Design Wall Monday - 9/19/16

I took one final camping trip this past weekend!! It was a good trip but a little weird.

Weird cuz the leaves are not really changing yet given the extremely dry weather...there was green and burgundy and nothing in between.

Weird cuz I have bronchitis (yeah, AGAIN, third time this year & 2nd time while camping which puts a damper on the mountain climbing).

Good cuz the weather was perfect - 36F Friday morning for my big hike and 60/70s the rest of the weekend, with rain Saturday Night which is perfect for sleeping.

I finished 10 background bits,
whipstitched the already basted pieced hexies and
got a good start on the next Jefferson Star.

Good cuz after the hiking and the antiquing, there was time for hexies!!!

Bad cuz when I got home, the children hadn't been playing nice and Zorro had a big abscess on his neck.

Worse cuz before I could get Z to his vet appointment today, he had scratched open the abscess and bled all over the latest Jefferson star. It's not like I can wash the fabrics with the papers in them so I'll need to star that star over. I only had enough papers to make 6 stars...wish I could get more.

I think that's all the camping I can handle for one year...but I've already started planning my hikes for next year!! And, let me tell you, they are some pretty big plans!

HeLP for Hexie-aholics - 9/17/16

Holy cow it's time for another Hexie Linky Party - feels like the last was just a few days ago...

I've shown you the finished teal/peach Jefferson Star but I don't think I ever shared the purple and green star. I wasn't sure about the darker green but I do think in the end it came out perfect.

I picked the fabrics for the peach star by starting with the darker burnt orange and then built the fabrics around it. I started the purple/green star with that dark purple. If you'll notice, both stars have a multi-color fabric in the center and then the rest of the coordinating fabrics are mostly tone-on-tone. I'm trying to follow that same concept on future stars. The star I'm currently working on doesn't quite fit the pattern but I'm hoping when the quilt (?) is big enough, this little change won't stick out so much.

Photobomb!!!

I've got 3 more stars cut out waiting for spare stitching time. It does take a little forethought to get them glue basted on a flat surface before I feel like stitching on the go but I'm good for a while with these kits. Two of them started when I was trying to put fabric away and came across something I thought would work nicely. I don't think the fabric has been put away yet...

Oops - maybe I best put these kits back in their baggies before
the tail of doom dumps them on the floor!

And now, my friends, it's your turn to share your EPP projects. Just remember - any shape and any vintage project is free game to share - we are looking forward to seeing your projects!

An InLinkz Link-up

HeLP for Hexie-aholics - 8/17/16

Hello and Welcome to another monthly edition of Hexie Linky Party!!!

I think you should sit down before I begin.
Ready?

I did curves!!
(I almost liked it.)

I'm not sure which direction I like better...
This color combo started with the dark/burnt orange in the middle round.

It's not my favorite technique (yet?) but I was getting better by the time I added the 6th peach piece. I'm sure over the years I've just psyched myself up for something awful.

I'm used to right sides together, using tiny binder clips to make sure both pieces are the "same" size and easing in any differences. There's no really good way to match right sides together when fitting curves together. It's more like match a quarter inch section, stitch, next quarter inch section and hope the ends line up properly. I was still able to fudge a little but I'm probably the only one who sees any problems.

I think my next Jefferson Star will start with a purple fabric. Certain people won't be surprised.

I attempted to get my QCO to pose with the block this morning. He immediately rolled over and refused to roll back towards me. I immediately refused to crawl under the dining room table to get his front side.

I finally took advantage where I could and left it at that. This is why I don't enter the pets ON quilts show...

An InLinkz Link-up

PS - I promise I have not forgotten more ADK or AQS photos but it's County Fair week and I've got a bunch of time off work (my only internet access) while I help my parents run the Antiques Division.

Design Wall Monday - 8/8/16

I wasn't home much over my three-day weekend: 2 doctor appointments, hexie club, fire department golf tournament and 144th annual Pioneer Picnic. They were all the *perfect* opportunity for working on hexies while I waited or worked the events!! Woohoo!!!

I added the last 7 hexies

Minions!!!!!

Honeycombs in the bag were already basted.

I took these with me to AQS thinking that Cherrywood would be there for me to pick a fabric
for the background squares. Cherrywood has a different "texture" (my guess is due to the
hand dying process) and I really don't want to mix it with another fabric but I just might have to....

Can you tell I fussy cut the peach points on the right?
I'll need to clip the concave curve before glue basting them.
And then it's on to stitching curves. eek!

No self control...

Go on - laugh - you knew this would happen. Y'all know I have no self control.

This block coloring started with the burnt orange pie shapes.
I am thinking of the gold for the spikes in the next round but I'm not sure yet.

These are glue basted due to the curves.
I'm not 100% sold on the technique yet but I'm always game to try something once...

On a side note, it wasn't until I got home last night and looked at the cranky cat panel still on my design wall that I noticed that the bottom edge was cut crooked and quite short on the bottom left corner. It affected 2 blocks.

I guess I'll have to cut off the sashing that is on the panel (it's so off that I can't preserve any of the current red/blue sashing for Mr Attitude) and add my own. That really stinks but does teach me that when I buy a precut panel I should unfold it to check the quality first. Unfortunately the receipt doesn't have a business name or I would write a nastygram...

AQS-Syracuse shopping

My original shopping goal at AQS-Syracuse was to buy rulers for ruler work/quilting. I had some specific beginner rulers in mind based on lotsa research but I was open to almost anything. There were several booths with rulers but not quite what I was hoping for. A couple booths had bundles containing one ruler I really wanted but I was not willing to pay the big bundle price so I'll keep looking for those.

I did come across a longarmer who sells his own rulers and his partner who had rulers for domestic machines. I couldn't pick just one ruler to start with so I took their business card which had a link to their 140+ youtube videos. Maybe once I get through those I can pick one or 2 of their rulers. Of course, I forgot the card at home today so if anyone wants the link let me know in the comments and I'll get it to you tomorrow.

And now, lets get on with the actual shopping!!!!

-- 5 random FQs
-- Superior Threads: 3 replacement colors and 2 new blues
-- 1 mini charm pack from Primitive Gathering - couldn't resist the pretty
purple/gold/yellow combo and it's a the perfect size for 3/4" hexies
-- 2 quilting rulers
-- a cat stitchery kit: I know, sooooo not me but it's really cute and 100% true.
Home IS where the cat hair sticks to everything but the cat!

I couldn't resist the cranky cats panel.
I was going to take a close up of my fav  cat but just couldn't pick one.
Now to figure out what to do with this...
It's not very big so maybe some tabby orange sashing and borders for a lap quilt?

You knew if there were hexies I would find them!
There were 2 kits (acrylic templates & papers) avail - 1 for the smaller center and the other for
the center and outer rounds. I splurged for the bigger kit cuz I can now make both sizes.
This is one of 2 projects I own with curves. I think it's time to bite the bullet and just try curves. Wish me luck!
The big issue is do I start it ASAP or wait until "later"????
Janet can tell you I have many UFOs but a new project is always funfunfun!
And I can't remember the last time I started a new project...
oops - that would be the pieced hexie project Mickey Depre is spearheading.

A topic for another day is coming up with my own pattern to sell as this person did.
Her pattern, paperpieces.com produced the templates and papers.

And  last but not least...HALF-NEKKED WOODSMEN!!!!!
Can they come camping with ME next year??!!
Some of you may recall my fireman quilt...
I'm going to do something similar, surrounding a yard of the woodsmen with blocks or borders.
If anyone has a "simple" block suggestion I would love to see a link.
In the meantime I am combing my Pinterest boards for ideas I've saved.

What do you want next?
Quilts at the AQS show? Hiking? Or general camping photos?

Happy Hump Day!!