Sunday, July 12, 2009

Summer Quilts

Howdy Folks, hope you are all enjoying a nice Summer. Here in Northern California we are starting to get some heat. And that got me thinking on light, Summer quilts. With the temperatures between 95 and 110, no blankets are really needed on the bed, just a sheet will do.... but I enjoy the look of a quilt on my bed :)

On our forum, www.thequiltandneedle.com/forum, many of us are exchanging squares for making hexagons with. Many of our members are using the 'tuna can' method of putting their hexagons together. You can find a tutorial for this, and some other great tutorials, here:

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/tutorials.asp

With the tuna can method of making hexagons, you end up with no seams on the back. So it makes the perfect, light, Summer quilt! You can put them together like our friend Sally did, making some beautiful flowers.


Here is a close up of the back of a hexagon, you can see the seam lines are all closed up, so there will be no fraying.


But not all hexagons are destined to be flowers. There are some other great things to do with them. You can make a watercolor quilt, or do a an I Spy quilt. Make coasters, table runners and wall quilts using the hexagon pieces for a different design, like it this wall hanging:



Another great Summer quilt would be a Yo-Yo quilt. It's very similar to the folded hexagons, and would require no backing or batting. You can find a tutorial here:

http://www.reddawn.net/quilt/yoyo.htm

The quiltandneedle Gals haven't even talked about making Yo-Yo quilts, hmmm...maybe that would make another good swap!

We love swapping fabric and will find just about any reason too. So come on over and join us. You can find lots more talk on hexagons and other quilt related subjects on our forum, we love making new friends and sharing ideas. And now that Jess has remnants and end-of bolt fabrics on sale, you can stock up and make your own hexagon quilts....or yo-yo quilts!

Till next time....

Have a wonderful day, and go get creative!

Dorian

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