Project Update: 12.12.2023

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

It hasn't been that long since my last update, but with my plans for the coming weeks, inlcuding a sesonal goal update and a little bit of time off, I expect I won't be posting another project update until the new year. I decided it would be best to get you all caught up with what I've been working on while I have the chance!

So without further ado, let's jump right in!

Hexie Harvest BoM

Hexie Harvest has continued to come together slowly and steadily. Most recently, I've completed the sixth row out of eleven, so I'm aorund half way through!

After completing that row, I've taken a little time off from hand sewing, but I'm still really enjoying the process! Hand piecing is such a relaxing process for me; it's quiet, travels really well, and watching the units, blocks, and rows form under my fingers is a truly magical expierience!

With that little reminder of how much I enjoy working on Hexie Harvest, I'm really excited to get back to it soon!

The Hexie Harvest pattern was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth. She ran the pattern as a block of the month style quilt along through most of 2023.

Indigo Way Mystery Quilt

We are currently in the midst of week three of the Inigo Way mystery quilt along and I am still just as excited as when it first started!

The first week had us make half square triangles, mine were teal and blue, the second week was traingle in a square units, blue and beige for me, and most recently, an interesting split triangle unit, where I finally got to use some of my pinks!

Each of these units have been a lot of fun to make, and through the number of sets I've made of each, as well as the number of units within each set, I've slowly been gathering clues about how this quilt may look when finished!

Before I share my current idea, I would like to add a little disclaimer that I am not privy to any inside information about this quilt design. This is not necessarly how the quilt will look when finished, it's just a little guess I've come up with based on the number and shapes of the units made so far.

So here's my current theory about the Indigo Way quilt layout!

We made the same number of units in weeks one and two, so I think they will be used together in the same blocks, but week three was a totally different number of units, so they will likely be used to make a second block of a different pattern.

And since weeks one and two were an even number of block sets and week three is an odd number, I think that means the blocks will be placed en pointe within the final layout.

Finally, I'm pretty sure these are block units and not border units because the number of units don't fit nicely within the finished quilt dimensions specified in the pattern introduction.

Cleaver sluthing or misguided ramblings? I don't know yet, but I can't wait for the next clue to come out this Friday!

The Indigo Way pattern was designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. It is currently running as a free mystery quilt along, instructions for which can be found on the Indigo Way page of her website.

Stars of the Lily Pond

If you checked out last week's December block release, you'll already know that I've finished a few more blocks for my Stars of the Lily Pond quilt!

Most of what I have to share about these blocks is repeated from that post, but wanted to share a slightly more in-depth look at the process I went through to alter my blocks!

When I'm making changes to a quilt pattern, be it my own or that of another designer, I find it helpful to draw out the changes so I can see how they will look in the finshed blocks! This can be done by hand or digitally.

For Birds of the Night, I selected half of the pale green pieces to remain green, and half to become dark pink. Each of the different pink values was then shifted up by one, so the pale pink sections became white, the light pink became pale, the medium pink became light, and the original dark pink sections were medium.

After that, I felt I wanted more of the pale green, so I altered the outermost half rectangle triangles to include some. I also decided the line between the dark and medium pink sections was too square, so I replaced the medium pink squares with half square triangles to help pull the dark pink into the centre of the block.

And I love how it turned out! The new colour placement and simple alterations to a few units produced a block that looks much more like a flower!

I then used a similar process for the Farmer's Star block.

I once again chose some of the pale green pieces to become dark pink, then shifted the remaining pink values acordingly. I mostly liked the result of this, but I felt like the half square triangles that touched the pale green triangles should be the darkest pink to match the flying goose units, so I switched those back to dark.

This is not such a big change as was made to Birds of the Night, but it still works to improve the floral feeling of the block!

I'm so happy with how these blocks turned out! A few little changes can make such a big difference!

Stars of the Lily Pond is based on my original pattern entitled Stars of the City. All pattern instructions are available on the Fibre Arts blog starting with fabric requirements, through October, November, and December's blocks.

And with that Friends, I've shared all my sewing progress over the past few weeks! Well, not quite.

I have also been working on the pajamas I mentioned back in my Autumn goals post, but since those are being given away as gifts, I don't want to spoil the surprise for the recipients! I'll be sure to share some photos of them once they've been gifted though!

And now that I've shared what I've been working on, I'd love to take a look at your projects as well, especially if we're working on any of the same quilts! Please share your photos and stories in the comments below, privately via email, or by tagging me on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts! I look forward to seeing your progress!

Finally, I did mention some plans for the upcoming weeks way back at the beginning of this post. Next week will be the officail start to the Winter season, so I'll be posting an update to my seasonal goals, the following week, on 26 December, I will be taking a break from the blog and won't be sharing a post, but I will be back in 2024 with an update to the Stars of the City quilt along and a year in review post!

I can't wait to share all of those updates with you when the time finally comes!

Until Then Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA