Hexie Swapping 101

O.M.G!  I'm sure those of the quilting community already know what a hexie or hexie flower is.  And if you don't, pull up a chair and let me school you on the latest craze going on in the IG world.

It's the new fad of Hexie flower Swapping!  It's kindof like the new age of pen-palling for the quilting world.

Basically, you can search Intagram for any of the more popular hashtags related to hexies and find a plethra of peeps who are willing to swap a hexie flower with you.  Private message them to request a swap. Make one for them, they make one for you. Easy Peasy!  I just got in on it this week and already have 42 on my list of swappers!  I received my first one this week and was instantly hooked.

The great thing about this is there are hexie lovers all over the world.  I'm already swapping with peeps in Malaysia, Africa, Japan, UK and Australia!  Not to mention several folks in the good ol' U. S. of A!

Some popular hashtags:
#hexies
#hexiefriends
#hexieswap
#epp

And as many of you know, I'm a spreadsheet nerd by day so this whole thing blends both of my passions - fabric and spreadsheets!  I have a whole log set up with each swappers information, like their IG name, actual name, address, etc....  I also log in if they had any special requests and what hexie I make for them, when it's mailed and if I've received theirs yet.

The great thing is that mailing a hexie flower and maybe a postcard is super cheap.  In the US as long as it's under the 1 oz weight limit, it only cost 1 Forever Stamp!  Outside of the US, it's only $1.20.

I like to inlcude a Texas post card, because let's face it, who doesn't like to get a fun postcard from where the hexie flower was "born"?  I also include some 1/2" hexie punches because I think the tiny baby ones are so freaking precious!  I want them to be able to make their own!

Mike from The Amateur Quilter did a FANTASTIC "hexie swappin' etiquitte" blog post detailing all the do's and don'ts of how to swap these fun fabulous flowers.  Go check it out.  After reading his post and seeing his daily creations I was hooked!  He cranks them out like crazy on his daily train commute.

I was so excited to get mine sent out that I totally spaced on taking a photo of each I was mailing. So here are a few that I have done so far and the ones I've received so far.

  

 

This was my first one received from Mike in New Jersey.  And how appropriate that I would have chosen this one because those are little Texas Houndstooths!!

This beauty is headed to Tokyo Japan today!!

I can't wait to see how many other cool places I end up swapping with.

So grab your scraps and get on the Hexie Train!!

Happy Stitchin'!

Jenn

ORANGE/WHITE CHARM SWAP IS ON!!

Hello quilty friends! 

By now, you have received an email or IG message from me to let you know you are officially in the Purpleheart Ori"Jenn"als Orange/White Charm Swap.

This is my first time hosting a charm swap, but I've participated in MANY others!  I'm super excited about this as it's a color I don't normally use but have recently been pulled to the other side of the fence and am now loving!!  

ORANGE!!

It's such a happy little color!

It's super simple and in return you get a mix of fun fabrics that you might have never known existed had you not joined in!

Here's what you need to do.

STEP 1:  Pull from your stash or purchase 1/3 yrd each of 4 different 100% cotton quilt shop quality orange/white fabrics.  The fabrics must read orange/white.  Examples below of acceptables and not acceptables.  Any print, pattern or design is ok.

ACCEPTABLE ORANGE/WHITE:

 NOT ACCEPTABLE ORANGE/WHITE:

STEP 2:  Rotary cut 12 5" x 5" squares from each of your 4 fabrics and put them all into a ziplock baggie.  Mark your name on the outside of the baggie.

STEP 3:  Mail your squares to me with another FRE addressed back to you with postage already on the envelope.  Or if you'd like, I can notify you when squares are ready to be shipped and you can send me $5.75 via Paypal and I will purchase your return FRE.  Or a 3rd option is to send me $5.00 cash along with your squares and I will purchase your return FRE.

STEP 4:  Once everyone's squares arrive, I will divide them up and each of you will receive back a total of 48 squares, including 2 pcs from each of the 4 you submitted.

DEADLINE to mail and receive them by me is OCTOBER 10.  I will then turn them around and have everyone's mailed back out by October 17.

I hope that everything is clear.  If not, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask questions!! I will be happy to answer any and all questions.  You can post a comment on this post or email me directly at purpleheartorijennals@yahoo.com.

I hope this swap is successful as I have a few others in mind I'd like to do too!

Take care and get to cutting!!

Jenn

ORANGE/WHITE CHARM SWAP!

Hi Friends!  Anyone out there in blogland interested in an orange/white charm swap?  I have a total of 6 peeps that want to participate in one over on IG and thought we could add a few more folks from blogland if you were interested.

Let me know because I'll be posting details by the end of the week here on the blog.

There's not much to it.  It involves buying some orange/white fabric, cutting into 5"x 5" squares, sending them and a self addressed FRE to me (charm swap mama!).  I'll divvy them up and send you back an assortment from everyone involved!  Easy peasy!  Make something fun with them or simply add them to your stash.

Comment on this post or send me a separate email saying you'd love to join in and I'll send you a confirmation email.  If you do comment via this post, please make sure that your email is attached to your profile.

This will be great fun!

Sew little fabric....sew little time!

Jenn

Holiday DATE Pillow Covers

First off, THANK YOU so much for all the love on my new HOME pillow covers.  I'm pretty excited to be showing them at an upcoming Fall craft fair.

As promised, I've also been working hard on these little beauties!  

Holiday DATE pillow covers!  

Soon to come are custom initial and birth date versions!

These are also listed in my etsy shop.  For a little Back to School treat, use coupon code BACKTOSCHOOL25 and get 25% off anything in the shop!  Offer expires 09/06/15.

Custom versions of these can also be made - just convo me and we can hammer out the deets!

 

Back to the machine I go!

Have a super week!

Jenn

HOME State Pillow Covers

Well, Hello quilty friends!  It's been a busy couple of days lately with school starting back up.  I now have a 1st grader and a 9th grade HIGH SCHOOLER!  Crazy nuts yes!

Gratuitous kid photos.....

HEHE - My how she has grown up - this was her first day of Kindergarten.  Hard to believe she's in 9th now!  She hasn't changed too much!

Somehow I have been able to find time to sneak away to the machine every now and again.  And here is what I've been able to create.  

May I introduce my HOME State Pillow Covers!

These three are actually listed individually in my etsy shop for sale as is, but I also have a custom listing for any state you wish.  More detail pics are on each listing.

I am totally in LOVE with them!!  What do you all think?  I've made a few more Texas ones for an upcoming Craft Fair in November at my daughter's school.  I'm hoping they are well received.

I've also been working on some Holiday Pillow Covers as well.  I hope to have those completed and ready to share with you next week.  Though you will already see my Halloween and St. Patrick's version listed in my shop.  Christmas and Valentine's Day are soon to follow.  Pretty soon my house is going to be overrun by pillows!  I can't help it!  I love them so!

Well tonight is Project Runway so that means definite time at the sewing machine - and with the boy too.  He's taken quite the interest in sewing and crafting lately.

So until I sew again!

Later peeps!

Jenn

A Quilt for Amelia - A Commissioned Quilt

So a friend of a friend recommended me to make a sort of memory quilt for their little baby girl who was turning 1 this month out of some of her outgrown baby clothes.  Though I've never made a t-shirt type quilt, I thought, how hard could it be?  Especially since I would be using baby clothes and not full size adult t-shirts.  Easy peasy.  Slap some interfacing on the backs and fussy cut away to cuteness!

So I met with the momma and received all the tiny cute baby clothes that she wanted me to include in the quilt and then the wheels of creativity started to go to work!  Once she told me she wanted the quilt to be coral and gray, I thought cool - this is going to be gorgeous!  Except the clothes that she gave me to use really didn't have a whole lot of coral and gray action going on!  So....with her permission, I took the lead and decided to pair the coral and gray with some of the other colors from the clothing.  Well, 22+ fabrics later, may I present, Amelia's 1st birthday memory quilt.

 This is my favorite block on the whole quilt.  See that sweet little coral pleated center with ribbon bow?  That was her "coming home from the hospital" dress.  It darn near tore me up to cut it but I knew it had to be done.

 Some of the onesies had cute sayings but were printed so close to the collar that it wouldn't have been a very "even" block when I was fussy cutting them, so I flipped the bottom of the onesie back up and made it a virtual backing so that I could then include the sweet little collar and make some of the blocks look like little shirts for the star centers.

 I also love that she so graciously gave me some clothes & accessories that had her name or initials on it to be included.

These two outfits had graphics that were too big for the front star centers, so it was only fitting to include them on the back and not leave them out. 

Because seriously, Amelia was Made With Love.

 

The finished size was about 54" x 68".  Squares were cut 5".

Making this quilt made me really think about how much I love quilting and putting all the pretty fabrics together, but also the forever gift that I am giving to the recipient.  

I recently purchased a quilt from IG and it had embroidered signatures and dates from 1931-1932.  I can only surmise that it was a sort of wedding quilt made by family members and friends for a young newlywed couple starting their lives together.  I hope one day that Amelia's quilt is passed down through generations leaving others to wonder about the sweet girl that it was originally made for and maybe the lady who made it all happen.

I'm pretty excited to put a listing on etsy for a similar custom memory quilt like Amelia's.

Stay tuned!

Back to the machine - Jenn