Q. What appeals to you
about the Garden Rendezvous fabrics?
Liz: I absolutely
love irises. My mother and auntie both grew irises, so I grew up around them
and have always been drawn to them. The idea of a garden bouquet framed with a
Celtic border (on the panel) intrigued me.
Q. How did you get
started making hexified panel quilts?
Liz: I had made a
one-block wonder about 8 years ago. The one-block wonder concept was great fun
and I loved working with the triangles. But once you’ve made one, you’ve made
one—they’re all kind of the same in many ways. It’s color flow, but unless you
do something different with it, there’s no big dramatic shift. About a year ago
I joined the One-Block Wonder forum on Facebook and someone mentioned using a
panel. I thought that was interesting and started playing.
Q. Tell us a bit about
your technique.
Liz: I framed the
panel with the one-block wonder concept. So it’s a hybrid. I work with seven
repeats—six to get cut up and sew together and one to frame. I One-block
wonders are typically made using 3-3/4 or 4” strips. have gone to cutting 3”
strips so I have more hexies to play with. I get more color focused within each
hexie, which gives me more flow to play with. I like to work with lights and
darks and shots of color going diagonally. I also came up with the idea of
adding a little flange frame around the panel itself so it was separate from
but surrounded by the color flow.
Q. Do you lay these
hexified panel quilts out on your design wall?
Liz: I have come
up with a streamlined assembly technique that I share with the gals who take my
class. I cut all of my strips, and then all of my triangles. I sit at my sewing
maching and lay out hexies one at a time. Each hexie has three possible layouts
because you’re working with equilateral triangles. You make 2 halves and pin them
together. Then I take the panel, stick it up on my design wall and throw the
hexies up on the wall randomly. Once they’re all on the wall, I start sorting,
playing with shots of color.
Q. How do you come up
with the layout?
Liz: I take a
digital picture every time I move hexies around. Looking at these quilts from
the perspective of a photo changes the dynamic completely. You can see where
the design works and where it doesn’t in ways that the naked eye doesn’t
notice. From the perspective of the photo, you can see what needs to be
shifted. I’ve had color flows be done in a day and color flows stay on a design
wall for two weeks! My oldest daughter ia puzzle freak and she can see how
things fit together. More often than not, she’ll help fix a problem that I know
isn’t right and she’ll spot what I’m missing. Sometimes it takes two of us to
do it.
Q. How many hexies would
you estimate are in your Garden Rendezvous quilt?
Liz: Close to
150.
Q. What do you like best about
the hexified panel quilts?
Liz: Because they all come out so different, they’re completely addictive. Now I’m always looking for panels when I walk into a quilt store. I don’t know where it’s going to go until I get it on the design wall. Each one is a creative effort by itself.
Liz: Because they all come out so different, they’re completely addictive. Now I’m always looking for panels when I walk into a quilt store. I don’t know where it’s going to go until I get it on the design wall. Each one is a creative effort by itself.
Learn more about Liz and her work on her website, gypsydreamerquilts.com.
Read her post about this quilt (and see more pictures!) here.
She is currently scheduled to teach the hexified panel quilt
at these quilt shops:
Quilter’s Paradise, Baldwin City, KS
Quilting Bits and Pieces, Eudora, KS
Meadows Quilting and Sewing, Leavenworth, KS
