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Saturday, July 20, 2013

English Paper Piecing Club at Mary’s

The evening I arrived in Bedford, PA –just happened to be the night that Mary's English Paper Piecing group met to work on their projects!

How fun!

Of course, I was given a bit of a heads up on this gathering so I could throw my hexie projects into the van for show and share ---

I just love Mary's shop...it's in a historic building in a neat old section of Bedford ---and when I walked in the door I was greeted with big hellos from everyone, hugs all around ---it was like coming home!

Of course, it is full of gorgeous fabrics, so that could be part of the wonderfulness too! LOL!

I turned around and cracked up laughing when I saw this sign announcing that I would be here:


I changed it to "IS HERE!!"

 These gals don’t know how lucky they are to have Mary and her wealth of knowledge and vast collection of antique quilts on hand for inspiration ---She had brought a selection of English paper pieced hexagon quilts with her for inspiration – and we were so inspired!

The evening’s focus was on fussy cutting ---so many ways to use this to let the fabric do the talking in a very fun way!

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How sweet is this!  The kitty is from Mary’s “Cat in the Manor” fabric line ---

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The navy hexies around the cat were fussy cut from this fabric --

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This really nifty acrylic tool is used to center the motif – and the outline of the block is stamped to the wrong side of your fabric so you can easily cut it out on the lines knowing your motif is where it needs to be.  These are very cool, and were found in Japan while Mary was vending there ---I love finding things that are a bit “out of the norm” from things we usually see.

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A really cute hexie pin cushion!

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Tiny hexies in progress --

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Doris shared her bright & bold hexies and stars quilt in Kaffe Fasset fabrics!

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Love these, Doris!

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Doris is leading up the “how to” session for the ladies—I was just along for the ride and enjoying everyone’s company.  I spent some time cutting out my neutral hexagons for my project so they will be ready to go when I fly to Alaska after this Pennsylvania trip.  My stash of neutral hexies for the current project was really getting down there in variety so I needed to stockpile some more….and some more reds too while I am at it.

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Busy hands with tiny fussy cuts!  These were so cute!

And now for the piece de resistance –the antique quilts!  I’m uploading these into a slide show because there are too many to be able to post one at a time.  The quilt top with the TINY hexagons is falling apart in places due to the mordant in the print on the red fabric ---they just didn’t know what would happen to this fabric over time.  There is fabric in this quilt dating from 1780 ((No that is not a typo!!)) to 1850.  That is a span of 70 years worth of scraps.  AMAZING! 

If you can’t view the slide show on your mobile device, click the image below to visit the actual photo album.  Enjoy!
Mary's Quilt Shop, July 2013
I'm off in a bit to go set up for today's Star Gazing workshop --it will be a day of fun with the ladies who have come from as far as Boston to play in the scraps with us today.Enjoy your weekend, everyone!


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17 comments:

Kay said...

OMG...love those hexagons!! So inspiring! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Where can you get that neat template?

Nancy said...

So much fun! I'm ready to go sew after the inspiration~~~~

Mary Ellen said...

My mother reportedly had a 22" waist when she married in 1948. Mine, needless to say, never was 22". The hexie quilts are wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Lynmar said...

Love the skirt, let's all make one, with that waist line, LOL! The quilts are wonderful.

Tina said...

Would love to have the pattern for the hexie pincushion. All the hexies are so neat.

Dagmar said...

Love those hexoes. Where can I buy one of those template stamps?

VLPDevore said...

Bonnie, love following you. I too would like the little hexie pincushion pattern (if possible). Safe travels, vickie

Pattyjoe said...

I would like one of the template stamps also. Great hexie tool!!!!

WhoMom said...

The fussy cut hexies are fabulous! Would love to find the template for fussy cutting too!
The stars were out of this world.
Lyn

pkquilter said...

Love thinking about you and Mary enjoying the time together! I first met you through Mary. Mary had just done a program for the Quilter's Escape event in western PA a few years ago. In the relaxed after-glow chat time your name came up at the top of our (Northwestern PA Quilt Study Group) program wish list. Mary called you; you had a few days of downtime; we scheduled a lecture and class pronto; and the rest is local quilt history! You and Mary have enriched our lives! Pauline in North East, PA (Cherry Boom)

Rosemary Youngs said...

Do you know what company makes Hexagon stamp template

Andresa said...

I had a 23" waist at one time... when I was in high school!

beth said...

these are great, now I just have to learn how

Wendy H said...

For something different, you should give Inklingo a try. It prints the hex shape on the back side of your fabric using your inkjet printer. That way you don't have to baste all those hex's before sewing the blocks together...way faster! Love your Hexies, they're beautiful!! So addictive too!

Linda P in IL said...

The small hexies that are being taught in the class..how will they be quilted? Are the going to be joined and appliqued on a background?
I have some that are small enough to fit in the palm of my hand but I've never joined them. Thanks for the way cool pictures of the antique one!

Unknown said...

Is that a Quilt Cut 2 behind the fabric in one of the pics?

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