Quilt Lab clean up post #4

Project background: I'm spending the month of March cleaning up my quilt lab and blogging about all my hexie UFOs along the way...

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And we continue today with the curio cabinet - storage central for most of my hexie UFOs.

First thing I did this morning was put those ferris wheel fabrics into the put-away pile. Having freed up a large box I moved the tree skirt project from 2 small boxes into the empty box which then gave me 2 small boxes for some of the projects I found today.

I bought a new big box for the top of the curio and moved the bits of my The New Hexagon Millifiori into it - emptying a basket from the cutting table. I've got the monthly papers in here as well as some fabrics I mean to use for a couple of the monthly blocks. I also need to print out all the monthly directions since I don't know how long Katja will leave them on her website.

 This is a new project - I'm calling it Pyramids since it reminds me of my 1,000 pyramids machine sewn quilt. I've cut out some fabric squares to take to conference and made 2 demo triangles to make sure it will work. The papers in the layout  represent the neutral fabrics that will alternate with the colors. Baggie on the right is punched 1/2" hexies from the magazine subscription inserts (I think I showed that pile of inserts back on post #1).

This is Opposites - another new project in dark purple and light gray.  I have a bunch of the fabrics cut and stored in the tin for conference.

This was a basket of a lot of little project bits or dreams. See below - I've pretty much worked them into the general stash or other storage bins.

This is actually a fab orange dark gray batiks. I cut out more diamonds and clearly had a plan for them but never wrote down the plan so I guess I'll make something up. I did find a bit more of the fabrics in a pile so I've put this all together so I can formulate a plan.

Most of these fabrics are from the scrap bag called "Pop Rocks" (from one of the quilt stores). It was easy to name this one! I couldn't find the picture of this project right off but it looks like a field of tulips to me. I've had these cut for a long time but no stitching yet - seems like another good/easy project for travelling.

This project was really to show that you can use EPP to do standard machine style blocks. The plan was to make 4 card trick blocks and border it with the tea post fabric. Of course I started this before I really got into making hexies so my seam allowance is rather small and I've been having trouble keeping the papers in while I work. The work looks fine, I just need to deal with the small pieces, which is annoying.

These green 1" hexies are from a fabric swap we did in our hexie club. I (re)designed a Christmas tree banner that we could all make. I think only one person has finished hers. I brought the small bag with the last dozen fabric squares to work and I got started basting them during lunch.

This was a project I designed for our hexie club. I stitched the 6 jewels together into a rosette and after sandwiching them together, embroidered candy heart phrases on them for a mug rug. I've had the other fabrics cut to make more but never got to it cuz I have this thing against pink. Don't ask! I've now put the fabrics back into the stash and moved the cut pieces into a smaller bag so that I might forget them again or just get them make into something...

My office building was built in the early 1900s and still has the original hexie tile floor in the bathroom. I am replicating the tile pattern in nice bright colors! Again, I have a diagram so I can track what else needs to be done. It looks like I need to finish 2 diamonds and then the background to square it all off. I don't appear to have much more of the orange or the purple so I'll need to find some other fabrics for the tile border.

This project started with 4 fat quarters and a desire to see just what I could do with it. I was very much into pieced hexies at the time but stalled out cuz this has no finished purpose. Well, lo and behold, it will fit the doll cat bed so now that it has a purpose I best get back to it since I won't need many more hexies to complete it.

And lastly for today is a pic of the bottom shelf of the curio cabinet. There are a few non-hexie items in the baskets and the pile of fabric on the left is "bundles" that I thought would work nice together for future hexie projects. Enough! I never start by looking at the pile when I am thinking new projects so I am going to make 90% of the pile disappear. Not sure what I'll put on this shelf instead but I **DO** know it will be hexie related. When I am done, I want this entire cabinet just for hexies.

 You'll be happy to know that this concludes the vast majority of my hexie projects since they were mostly in the cabinet. I still have a lot to clean in the rest of the room, where I'll find stray projects or project parts. There is also my collection of hexie papers and books. In other words, don't worry as there is plenty for me to do the rest of this month...and maybe beyond...

I just got a coupon for Dollar General that I can use for storage boxes this Saturday if I decide to go that route...

See ya tomorrow for Feline Friday - I don't think I'll show a single hexie to give ya'll a break!

Design Wall Monday - 10/26/15

I think something's wrong with me...
A mere 17 weeks ago I would have stayed in bed as long as possible on "crisp" mornings and then ran for the couch and a thick afghan to veg in front of the tv with some hexies. In the evenings I would have been back under that afghan for more hexie time and warmth.  Now I almost jump out of bed and spend less time under the afghan. Take this morning. A quick check of the weather app while still under the covers told me it was just 32F. No problem, I can don long underwear under my sweats and add another t-shirt under the turtleneck and hoodie. After a beautiful walk (the stars are still out at 6:45 this time of the year and the sun is rising!!!), I figured I was already outside and might as well rake some leaves. Whoa! Leaves at 7:30 on a workday morning? See! There is definitely something wrong with me!!

Too bad I couldn't get a picture of my furry helper this morning since it was quite cute. Maybe another morning...

The parts for this rosette have been together since February but I set it aside to work on Value Proposition.
I've decided to hang these in the upstairs hall so I can see it come together as I add the monthly rosettes.
There isn't much sun up there so no need to worry about fading and they won't be wrinkled folded in my WIP pile downstairs. I'm clearly behind on the BOM schedule so I'll just ease back in and maybe pick a "small" month to feel like I'm making fast progress.

Anyway, I finally had to do something besides hexies yesterday. Ok, Well I finished the January rosette as shown above, but I needed to work on some *machine* work. And before one can take a project to the machine one must become a rotary cutting fiend. I spent hours this weekend cutting for lotsa projects.

These are the projects I remembered to take photos of. None of them are very far along as I was trying to make progress on too many projects at once.

Yipp. This has got to be the world's most boring picture. I am teaching a jelly roll race in a few weeks and I wanted to make another sample besides the sample at store. Yesterday I cut (36) 2.5" strips. This is all pale grays and then I will machine applique black cat silhouettes over it. I just wanted to give the girls fabric options. I've got the 2 hardest parts (sewing strips end to end and the first long seam) done so the rest should be a piece of cake - well other than finding cat silhouettes... Think Zorro and Squeaky will lie down so I can trace around them?

Christmas is coming and I thought it best to start working on Ryan's quilt. The design uses 4-patches and half-snowball blocks. Easy peasy. I've got probably a third of the 4-patches ready for pressing and I've got more green strips cut to make more. Ryan's color choice was "camo"  so I felt secure in pulling out all kinds of greens to mix in.

This is for another class. This will be the third year that I teach a simple class on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's always something on the simple side that can become a holiday gift or a charity quilt. Since this was the third year we finally decided the class needed a name. For lack of any inspiration we came up with Turkey Leftovers since most of my projects are scrappy and I think I'll invite the girls to bring turkey leftovers for lunch this year.

There are still a lot more machine projects that need to be worked on this week but considering that something is wrong with me, maybe that won't be much of a problem. LOL. It won't hurt that tax season is winding down a bit and my next hexie trunk show in December is to be much shorter so there is no need to rush to work on more hexie projects. Maybe I can get class samples and gifts finished on time. Oh yeah, and don't forget my first Christmas bazaar is in less than two weeks.

Maybe I should be sewing instead of raking leaves with a furry supervisor...

Design Wall Monday - 3/2/15

Saturday evening I attended a chili cook-off at one of the local churches. It was free-will-offering for eat-all-you-can-eat and there was a Chinese Basket Auction as well. All the proceeds went to our local food pantry. There were 14 chilies to test. My first choice was tied for 2nd place and my 2nd choice (pulled pork but it was too sweet) won first place. It was a lot of fun and already can't wait for next year's cook-off!!

First order of business over the weekend was to kit up most of my remaining Value Proposition blocks. I pulled in some new teal fabrics for these 4 kits. I'll have to finish these and then lay out all the blocks before cutting the last 2 kits in case I want to de/emphasize any colors in this scrappy project.

Second order of business was to do just a little more pink for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I found 1 of the box kites when unpacking the box I had packed for my quilting 101 class and then I made 2 more, bringing the total to a respectable 8. I made just one pink basket block and worked on 4 D4P Puss in the Corner blocks (only 1 is shown tho).

Next I worked on this months scrap color: Yellow!!! I kitted 8 box kite blocks (yes I use cheap hair clips from Dollar General to separate the parts) and cut or found strips for at least 5 or 6 more. Can you tell I like yellow??!! I also worked on starting some D4P blocks and started prepping strips for 3 basket blocks.

I finally got all my hexie fabrics cut for my iSpy project. I do have a pack of 5 more fabrics that I am debating to use. They are not good quality fabric but I love the designs so they will probably be next on the cutting mat. I saved 2 others - 1 for a project for our hexie club (hopefully there will be a charm square left) and the other is a rather large design that won't show well in an iSpy so I think I'll just save it for a doll quilt backing.

Last but not least, I've made some progress on rosette #1. It's probably a little hard to tell but I have 7 finished hexagons to be added to the right side of the outer row and the last mostly-black hexie from the 2nd row is almost finished. I just need to finish 4 more outer row hexagons to finish this rosette. I think I'll have the hexies made in 4 lunch hours and then I'll have to put this together sitting at the table since it's already a monster piece. I never did get to picking fabrics for the next rosette...

Phew...it was a fun but busy weekend and other than a crockpot meal, never did get to the housework. Darn!

HeLP for Hexie-aholics!!!

Howdy and welcome to another rousing edition of Hexie Linky Party for Hexie-aholics!!!

All y'all have your hexie nail polish on for the party, right??!!

This past weekend was retreat #2 for the LQS. Luckily I get to attend in a work capacity, running the on-scene store, answering quilting questions and what not. When the girls don't need me tho, I get to do my own thing!!

Thanks to a lot of this:

Windchill of -32F = -36C

I was doing a lot of this:

Which resulted in this:

I had to get more of the black to finish the last block in the 2nd row and I have parts of the third row made. I had gotten this far at the end of retreat on Sunday and, while I could have continued with the rosette Sunday evening and Monday (federal holiday), I chose to work on some other hexie projects for a change of pace. Nothing exciting enough to share, just making progress on smaller projects that fit in ones hand...  :) This sucker is HUGE! About 36" across!

Now, if I could just get over this bronchitis, I would be a happy woman. Today my right lung hurts from coughing so much. I'm gonna leave it up to YOU, my bloggy friends, to take my mind off being sick: please link up to a specific blog post showing any hexie project you would like to share. As always, it can be a current project, a UFO, an antique you came across and everything in between!

An InLinkz Link-up

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I know...you're saying "Sarah, that's the same photo you posted last week!" but I SWEAR it's not!

I've now finished the gold and lime diamonds, black triangles and added lime half hexies. I think I'll do the white striped hexies around the outer edge before I decide on where to add more pink.

Just 3 more shapes to decide on!

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 - 1/5/15

I haven't made much progress on my Grand Illusion Mystery due to work related activities but I did get to play with my hexies here and there...

On New Year's Day I spent the day in my PJs fussy cutting for a couple projects. I mostly fussy cut for Rosette #1 of Katja's Millefiore project. A lot of people are working block by block from the center out but I wanted to take advantage of my fabric so I'm kinda working willy nilly on mine.

I started with this...

and ended with this!!!! Swiss Cheese!

I think there is still a lot of potential left in this fabric for all the small bits left to make for rosette #1

I played with templates for quite a while trying to decide where to put what shapes and finally just decided to start with the center.

From there I picked an element I liked and played to see how I could use it best with the remaining shapes while also laying out the pieces so that I could see how they would play together.  And then I decided to stop fussy cutting and do some basting so I could see how the pieces were really playing together w/out seam allowances. There isn't a huge difference but if you look at the center block above and below you can see a slight difference.

One would think after a special trip to the city to buy a new cutting mat that
someone would take the time to clean the cutting table and get rid of the old mat...

I've still got a bit of basting the rest of these bits before I do more fussy cutting but EMT renewal class (almost 6 months at 10-15 hours per week with class/travel/homework time) starts this week so I have no idea how much I'll actually be getting done during the week. Think the teacher would have a problem with me hexing during class?

Hello 2015!!

If you've been around my blog longer than 5 minutes you'll know that I'm not great on follow through. I enjoy the journey too much to worry about finishing each and every project. My three year old addiction to hexies is making that journey even more exciting but deeper in UFOs.

And yet, I have decided that this year I will join in two different BOM projects. One of them I'll tweak for my own purposes (imagine that??!!) and the other will need no tweaking, just a lot of hard work to keep up.

I finally decided to join the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge at Super Scrappy. Each month she posts a color and followers make blocks of their choice in that color. I think I'll blame this on Bonnie Hunter. Why not? She won't see this, right? Bonnie was working on her Box Kite quilt and I liked the block. What isn't there to like about 3 squares and 6 HSTs? It was about the same time I had read someone's post about the scrappy challenge and I decided to give the block a try "just in case" I liked it enough to work on all year.

Surprise! I liked it! I've decided to use the monthly color suggestion to cut blocks for my (now) three leader ender projects. I'll be able to prep some leader enders to work on while trying to get somewhere on my UFO pile. I see the January color was posted today and it's "blue." I'll get right on that when I get home!

I have 72 basket blocks completed. These will be set on point and I have yet to pick a setting fabric.

 

I also have 70 of these disappearing 4 patch puss in the corner blocks made. I'm gonna need bigger storage tho as tin#1 is full. These will also set on point with alternating squares of a yet to be picked fabric but there is a long way to go...

The other BOM project is Katja's Millefiore Quilt-Along based on her book "The New Hexagon."

My rosette #1 paper pack arrived yesterday and I picked up this fabric a few weeks ago as my focus for this rosette. Katja posted the first set of directions today so I'll be sure to get on this when I get home too. I best cuz #1 is a doozy with 37 blocks making up the rosette and it will take a while to decide how I want to fussy cut my fabrics.

Other than making class samples, Ryan's quilt and Bonnie's 2015 mystery quilt I really don't have any quilt plans for 2015 other than working on UFOs. Hexies will be a different story. I have a long UFO list to work on and bucket list that I was trying to hold off on but the stars have recently aligned on several so it looks like I'll be starting some more hexie UFOs...I'll share pictures some day...

That's it for now...Happy New Year and I'll see all y'all next year!

PS - Feline Friday, HeLP and Bibliophile Files will all be making comebacks in 2015. Woo Hoo!