No rule says you can't add to hankies...

This will be the last hanky post for a bit... It's too large to tote with me and I want to use the little time I have at home to do the finishing touches on the suffrage quilt.  But as I have stated before I'm trying to add more blues to this piece to offset the reds... One of the best places is right on the hankies themselves and there is no rule that says one can't add embellishments to hankies... 

Here I have added DMC flowers just below the roses to the hanky on the left and blue silk ribbon knots to the hanky on the right... I will add more blue to other hankies as well...

There are quite a few opportunities for fancy seam treatments...some of those on hankies as well..

Making progress

 
Looking to reduce the red I removed the red cording and replaced it with more lace (upper right) and the new hanky arrived with a much better rose motif and I replaced it lower right... No more plans to change any of the reds.... just add more blues now...

The first two birds have been attached and stuffed.

Problem solving on hanky quilt....

 
 

I knew from the very beginning that I needed a LOT of blue to compensate for the power of the red and I am a long way from that point yet...

Right now the red and blue have about equal weight.





I will have a lot more blue when all the birds are on and when the beading is done but the rose lower right is just too large.  If I remove it all together it leaves the block unbalanced.  So I ordered another hanky with a smaller rose to replace it.

Today Tip:  You will find often you need to butt hankies up against each other like the two on the left..  The color, fabric and textures of the two are not the least compatible.

To make this pairing work you need to have a rather dramatic transition different in color and texture of the two hankies..  In this case I did a series of scallops in variegated blue French knots which solved the problem quite nicely...

Tips on Hanky Construction

The lower left section is pretty much set as it is going to be....  The large piece of lace in the center will showcase one of these bluebird motifs in progress.

Today's tip 1:   When shopping in bins of vintage linens don't overlook pieces with no embroidery or pieces with poor embroidery but a nice edge.  You will find these real treasures  doing hanky pieces but also ALL the time in regular CQ... I just cut out the linen section and keep the edges.

Plus these are usually the cheapest pieces..

With the hankies I use them to finish off unfinished edge as well as layered with other laces as well

Today's Tip #2:  Buy things even when you're not quite sure when you'll use them... These circles of crocheted circles have been in my stash for years.

On many of the hankies there were small embroidered motifs (some not anywhere near a corner)  I will cut them out and put them in a circle and they will be perfect for filling an odd spot here and there....plus they're not a point.











Today's Tip #3:  When you are coming to   where several things are going to eventually overlap.... only stitch to about 1-1 1/2" to the end of the patch (trim, lace, etc.)  If you leave the ends loose   you have the option of trying them several ways before finalizing.

At this point I'm not sure which order these pieces will intersect but I'll show this to you when it is finished.

Today's Tip #4:  Even the smallest spots can make a big impression... Since I'm using every opportunity to add more blue to this work, I cut  a circle from that blue silk tie and put this tatted circle over it...

I was out as soon as  it was light to pull the snow off the greenhouse with a special tool with a 12' handle.  It took close to an hour because the tool is so long and awkward and I kept falling back into the snow.   So I am ready for a nice nap with Morris before I assemble the sitting bench..

Hanky Packets

I was snowed in yesterday and it was like finding a whole delicious decadent day to indulge in my greatest love.....stitchery!!!!  So I spent the entire day stitching "packets" of hanky quarters.  Since I wanted lots of extra lace,  each hanky quarter was layered 3-5 deep which made it cumbersome to shift them about for placement.  So I added all the layers to each and stitched them together into "packets".  This allowed me to move them about easily and I was able to trim off the excess fabric of the underneath hankies..

Now they are just laying on the foundation approximately where I want them and I can begin to fine tune the arrangement....add MORE lace and more hankies... I have started on the additional 6 bluebirds.

And where do I REALLY want points?

I am so fortunate to have this vintage table cover with this unique shape so I REALLY want to accentuate the shape of the linen and lace by putting points where marked.

I'm starting in the lower left corner

I'll stack these 4 hankies for the first step

And they will look like this.  The top hanky is very sheer so the hearts show through.  The hanky with the hearts (which are flocked) was a gift Saturday from one of my stitchers. The dark spots are just shadows.

Something besides points...

As I mentioned in the previous post one of my objectives was to not have points all pointing in the same direction....in fact I do not want ALL points which is just what you get with using just hankies...in fact again since hankies are pretty much the same size, you end up with LOTS of similar triangles..... So I am going to include a good many circles, ovals and curves.

I really like the effect of putting a curve behind a point.  I will use both circles and squares to add variety.

I plopped lots of the stuff on the foundation to just get a feel for the color balance.  I had enough red and pink and wanted more blue...which is not a color I usually use.  Before I went to any store, a trip to the barn was in order.

And sure enough, digging in several bins, I found 2 yummy silk ties the right shade, several linens with blue edges or blue lace, blue ribbon and blue rayon seam binding... AND  the bonus was the tea towel with a gorgeous embroidered blue morning glory on it.... I found 3 linens with rounded edges and the scalloped edge on the morning glory piece.  I will put them all to good use...

And just a few extra pinks that may work as well

My Observations on Hanky Harmony

My group of CQ stitchers have been planning for this hanky project since last  fall.  Last month we had a mountain of hankies on the table to sort.  Next Saturday we will begin the "laying of the hankies"  Luckily I have lots of folding tables...enough for one for each person.

I looked at a LOT of hanky quilts and some I liked better than others....aside from the colors themselves.  But the busyness of the hankies made it difficult to pinpoint why I liked some better.  So I outlined the arrangement of the hankies of some quilts and then removed the hankies to see if a pattern emerged....and it did.

The vast majority of hanky quilts had their focal point dead center and all the hankies pointing like arrows to it... I liked this arrangement the least.

I definitely liked the hanky quilts better which had the focal point off center.  It added much more interest to the piece.


There was a wide variety in the number of hankies on a quilt as you can see.  I know I want to incorporate extra lace and opportunities for fancy seams so I will opt for a fewer number of hankies.  Also when the maximum amount of hankies were used they all ended up about the same size.  I liked the ones that had more diversity in the size of the hankies placed.

So when I start to position everything on Saturday I know now that I want my focal point off center AND will keep in mind to add variety to both the size of the hanky showing and the direction of the points...