Save The Bees, Block 3

Hello Everyone! Welcome to Month 3 of the Save the Bees free BOM by Jacquelynne Steves. Block 3 is a cute hexie block. Do you think honeycomb when you see it?

And guess who our sponsor is this month? Aurifil Thread!

Read to the bottom of this post to find out how you can win a similar box of thread from Aurifil. I use Aurifil for all my piecing, quilting, embroidery and for this block, I used Aurifil 80 wt. thread to piece my hexies together.

It’s a very fine, but strong cotton thread and is perfect for English Paper Piecing (EPP) and hand applique. I’ve also used it for invisible machine applique.

For those making the mini version, I’ve added the revised measurements for mini Block 3 on my Save the Bees Mini Revisions Page. Remember, you need to follow Jaquelynne’s instructions for making the block. The size of the reduced Hexie is about 7/8”. Reduce the hexie template from the pattern to 50% if using your own template. I used hexie pre-cut papers to make mine and made a few 1” hexies and 3/4” hexies and found the 3/4” worked best in the block.

I spent a year piecing this quilt and became quite proficient at EPP. This is one of my all time favorite quilts.

This was a BOW in 2016 called Blocks on the Go, for Quilts on the Grow by Katya Merak based on blocks in her book The New Hexagon. I learned what I liked and didn’t like about EPP.

• I don’t like hand stitching my hexies to the paper. Instead I use Elmer’s Purple Glue Sticks to attach the fabric to the paper. I started using the more expensive quilting glue sticks, but these work just as well. Just use a touch of glue along each side of the hexie and fold the fabric over.
• I don’t like my stitches to show! In the Blocks on the Go quilt, I used Aurifil 50 wt cotton in colors that matched my pieces. If I sewed a darker color to a lighter color, I used a neutral color thread. I also found this method for sewing them together by Anjeanette Klinder. If you’re a knitter, it’s almost like a ladder stitch.
• Instead of pinning my hexie pieces to the background fabric, I use basting glue to hold them down.

These are the things I use to make the hexies; pre-cut hexie papers (3/4″, 1″ and 1 1/2″ shown), purple school glue, Roxanne’s basting glue, Aurifil thread in either 50 or 80 wt., and Clover clips to hold the pieces together while stitching. I cut the fabric about 1/4″ to 3/8″ larger than the hexie paper.

For this block, I  sewed all the hexies together, then glue basted them to the background. To center the hexie piece, I folded my fabric in half lengthwise and widthwise, then centered the piece on top. I then hand appliqued the piece to the background using the 80 wt. Aurifil thread. I’ve also seen some fun machine appliqueing of the hexies on Instagram.

The finished block!

And with the first two blocks. Just a note, that’s the back of the Blocks on the Go quilt.

I have accumulated quite the collection of Aurifil thread. The top left are the large spools of 50 wt. cotton thread in three of my favorite colors. I use the mint (2800) and yellow (2110) all the time for quilting.  They seem to blend with everything. The thread next to it is 2000, which I use for most of my piecing. The green spool is 40 wt. 2000 which I’ve used for making clothes. I have not used it for quilting yet, but I need to try.  The one in the middle is the 80 wt. that I used for this block. On the bottom left is Aurifloss, which is a six strand cotton floss. I used the Aurifloss for the embroidery in my first two blocks. I am slowly adding these threads to my collection. I have lots of DMC from years of cross-stitching, but I prefer the Aurifloss for embroidery. I have not used it in any cross-stitch projects yet, but I haven’t done any new ones in several years either. I also have the 50 wt. cotton in the smaller spools in lots of colors to use for hand and machine applique. I used these in blocks 1 and 2 for my needle turn applique.

Now for the giveaway:

In the comments below, tell me if you have done any English Paper Piecing before. Leave a comment by the end of day, Sunday, October 7 for your chance to win.

To enter a comment, find the Leave a Reply box.  You must keep scrolling to the bottom of all the comments on the page to find the box. If the comments are not shown below the post (which will happen if you are scrolling from or linking from a different post) find “Comments” in the Tags line at the bottom of the post. Click on “Comments” and that will open the comments, then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Leave a Reply box. I hope this helps.
Again, Aurifil is going to give away a box of the small 50 wt. cotton thread. It may be different than the one that is shown.

• The giveaway is open to everyone, US and International readers.
• There is ONE prize per person per month.
• Make sure that you leave your email so I can contact you if you win.
• You have until the end of day on Sunday, October 7 to leave your comment.
• Once I contact the winner for your information, you have 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Be sure you visit the other bloggers for 7 more chances to win and to see how everyone finished their Block 3.

• The Crafty Quilter
• Podunk Pretties
• The Quilting Nook
• The Sewing Loft
• Flamingo Toes
• Kathy’s Quilts
• Freemotion by the River
• A Quilting Life

Post your finished blocks on social media using:

#SaveTheBeesQuilt and #SaveTheBeesBOM

You can also post pictures on the Sew Quilty Friends FB group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/SewQuiltyFriends.JacquelynneSteves/.

I hope you enjoy making your hexies this month! Thanks for stopping by!