Hexie Echo Free Quilt Pattern

Published: Wed, 10/19/16

Hi ,

Have you ever taught someone else how to quilt? I've always found teaching others to be just as much of a learning experience as quilting a new design myself.

For the last two years I've been teaching my dad how to quilt. He helps me cut and piece most of the quilts you see on the Free Motion Quilting Project and lately he's been helping me quilt lots of samples for our new book on walking foot quilting.

But Dad ran into a problem a few months ago. The quilting gloves I've used for years just didn't work for him. For one thing, Dad's hands are massive and he couldn't find a pair that fit snug enough to grip the quilt without also cutting off circulation.

For another thing, pressing down with the tips of his fingers would often cause them to lock up. He has arthritis in his hands from years of hard use, and pressing down with his fingertips seemed to exacerbate this condition.

So we began trying out different tools and stumbled across one that worked great for Dad - Grip and Stitch Quilting Discs. These discs sit on the surface of the quilt and with only a little pressure you can grip and move the quilt smoothly under the needle.

Dad immediately felt a difference using these quilting discs and has been able to quilt for longer periods and with better control than he had before. Because this quilting tool worked so great for Dad, we've started carrying it in our shop at LeahDay.com

Click Here to find Grip and Stitch Discs and get $5 off this week only!

Hexie Precut Easy Beginner Pattern

What happens when we surround a hexagon shape with rows and rows of fabric strips?

That's the inspiration for this beautiful new quilt pattern called Hexie Echo.

This quilt was really fast and fun to create. I eventually found a nice flow stitching on three strips at a time, then standing up to press and trim the edges.

It went together in about 4 hours for me and created a 51 x 60 inch quilt!

Click Here to find the free Hexie quilt pattern.

Powering Through Puckers & Pleats

Have you ever been happily quilting on a beautiful project and then suddenly have your fun time ruined by noticing a mistake on your quilt?

This just recently happened to me as I quilted the outer border of my walking foot wholecloth quilt. The lines came together just right to create a perfect storm of pleaty, puckery fabric

No, this isn't a huge issue. It's pretty minor to other quilting disasters I've experienced, but this quilt is going in a book and that creates it's own set of pressure and expectation. In short - I want it to be PERFECT! Why isn't it PERFECT?!

I don't know about you, but when I see an issue like this is like all my confidence drains away and I want to chuck the quilt in the trash and pretend it never happened.

Click Here to watch a video on how I worked through this.

Gearing up for Fall Market

Fall quilt market starts in just two weeks and this will be the first time I fly to Houston, TX to attend the show! I'm really excited about the event and launching my new fabric designs with Island Batik.

I've also created a new Isacord thread set so this week I switched back to free motion quilting to finish this sample. Read more about this little quilt right here.

So that's it for this week. If you think the sample above is pretty, please check out my Pinterest boards! I have a ton of pretty images as well as fun and free projects available.

Also make sure to Click Here and check out the Grip & Stitch Quilting Discs and save $5 on this new tool this week only.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day