Hey all! Our tried and true charity chairwoman, Eileen, will be collecting hexagon blocks for the Manchester Quilting Bee effort. We would love to see everyone contribute at least one if you can find the time! Here are the details (and here’s a link to all their info on facebook: Manchester Quilting Bee). A very  brief summary: Use the templates linked below to create a 5″ hexie that can stand up to washing, then applique it onto a 6.5″ fabric square – please don’t trim the fabric underneath the hexie, as they’d like to keep it for stability. If you are making several, feel free to piece them together. Eileen will be collecting and mailing, or you can mail directly to Chris in Jersey City – just make sure to mail so they arrive before June 11th!  But first a little background info: Why hexies? Why bees? In the 1800s Manchester was awash with textile mills that were commonly described as ‘hives of activity’ and the workers inside them compared to bees. It has been a symbol of the city ever since – I’ve included some images of bee artwork found in and around Manchester as inspiration below. Embroidery and piecing are welcomed as part of your hexagon design.

“This project is already growing far larger and quicker than we ever imagined – thanks so much for wanting to be involved.

Realising that we’re probably going to receive a large number of hexies, we’ve decided to save time in piecing them by asking you to applique them onto squares of fabric (instructions below). If you’d prefer to send just the hexies that’s fine too but you’ll appreciate that it’ll be easier for us to work with squares and to adapt any discrepancies in size 😀

Block Instructions:
Size: to create a 5″ hexie – you can use the google doc or dropbox template provided in the links below – please unclick ‘fit to page’ and print out at actual size or 100%. Alternatively, the length of each hexie side is 2-7/8″ and the distance across the block is: flat side to a flat side 5″; point to point 5-3/4″. The unfinished block is 5″ and there is a 1/4″ seam so the workable, finished block is 4-1/2″.

Template Links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zm7i73qt7pe…/quilt%20template.pdf…

https://drive.google.com/…/0B4cKopbPENr1TzR3WUlRWEM4T…/view…

Fabric + Embellishment: please use any colour of quilting weight cotton to make your blocks. Blocks can be left blank or embroidered, appliqued or decorated in any way, but must be able to survive a wash, and any beading or raised decoration should be away from the 1/4″ seam.

Papers: if you use a paper template to create your hexie and don’t wish to applique it to a fabric square (see below) we don’t mind whether you remove or leave the paper in place when mailing. For ease, we’ll be quilting most of these hexies directly onto a larger fabric but some may still be joined using the EPP method, we’re happy to receive with or without paper 😀

INSTRUCTION UPDATE
Applique: in an update to our original instructions we would love you to machine or hand raw-edge or turn-edge applique the hexies onto 6-1/2″ fabric squares (please remove papers before appliquing). When complete, don’t trim away fabric from behind the hexie as the square fabric will help stabilise the block. If you make more than one block feel free to join them together. We’re trying to make the piecing process faster now it seems like there will be a larger response than initially envisaged and this will allow us to machine piece the blocks easily. Note: if you have already made your hexies, as in the original instructions posted, you are still welcome to send them in as hexies. However, given the scale things have grown to, it will be helpful, but not essential, if you can applique them to squares 😀

Deadline: we now have a deadline for receiving blocks – Monday, 11 June 2017.

UK mailing address:
Michelle Burridge
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
25 Stretford Road,
Urmston,
Manchester
M41 9JY
ENGLAND

US mailing address – ONLY AVAILABLE UP TO 11 JUNE 2017
(please don’t send items to arrive after 11 June as Chris is travelling to Britain to deliver the items that week and then moving home. Items arriving after that date may not arrive/be lost so, please send late items to the UK address only)

Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
110 River Drive #2307
Jersey City
NJ 07310
USA

Canada mailing address:
Amanda Elias @Atelier Fiber Arts
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
3993 rue Wellington,
Verdun, Quebec, Canada
H4G 1V6

Getting Involved
If there are any quilting groups who could get involved it would be hugely appreciated!

Piecing Parties
We’ll be updating the page with news of piecing parties once the blocks have arrived.

Donations
We’d love backing + binding fabric and batting/wadding donations along with offers for long arm/machine quilting services. Please private message us 😀

If there are any questions, don’t hesitate to message! We’re completely new to all of this and a bit overwhelmed by the response so far! 😀 ”