Feline Friday is hosted every friday and HELP for Hexie-aholics is hosted on the 17th of each month. We hope you'll join us!

Thursday, December 27, 2018

A Serious Update

(My usual photo editor has "upgraded" and I'm not happy with the software changes let alone how much harder it is to edit photos on my phone or laptop but I am out of time for tweaking these more today and need to just post them.)

I hit two Serious milestones this week:


The first milestone was to finish the red section!
The hexie next to my thumb was the last of 553 red hexies. Now THAT feels good :)


I also hit the bottom left corner with this brown hexie!


Since hitting these milestones I've started on the blacks for the face in the middle of the quilt. I was taking it a bit slow as it's hard to see the individual hexies on my master color map when they are black hexies and the hexie outline is also black. I've been printing small sections of the overall project so that I can black out individual hexies as I stitch them. I solved the black on black problem today by changing anything black to blue and reprinting the face section. I'll find out tonight if it works well enough.

I've also continued adding more brown. You can see an empty moon shaped section on the right side of the browns and that indicates that I need to get a move on with cutting the whites and creams to start working on the body/paws section of the quilt.

I know I promised to share the yellow after I finished the reds but I forgot to take a photo this morning. Sorry! I'll post it soon.

I haven't done an overall count in quite a while but I have to guess we are gaining on 800 hexies at this point. Once I get some of the black face filled in so that columns are about the same length I'll give it a serious count. That or Janet, who prefers counting hexies over stitching hexies, can pop over to count for me. LOL.


Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #84 - 12/26/18

Ho Ho Ho and Happy Boxing Day!!

December 19 - 25, 2018
43 - 44 - 55 - 31 - 34 - 34 - 30 F

Luckily we had the most beautiful snowfall of big fluffy flakes on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to make it the perfect White Christmas!  Not too much to make for dangerous driving but pretty enough to ooh and ahh over.

December 1-25, 2018

How has your weather been?

Are you looking to start making a Weather Quilt any time soon? What info would you like to know before starting? If you are looking for anything specific before starting, let me know!




Friday, December 21, 2018

Feline Friday - 12/21/18

Look what Momma made me!!!
She says every tuxedo needs a bowtie.



I must admit -- it looks guud! and I don't mind wearing it all. day. long. Nighttime too!
Momma says I can even wear it outside on Christmas to give the neighbors a little good cheer.

Happy Winter Solstice from the land of the snowy rainy north where it's currently 55 F! Yuck.




Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #83 - 12/19/18

Maybe this is why people are so "blue" in December? I already need to cut more blues. But no rush quite yet at the next 3 days will be 40s and 50s! I'm not holding my breath for a White Christmas...sniffle, sniffle.

December 12-18, 2018
31 - 39 - 45 - 39 - 36 - 34 - 25F
December 1-18, 2018

I do hope you are considering making your own weather quilt come the new year!
Don't dilly dally, tho, as you've got just 12 days to get your project sorted.

It doesn't have to be an EPP project, any smallish unit would work as long as you don't mind making 365 of the same unit :)

Between now and the end of the year, I'm finally hoping to get a tab together with info on my project. I plan to include my color scale as well as the current status of my 2 weather quilts so far. If anyone that has participated would like to send me a link to their finished project from last year, or even the label from their blog, I would love to add you to an inspiration list.

===============
I'm thrilled to have an ear completed on Mr Serious and can't wait to see what adding long grey stitching for ear fur will do to complement the hexies.


The white arrows mark the centers of width and height!!

I have four more diagonal brown rows to hit the bottom left corner. The brown is for my dining room table. I also have to do two more red vertical rows to finish out the red, which represents my built in china cupboard. In true life the color is called something bangkok. We jokingly call the yellow walls I can't believe it's not butter (instead of Pismo Dunes) and the red woodwork is ketchup. It seems every paint color I have chosen has a food name. Maybe I shouldn't go to Lowe's/Home Depot on an empty stomach?!

What I was leading to is Grunge isn't available locally in great "butter" colors. However, I think I have finally chosen a yellow Grunge and I'll share it with you after 2 more red rows. Wink!

Be sure to check out the original picture I'm using for this project.




Friday, December 14, 2018

Feline Friday - 12/14/18

Santy Paws here...


It's my favorite time of the year when I get to guard the boxed gifts for my favorite human cousins.

Do you think I'll get to keep the boxes when they are unwrapped?




Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #82 - 12/12/18

December 5-10, 2018
31 - 34 - 23 - 23 - 32 -32 - 28 F
December 1-10, 2018

I'm pretty sure these are going to be the standard temps/colors for the next few months!




Tuesday, December 11, 2018

You've got to be Serious

Ever so slowly, Mr Serious is growing!!!

We have an ear there on the right.

Once I finish 5 more red hexies of the row on the top right we will be to the midline of the width, leaving just 3 or 4 more rows with red. I plan to finish the red and then start working on the face.

The brown/table section is still quite portable and now down into the 4th floor tile, with just 7 more rows to hit the bottom left corner.

Overall I am more than a quarter done, which is pretty good since I have been working on it for just 93 days. I'm pretty sure I am behind schedule but now that job #2 and Christmas bazaars are done I have some more "me" time. There is still a pretty good chance I can get back on schedule, which is good because it HAS to be done in 263 days. Eek!

Be sure to check out the tab up above for the original photo, overall color map and all of the progress photos.

Friday, December 07, 2018

Feline Friday - 12/7/18

Momma wishes I would tuck myself in.
She thinks it would be "cute".



Truth is...I prefer when Momma does the tucking...




Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #81 - 12/5/18

Well... I've been hoping NOT to do this ever since I started temperature quilt #2:


Luckily it was easy enough to fix:

November 28-30, 2018: 32 - 31 - 34 F
December 1-4, 2018: 35 - 52 - 37 - 26 F

And those 3 blues on the left, my friends, completes the first 6 months to Temp Quilt #2!!! Woohoo!!

I bought a (non-Grunge) solid black to use for the background so as soon as I feel confident in what I'm doing I'll applique the first 6 columns onto the black and include it in one of our weekly updates.

I've also been working on clue #2 for the 2018 Quiltville Mystery Quilt:


You will recall that I am making roughly half of each clue to make a smaller quilt. I figure I can always make more later. "Half" is often the same as I'll make units until I run out of precut strips in the color we are using, which is how I ended up with 72 blue/neutral HSTs. I just need to trim all those dog ears. Be sure to check out the linky party for clue #2!


And now, for anyone making a temperature quilt (hexie or otherwise) - we are looking forward to seeing your weather for the last week! Feel free to leave a comment about your weather if you are not making a quilt. And really, why are you not making a quilt? It doesn't have to be hexies, any of your favorite blocks should work.




Tuesday, December 04, 2018

The Bibliophile Files - 12/4/18

Here I am, plugging along with books as the year draws to a close. How DID it get to be December already?!? While Goodreads.com says I have finished a respectable 71 books already this year, I will admit to looking for some shorter books for the next few weeks. After reading numerous looooong books it will be nice to jam through some shorter ones.

FINISHED
     Murder in Paradise  - 3 short stories. They were just OK as a quick read but too short to be invested in any of the characters and some of the stories seemed to leave out crucial details to keep it short - like a beginning and ending.
     After the Storm - another Amish murder mystery. Love the way they are written but, really!?, how many Amish citizens can be murdered in a small town?
     Gideon's Sword
     The Magician's Lie -The backstory about illusionists was educational. I kind of suspected the twist and I was happy with the ending but I'm not telling you what it is :)
     Before We Were Yours - an AMAZING book based on a horribly true adoption scandal in Tennessee

IN PROGRESS
     On my home stereo - The Night Circus
     On my iPhone - Murder, Interrupted - 2 shorter, true crime stories
     On my car stereo - Whiskey Sour - Erin the Librarian asked me to vet this book before she reads it. Something about blood and guts? As an mp3 file, it's the prefect book for running around in the car...

And now it's your turn to link up or leave a comment. Tell us what you are reading whether it be a novel, magazine, quilt pattern or cereal box!