About two months ago I was contacted by the lovely people over at Andover Fabrics with an idea they had for a rainbow wall of mini quilts at QuiltCon this year. They would send me the fabric in a specific colorway and I would send them a mini quilt to hang in their booth during the event. I have been very sick, and haven’t had the energy to finish anything large, but I figured I could hand sew most of the mini so I said “yes!”

They sent me the gorgeous bundle of blue and white fabric shown above, which arrived right at the beginning of the blizzard we had. The majority of the fat quarters were either by Lizzy House or Alison Glass. The rest was from various other lines with Andover (I really should look in to them because they were all beautiful).

I decided to hand sew this mini using the technique called English Paper Piecing. I’ve talked about it loads on here before, but usually I just sew hexagons. I’ve been branching out in to other shapes lately and I’m just dying to show you all where it’s taken me. This piece of course being the first one. It took me about a week and a half to baste and piece, and then one day to matchstick quilt.

As you can see if this photo, I tried something new and did matchstick quilting (super close quilting) in various directions to kind of break up the design a bit. I also quilted to middle in a grid pattern to separate it from the rest of the design.

The finished piece ended up being 18″ across, and I am over the moon happy with how this piece turned out! I really can’t wait to mess with this idea a bit more. Would anyone be interested in a pattern? I number all the pieces and have a legend already to go, since that’s the way I work.

Added Bonus: Here’s a shot of my mini surrounded by all of the other pieces made for their booth!! (photo by @giucy_giuce on IG . One of the faces behind this project btw) How gorgeous are they?!? I feel so honored to be included in this group full of peers and friends. I really wish i could of been there to see it all in person, byt that just wasn’t in the cards this year. Next year however I WILL be there,no matter what!

The bag was made to hold all of my Hexagon Pins and I used In Color Orders lined drawstring bag tutorial. I actually use this pattern quite often as reusable gift bags, project bags or toy bags for friends and family. They go together super fast and are beyond cute. The fabric I used is by two of my absolute favorite artist. The top Lllama fabric is by Meg Hunt and I bought it YEARS ago from her when she was having a destash sale. It can now be purchased from her Spoonflower shop. The bottom fabric is by Lisa Congdon from her line The Land that Never Was. I figured if I made it out of my favorite fabrics, I’d probably use it more later.

The bag doesn’t hold all of the Hexagon pins, however it does hold enough for one day. That way I don’t give away all of my pins all at once!

So this lanyard wasn’t really a necessity, since QuiltCon does provide a lanyard with your badge, but why going the boring route?

I used Procrasticraft’s lanyard tutorial and a bunch of random scraps to put this together. I lengthened it by about 1″, purely because I didn’t want to cut off one of the designs. Fashion over function anyone?!? I spent maybe a total of 30 minutes putting this together and the outcome looks like it took way longer. Those are always my favorite type of projects.

Are you guys tired of hearing about QuiltCon yet? Well don’t worry, if everything went as planned I should be on a plane en route to Austin when this blog post goes live . So all that’s left to talk about would be a recap, I think…

There is this fun little tradition at QuiltCon I learned about, where people get 1″ buttons made with their name/business name/etc on them and they go around swapping with other people. They show them off on handmade lanyards or bags the whole trip. It’s a fun way of networking and helps break the ice when your meeting internet friends in real life for the first time. Absolutely brilliant!

I wanted to partake, and was about to go searching for my 1″ button machine, when the little light bulb over my head went off. Why not cast some pins? I had been trying to give myself some excuses to pour plastic again, because I really missed it. Perfect. I ordered some plastic and silicone and started making mock up designs. This was in early January.

I settled on a simple 1″ hexagon (because I REALLY love sewing hexagons) that I would just attach to my already designed business cards. I made a bunch of duplicate molds so I could cast a bunch of colors quickly. This was about the time that I also decided to make the quilty necklaces and soot sprites, because “why not? I already have the supplies”. If I had a quarter for every time I thought that…

I made around 200 of them, and will be bringing 150 with me to QuiltCon. The rest with be held on to for the shop and for myself. So if you’re not attending, keep an eye on this here blog for a shop update announcement.

I decided that it would be fun to make a little hashtag to go along with this project. So if you’re on Instagram or twitter, check out #askmeaboutmyhexies to see the process behind these pieces. Of course I had to go one step further and make myself a pin to go on my bags (shown above), and then one more step and start a contest…

For anyone going to QuiltCon who gets one of these pins: Take a photo of you, your bag, your pet, your friend or anyone else wearing one of these glittery hexies and tag me @jessee_artschooldropout with the hashtag #showmeyourglitterhexies for a chance to win a matching set of hexagon hairpins, necklace and ring! (I’ll have photos of the prize when I get home) I will take entries until the end of March, just to give everyone a chance.

I’m really hoping this helps me be more social. Sometimes I get super anxious around a lot of people, and I really want to make the most of my trip. So if you see me walking around, please come say hi and “Ask Me About My Hexies”, no need to have pins to swap, saying hello is enough!

QuiltCon is less than a week away and I just now finished my first sewing project for the trip! I had this crazy plan to make two tote bags (one featuring my fabric and one as part of a contest/promotion that I’ll talk about later), a drawstring bag, a makeup bag, a zipper pouch, a dress, a brooch, and a 100 or so hexagon pins to hand out. Whew, yep, crazy lady here. Most of the projects are about 75% done, which is pretty impressive for me. I’m normally a “the night before a trip and I am still sewing and refuse to sleep until I get on the plane” type of girl. I think I was just too excited about all of this selfish sewing!

Ok, now let’s actually talk about the bag I keep showing photos of! This is the most intricate bag I have ever sewn from a pattern. Do you see those gusseted sides? Normally when I need a tote bag I just throw some squares and some straps together and call it a day. This is QuiltCon though! I will be surrounded by loads of other talented people who appreciate what goes into such projects. So no thrown together bags for this event.

Instead I made a Super Tote using a pattern I bought from Noodlehead. The pattern cost $8 and is worth every single penny.

As for the fabric I used my own designs printed by Spoonflower for the front, straps and zipper pieces (if theres any interest I’ll put them up in the shop next month). The sides, lining and top front piece are from Carolyn Friedlander’s Architextures line through Robert Kaufman fabrics. There is also a hint of Alison Glass’s Grove fabric in beet as an organizer in the front pocket. All of the hexagons were actually taken from another project I’m working on and the fabrics are by different people. The shiny fabric around the hexagons and used as zipper ends is a glossy black oilcloth I bought years ago for embroidered collages I use to make. There is also a bunch of heavier weight interfacing used that helps give the bag its shape and strength. Overall, I think all these fabrics blended so well together and really show my personal taste!

 This inside of this bag was actually really hard to photograph! It was so dreary here and I just couldn’t seem to show just how spacious and versatile it is! I altered the inside pattern slightly by adding a zippered pocket on one side. This was to securely hold my inhaler, medication and anything else I truly can’t live without. Plus I like to have these items separated from everything else so theres no digging around, freaking out, while having an attack.

The rest of the divided gathered/elastic pockets were part of the pattern. They are perfect for an event like Quiltcon where I’ll be picking up random bits and pieces all weekend and I’ll be able to divide them up and not just have a mound of crap on the bottom of my bag. Plus I’m taking a workshop one of the days, so this way i can keep my supplies separated from anything else I buy or am given.

This bag also has two options when it comes to the main zipper on the top. You can either have a zipper, or not have one! I chose to add the zipper to this bag, and omit it on the second one (purely because I forgot to buy a second zipper) The instructions made it so easy to install it, which has made me way more comfortable with the idea of always adding a zipper. (I already have plans to make loads more of these bags)

The front pocket was even harder to photograph than the inside! It’s so slim and flat, it just wouldn’t stay open. As with the interior of the bag, I also altered this part a little to fit my needs. I had seen on the From A Blue Chair blog where Kati added a small organizer type of pocket inside the front pocket. It was brilliant! (you should check out her post too! She did a few other alterations that were great and worth reading about!) So I used a super bright purple fabric and stitched up three dividers to help me hold my phone, business cards and extra pens (or business cards I’m given). This way I can get to all of those items super fast without taking the bag off my shoulder.

As you can see, I used a magnetic closure to secure the pocket when not in use. The pattern suggests this option, velcro or nothing at all. I think the magentic closure looks best. Thats just my opinion though.

I think thats it. Who knew I could type so much about one bag? Wait until I start talking about the next bag!! Hahaha.

If you will be at QuiltCon, please look out for a girl with purple hair, carrying this bag! If you see me, please come say hi. I have some sparkly goodies for anyone who does.

P.S.: Everytime I look at that last photo all I can think of is Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock asking “It’s weird. What do I do with my arms?”