednesday-wait-loss-391
It is a lovely quilt. You persevered and conquered. I am a big fan of the striped binding. You should be so proud of it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful hexis quilt, love your quilting too!
ReplyDeleteThat is a lovely finish on your hexies quilt. It is so colourful and the binding and backing are perfect.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this, and what is that fantastic hexie backing called? I think your orange peels look beautiful. Black and white binding looks great. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteYour Tula Hexies quilt is gorgeous, Gretchen . Fabulous quilting. And what about the backing- Wow! Just perfect! Have a great day and Happy August.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing quilt Gretchen! I like how you sewed inside your hexies. It looks great. I finally published my post so you can link up if you like. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYour hexies quilt turned out great. Looks like a lot of work for the quilting and it is such a nice job.
ReplyDeleteit turned out amazing!! and that backing fabric could not be more perfect for it!!
ReplyDeleteCurves are hard to do on a long arm too - but I think yours look great! and it was a good idea to pin ot prevent slippage
Fantastic finish, Gretchen! I'm glad you persevered and finished the quilting on your domestic machine. Yes, moving the fabric is labor intensive; but, your design looks spot on to me! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a bright and beautiful finish! Lovely orange peel quilting. I can see why it might be a bit challenging. Gail at the cozy quilter.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt looks great. Well done for persevering with the quilting. I find following lines with a machine needle really difficult - whether I'm using a walking foot or doing fmq. Having a drop bed table for my machine definitely helps especially with bigger quilts.
ReplyDeleteWow, beautiful quilt, well done! The orange peel pattern is perfect for your pretty hexies, and your quilting is great. Congratulations for your successful quilting journey!
ReplyDeleteSo pretty! Love the colors, and that backing is pretty neat, too.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous hexi quilt and that backing is PERFECT!
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