I’m so excited. I’m hopping with my friend, the hexie queen herself, Julia Wood, today. I met Julia in the green room at Quilting Arts TV back in 2013. Since then we’ve met up several times. We were roomies at the AQS show in Chattanooga in 2014. Julia brought along the best bunch of bananas you can imagine, AND I’m going to stay with her in April when I visit the Cotton Boll Quilters in Auburn, Alabama.
Here she is on the set of QATV with Susan Brubaker Knapp during a recent taping.
Julia is the author of not one, but two, best selling hexie books. She is the editor and owner of the on-line magazine, Hexie Love. She started making her hexagons from circles… no paper involved but has constantly evolved and refined her techniques to include all sorts of other techniques. She designed a brand new speciality ruler for her latest curved pieced hexagons and she’s offering two as prizes this week, one here and one on her own blog…
We all know I do love me a nice English Paper Pieced hexagon. I like to baste and stitch the hexagons together by hand before appliquéing them to a background… by hand. But then I machine quilt!
Here’s a little quilt I took to the DVD taping. I used a full mini charm pack of Moda Christmas fabrics for the hexagons.
Here’s a closeup of the quilting. This time I made the grid with the walking foot and then filed in the alternate shapes with a zigzag. 
A wool batt makes the negative space really stand out!
The zigzag is a variation of the WE quilting design shown on today’s place mat.
I used my straight line meander motif in the white space. I find the straight lines quite difficult to keep straight… curves are so much easier for me, but it makes a nice complement to the WE stitches.
I hope you signed up on Kim’s blog yesterday for a chance to win some Aurifil thread. The placemats are stitched with #2021 (natural white). It blends well with all the white and cream shades that I like to use for my backgrounds.
Here is the blog list again. Make sure you have a good look around whenever you visit a new blog. Check out Julia’s magazine… Click a few buttons. You never know what you might discover!
I’ll be drawing winners from all your comments on the 17th.
And if you’re not lucky, or you just know you can’t wait? The DVD or digital download is available at the Interweave store by clicking on the widget at the right hand side of the page.
See you back here tomorrow!
Good morning! More beautiful quilting designs. Love them!
My goodness – day 6 already and more beautiful quilting to inspire…
Amazing work! Thanks for your tips to help me quilt better!
Hope I win!
Thanks for another great blog and another great guest.
So pretty!
Lovely technique and I could really use some rulers to help with quilting.
Love hexagons but so intimidated by all the handwork required!
I am so excited with each day’s blog post. This DVD sounds like the greatest tutorial. Thank you for offering it.
Oh how I would love to win…really want to make something special! Hexagons !!!
I am really enjoying the Blog Hop and meeting some new designers that I have not
known about.
Found you and Julia thru last years hop. Still loving my hexies.
It’s been interesting to read about people in the industry who I am not familiar with. I think I might try a hex project this year.
Getting to know some new bloggers and enjoying each one. Would love to be the winner of your DVD. Love the things you are doing with the placemats.
Nice to see your quilting. I meet Julia at QATV also.
I am a new quilter and have the opinion that I can’t actually claim to be a quilter if I only piece and let someone else do all the fancy stitching. I’m hoping by having your DVD I’ll actually be able to claim, “I am a quilter!” and it will be entirely accurate.
Thank you for sharing another placemat with us. It is quite inspiring to see how creative you have been with the placemats, they will certainly add interest to the table setting. I would love to be the winner of your DVD…if not, I will certainly purchase it as I am sure I would learn a lot by watching it.
Fun mini-quilt with big quilting ideas!
I just keep trying to win your new DVD. Would love to have it to watch over and over again and try some projects with you. Thank you for the opportunity to win.
Love your Hexie quilt. Glad I’m not the only one who has trouble with straight line quilting!! LOL
Can’t wait to see if I’m a winner….hope so! Thanks so much. Betsy
What a wonderful mini quilt, now I want to make hexi’s.
Yup I am inspired.
Really love the updated hexies! Thanks for the chance to win!
Like the graduation of color to white in the snowflake on the Christmas quilt. The grid quilting shows off well
I love paper-pieced hexies….the curves seem intriguing . Your quilting is awesome!
Have read today’s hexie blog and realised that’s a new dimension for me to expand into – this quilting malarkey is never ending – I’ll have to give up work, housework and friends to fit it all in!!! Count me in for the prizes X
I love the idea of practicing on small items like placemats. I need to practice more.
Love the quilting.
Very cool designs! I’m just learning paper piecing, and this gives me some great ideas!
Your quilting is wonderful to look at. But if you have a machine like me that you have to try and regulate the speed while trying to quilt it becomes very frustrating and I end up with kind of a mess. So you really need a good quilting machine to achieve this look.
Rebecca, It certainly can be frustrating when you start to learn FMQ. My machine is completely unregulated. The speed is dependent on how hard I press the foot pedal. It took me a LOT of practice to maintain an even stitch!! Enjoy the practice 🙂
Great ideas, thank you!
One of these days I will finish my hexi quilt-before it is an antique!
I am intrigued with Julia’s technique and would love to try her ruler. I like doing EPP hexies too. Thanks for another great design.
Love your Walking Foot DVD and am excited to get this one as well! Thanks for the chance to win!
I love the looks of hexies and the many ways they can be put together.
Wow!
Another day of wonderful information. Thanks for sharing with us.
Using a circle to make hexies would be interesting.
Wow, great designs. would love to win. thanks for the chance.
Thanks for the chance to win your DVD.
This is such a great time of year to be reminded of all the [better? fancier?] quilting we should strive for. Thanks!
Another fun stop today.
I love the portability of English paper piecing. My first was Tula Pink’s Hex on the Beach. I’m working on a Christmas hexi quilt. It will probably take me a couple of years to complete! I love the quilting you do on your quilts, such an inspiration!
It would be so great to win your DVD. I’m looking forward to your visit to our Education Conference this fall.
Feeling so inspired. Hope to WIN your DVD so I can buy more fabric.
It’s great that you have colleagues who appreciate what you present on your DVD. Thanks for the chance to win.
I’m new to your blog and LOVE your work! Hoping to learnmore machine quilting!
I love heroes. I will have to check out Julia. Now I’m off to my daily practice session of machine quilting.
I love hexies not heroes. I do not like computers that think they know what I am trying to say.
I find straight lines easier than curves.. Love ur designs.. Would love to learn more from ur DVD 🙂
Love the quilting at top of this post! How fun!!! 🙂 Love Hexie’s too….would love to have this ruler. Thank you for chance to win your Awesome Give-a-way too! 🙂
Love your hexie quilt.
Love hexies. Your hexie quilt is beautiful.
Each day, I want that DVD more. Hope I win!
My mini charm packs often end up as hexies or part of small quilts.
I am getting so many ideas! Thank you!!
Great blog post and enjoying the quilting.
Loving all the posts. Cdahlgren at live dot Com
I love Hexie Love and am looking forward to checking out the rest of the Blogs
So when did I miss you doing hexies!!! Who knew! not me!!!
I found the Hexie Love blog by accident one day and it is now one of my favorites to read!
It looks very interesting .Would love to own a DVD. on Free Motion Quilting.Thanks for a chance to win.
I’m really enjoying your blog, and the introduction to other blogs. So much talent!
Love, love, love the quilting on the hexie quilt. The texture it creates is just perfect!
Wi am enjoying seeing your choices of quilting designs on your pieces. Such talent
I feel like by the end of this blog hop my whole 2016 is going to be filled with new things I just have to make! What fun.
I have been following every day
Jo N.
Catherine, I am just amazed at your quilting! Those WEs and straight line meanders would just make my eyes cross 🙂
Straight line meandering is cool, but It does look more intimidating to me than curvy meandering. Will have to try it out!
Love the hedge quilt, and I would love a chance to win the give a way.
This DVD sounds like a great tutorial. Thanks for the chance to win!!
Would love to add to my FMQ repertoire. Thanks for the chance.
Such patience to complete your elegant Machine Quilting pieces. This is MY year to improve my skills with your continued help!
This is exactly the type of motifs I like!
I get more and more excited each day as I read your blog. You have definitely caught my interest!
I am new to hexies and have been making loads of them.. I am really excited about them now that I have seen what you have done. I know now that I can just go crazy with them..Smiles
Thank you
I enjoy watching you on Quilting Arts & would love to own your new DVD, thanks for the chance to win!
After having just purchased the straight line digital today and watched it, I found your blog hop on Facebook. So glad I did.
I’ve never tried wool batting since I live in a warmer climate but I always like how it looks with the quilting.
Thank you for sharing your techniques and introducing us to other great blogs.
I am really looking forward to getting your FM DVD!! Whether I win it or buy it, I’m going to have it!! Thanks, again, for a chance to win!!
Would love to win.
More beautiful designs! Love them 😉
This is just what I have been looking for. I love your designs.
I’ve tried the straight line machine quilting — I’m going to take your advice and try some slightly curving lines — I like the way they look.
Lots of inspiration.
I love hexies. It was great to view these examples. I think I’ll try wavy lines next time I try machine quilting.
I could really use some help making straight(-ish?) lines!
Your blog posts are really inspiring me to branch out with my machine quilting… I’m fairly new to it and really have only been meandering!
I love how you combine free motion work and walking foot work together in the same quilt. It really adds a whole new dimension to the quilting you achieve.
Hexies are so darn cute! I love how you did the quilting on your mini quilt. I wonder if I’ll ever become proficient enough to be able to ‘quilt as desired’ and have the wonderfully creative ideas you have.
Interesting design when you go back to fill in a space, thanks for the amazing ideas!
What a wonderfully, useful giveaway. Thank you.
I just could not get this comment accepted yesterday, so I’m posting again here: Catherine, I’ve enjoyed “meeting” all your friends and their posts. Would love to win your DVD!
Love your designs and all of your helpful tips!! Thanks for detailing it all on your DVD 🙂 I know it will be on my ‘must have list’ and I will practice first on paper and then with fabric!!
Thank you for your helpful tips