Design Wall Monday - 3/21/16

Ohhhh it was such a good weekend - blue skies, sunshine, good food and lotsa time in my quilt lab!!!! I actually sat on the living room floor on Saturday just so I could sit in the sun.

My first chore for the weekend was packing my little blue suitcase with hexie projects for an upcoming trip. Yeah, it's early to pack but I see it as setting my honey-do or priority list until repacking for the next trip in mid-April. Any way...the suitcase worked cuz I was pretty productive.

Second chore was cleaning up a bookcase - tune in tomorrow for those pictures.

Having done my "chores", it was time to play so I alternated back and forth between hexies and machine work.

I like the sparkle the teal flange adds

One of my easiest finishes was the binding on this doll quilt. It was already sewn onto the front of the quilt, I just had to machine sew it to the back with my flat fell foot. Easy peasy.

I think the Quality Control Officer was pleased.

Not the world's best photo but I really liked the texture as I was turning off the room lights.

I also worked on a section of the quilting on this (unnamed) doll quilt. I had quilted orange peels in the hexie off-center strip but wasn't sure about the other strips. After some encouragement from Janet I went ahead with my idea for a grid (matching the hexie edges/angles) on the larger strip. The remaining smaller strip (at bottom of photo) will have feathers.

I'm not the only one taking advantage of the table!

I also got a real good start on name badge holders for my upcoming conference. I took advantage of the 8 foot table still up from the party last week and spread out each "kit" so I work on it assembly style.

The colored squares were purchased at a quilt show. The vendor sold hand dyes and had a cute little box of 6 gradients of each of her colors. They were 2" squares and perfect for 3/4" hexies. Unfortunately, the burnt orange set to the left is short one piece - I am hoping to find a suitable replacement so I can include that rosette too.

On Saturday afternoon I peaked into my little blue suitcase for a project to work on while I watched one episode of Grey's Anatomy. I decided to work on the ombre rosettes since I thought it would be easy to finish one rosette.

Of course, as the weekend progressed, I kept going back to the ombre project.
After all, there were only 6 rosettes left to finish...

You know that I finished all the rosettes by last night, right? There is one more at work that I will take home to finish tonight and then I'll find a piece to sub in the burnt orange gradient. I think that will make 21 rosettes.

Am I crazy enough to cut fabric for the diamonds before my trip?

I've even worked out a setting. I'll be using these 3/4" diamonds. Please know that *IF* I ever post a picture of myself I will be bald from making tiny diamonds...

And after the rosettes were done? I pulled out my card trick blocks and got a good start on this too.

Yeah - I might have to repack the suitcase before my trip...and I'm ok with that...

Design Wall Monday - 6/29/15 - Rewards!

On Saturday I was very productive in finishing or making progress on 2 hexie UFOs so I allowed myself to start a new little project.

First I finished the binding on this little table mat. I know I haven't worked on it this year so it's been at least 6 months to finish the last 4 sides of binding.

I also put in the 4 setting triangles and the borders on the Flying Swallows I showed last week. Another project that's been sitting 6+ months. I bought more brown for the backing yesterday and hope to get it spray basted tonight. I hope to have it quilted in the next few weeks so I can do the binding while camping and maybe enter it in the county fair in August.

4 more bat/diamonds to add...

And, as a treat, I let myself start stitching this little cutie together. The owner of the LQS adores owls so there are always new owl fabrics coming to the store. She told me I "had" to buy the fat quarter I used for this project because the selvage dots are bats! It was a bonus that I could fussy cut the owls in their Halloween costumes. I'm not sure if I'll add more to it or stick with just this simple mat. The hexies are 1.5"

Happy Monday!! The sun is shining and I went for a walk at lunch :)

Denim Flower Class

Sadly there were only 2 students in my class last night at the Arts Council. The Director was saying that they may not continue the program next year because attendance has dropped so much over the 5 years they have held monthly Art Nights. Too bad...

I might pink the edges...

I forgot to share this other flower on Monday. It's about 3.5" across with a gorgeous antique mother of pearl button. I also want to make it in a smaller size. We didn't make this flower in class but I did demo the process and I'm sure both Sarah and Jackie could easily make them at home. Yes - there was a student named Sarah, a quilting friend, in class. Jackie would say something to 'Sarah' and we would both answer. LOL.

Mine is at the top. Sarah's is bottom left (love the variety of denim) and Jackie's is on the right (she's also a painter and she's going to add some color to her denim and then put it on a denim bag)

Flying Swallows

I didn't leave myself enough time this morning to decide which purple hexies to add to my denim pillow band so I grabbed another project to work on at lunch. It feels good to work on some of those UFOs I have been neglecting. I still have 3.5 months until my trunk shows in October and next May I have been book for a class/trunk show also so I'll be a hexie machine for the next 10 months. And all y'all know I'll be like a pig in mud! Thrilled to pieces!!

HeLP for Hexie-aholics!!!

Today is one of my favorite days of the month. OK, it's also one of the best days of the year but that's a whole different story. Today is my fav day of  the month because it's time for a hexie linky party (HeLP)!!!! The party is open to projects of any stage (vintage or new, dreams or UFO) and I can't wait to see what you've worked on this month!

On Monday I asked for your help in picking a setting fabric for my flying swallows piece and promised to later tell you what the "rush" was...

The vote for purple or turquoise was a very close/almost tie but when someone (altho Denise will remain nameless) let me know that my three cats had all voted turquoise, I decided to cave to the peer pressure and run with it.

I just got the cardstock I needed to make the setting templates so I hope to finish this weekend. For everyone who voted for purple, it will either be used as another border or the binding...time will tell.

Last year I was asked to pick a date to do a hexie trunk show for our local Meals & Memories senior luncheon at the church a block from my house. I picked the last possible date so that I would have more items to show and made a half-a$$ effort to move forwards with projects, not putting as much effort in to it the last 4 months as I should have.

Last weekend I was also asked to do a trunk show for my guild. Cathy asked if I could do it in March and I nearly chocked on my lunch. As all y'all know, I am more of a starter than a finisher, prefering to enjoy the journey, and have very few finished hexie projects so I asked if it could be later in the year...like around October, which worked out perfectly.

This is a belated gift - a dishtowel adorned with what I think is the most adorable turkey. I didn't think my embroidery skills were up to par but it doesn't look half bad in the photo. Yeah me! I hope the recipient likes it as much as I do!

I don't know about you, but doing a trunk show for my own guild feels like a lot of pressure to be "fantastic." I already had a list of my hexie UFOs so I started by picking a few easy-to-finish projects and some long term projects that won't be finished but I'll have a large UFO to share construction methods from the front and back. I was encouraged to explain fussy cutting and different paper shapes at the guild show so I tried to pick a variety of projects.

Yes...he was as thrilled to pose as he looks!

This is the 10th full size block that I have finished for the Value Proposition QAL. I also have 2 half blocks done. 8 full and 2 half blocks left to finish!!!! I think I'll spend a little time this weekend kitting up a few more of these blocks...

My goal (hahahahahaha) is not to start any further new projects and I hope y'all will help me stick to that!!! My exception was starting Katja's New Hexagon Millefiore. Even if I can only sorta keep up, by October this should be fantastic!

I had decided to fussy cut first and then fill in the rest. I'm not sure that was the best order to work this block but I am loving the fussy cut choices I had originally made. I think I need more green towards the center and more pink towards the outside but I might still change my mind. I want to baste what I fussy cut this morning before I decide.

I do  have a subtle white stripe for the outside hexies which will replicate Katja's sample. The original black fabric has some white so I don't think it will stick out too much...or maybe I just need to use some in the center.

See why I have so many UFOs?? Indecision...

Mom even said I could borrow one of her smaller trunks. Yipper...stole that idea from Janet when she did her mini trunk show and had a mini trunk.

Ok, my friends - it's time to tempt me with your projects...show me what 'cha got and cross your fingers I don't cave to more peer pressure! 264 days until TS#1!

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 1/12/15

Sew...which do you prefer? The purple or the turquoise setting fabric?

The purple shows a little darker than in real life since the photographer created a shadow :-)

Depending on the votes (and if I agree with them! Bwahahahaha), I hope to at least get the center finished for Hexie Linky Party on Saturday, when I will also explain the "sudden" rush to finish hexie UFOs.

And, yes, borders are going to be a little dicey since I have to work around the holes where I fussy cut for the center of the star :-)

HeLP for Hexie-aholics!

Yes ladies - HeLP for Hexie-aholics has arrived again! Today's the day we share our English Paper Piecing projects whether they are current, UFOs, antique or just a dream. Any shape or vintage is fair game and will probably inspire someone!

Did you catch my Twisted hexie tutorial earlier this week? I'll get it added to the Hexiology tab someday - I need to finish fair week and go camping again first. Selfish, aren't I??!!

I've been taking my hexie box with me to the fair all week and getting some work done. It's not dedicated/productive stitching like camping but it's still fun to share with newbies. I did take out a few projects Wednesday tho. I was just being too over-optimistic and needed the space for what I was doing that day (sitting at the LQS booth and demoing).  Don't worry, they will be moved back to the box shortly for another quick camping trip.

The (new/clean) biohazard bags were dropped off at the LQS for us hexie girls to use.
They are perfect for our projects and it's a fun inside joke.

I think this is Value Proposition block #6. Yipper, I'm behind but really enjoying the value challenge, fussy cutting and finding fabrics hidden in my stash to play with. I have the next 2 blocks kitted up and need to work on kitting #9 this weekend. This photo was taken Thursday morning and should be completed well before the time this post goes live on Sunday. The debate will be to work on the sashing or start the next block...

Hmm...didn't mean to use the pic with the "stink eye" but she wasn't happy with me trying to pose her so it is what it is.

 

Always a sucker for a new project, I have actually been working on this while at lunch this month. One of the not-so-LQS has small scrap bags of coordinated fabrics. This bag had the orange/pink/yellow batiks and the wild fabric on the left plus a small bit of brown batik and was called "Vibrant Autumn." I had to substitute the brown for a larger piece. I'm not sure that it will have the same impact but it appears to work. I'll be using the brown where the paperpieces.com pattern shows black. I have yet to decide what to do in the center/gray or outer corners since I plan to use the wild fabric on the back and maybe the binding. Maybe I can find a red to match the background of  the wild fabric. This will probably just be a small ~12" doll quilt/cat mat since I have very little of the batiks left.

Alright - show us your current projects, your dream projects and your recent hexie related purchases. Please remember to link to a specific post and not to your blog in general. I can help with that if you need..