Christmas is coming...

It was a lazy weekend which lead to a little progress on a lot of projects.

I'm just going to bore you with two...

You will recall that I finished stitching my hexie tree skirt last week. The next step was to buy backing and binding fabric. I found this lovely poinsettia for the backing but I haven't settled on binding fabric just yet. As they say, there is plenty of time.

I bought the end of the bolt, just an inch shy of 2 yards since I wasn't sure how much I was going to need. The pattern called for 49" square backing and at the end of a Friday I wasn't in the mood for math. My original plan had been to quilt this baby with the diamond points on but when it became apparent that the backing was almost close to the size of the tree skirt I decided to cut them off first and baste the top to the batting. When I get home I need to remember to stay stitch the edge so none of the hand stitching comes undone.

With the help of my Quality Control Officer, I then basted the top/batting to the backing, not basting near the edge that was short.

Not spray basting near the short edge allowed me to use my machine to add on a 4" strip and get it finished up right quick. It still doesn't lay 100% flat but I know that quilting will work out part of it and cutting this to become a tree skirt will work out the rest. It's been suggested that I don't cut this for a tree skirt, leaving it as a table topper, but with it not lying flat I'll be happier if it becomes the tree skirt.

 Zorro then decided to try out the skirt in preparation for it's first use in December. Just 259 days till Christmas but only 235 days till the tree goes up! Can you tell how excited he is?

This has now been set aside until after I finish some end-of-April deadlines. When I do get back to it, I'll be doing some simple straight line stitching that follows the "starburst" or "fireworks" outlines of the various colors.

Oops - Changed my mind - there are so many pictures for the other project that I'm saving it for tomorrow. Something to look forward to, eh?

3 days in the Quilt Lab

It was a lovely 3 day weekend at my house filled with all kinds of sewing and quilting.

Friday was spent watching DVDs and finishing the tree skirt. It doesn't quite lay flat so I'm going to go at it with some starch and a steam iron before I sandwich this coming weekend.

Saturday was mostly about making progress on Bonnie's Mackinac design.

First I finished 50 of 120 tri-recs. They still need to be sliver trimmed but I think they are pretty close. You can see from the note card that I decided how many blocks I wanted in the finished quilt and then counted out how many "parts" I needed so that the process was more like one of Bonnie's mystery quilts: I needed 30 square in squares, 120 tri-recs, 480 HSTs.

My assistant had to be bribed with a chair next to my chair so I could sit at the sewing machine.

Next up was 30 square in square blocks. Had I re-read the directions properly I would have gotten them done faster AND I could have used the fabric strips I had set aside for this project a month ago.

I cut the center square 1/4" too big but didn't realize until after I had 2 opposite triangles sewn on and the dog ears trimmed. I un-stitched one triangle and trimmed down 3 sides of the center then put the triangles back on. But then they also had to be trimmed down to the right finished size. There was a lot of trimming down, partly my fault but partly the design of the block. Life would have been easier if I had been able to find that out-of-production square in a square ruler that Bonnie used...I'm still looking!

Eventually they were all done!
Now all that's left is 155 more HST that will be sewn into "4patches". The strips are cut so I just need to cut them with the easy angle and start sewing.

The sewing included making a tie for my nephew's birthday last weekend. I think he liked it but it was hard to be excited about a tie when the Easter Bunny had gifted huge baskets of toys and candy.

Finally needing some more handwork for TV time, I pulled out Mickey's on the road project to work on adding sashing to some of the finished rosettes. It's monotonous work but needs to be done so I can lay it all out and figure out how many more rosettes to make during my upcoming conferences and camping trip.

And with that the weekend was over. Is it naptime yet?

And then there were 3!!!

The tree skirt is now into a half and 2 quarter pieces!!

The quarters will be finished tonight.

I'm not sure if I'll push through on getting the 2 halves together or save that for tomorrow.
I do have that second DVD of Longmire to watch...

And then there were 8!

Saturday morning I had planned to get some serious stitching done while watching a DVD before going to work at the LQS. That was the plan until the electric went out. I quickly pulled up the NYSEG outage webpage to find it was the whole corner of the county so I knew not to hold my breath.

In the "winter" the sun rises in the double living room windows.
In the "summer" the sun rises from the dining room windows.

Luckily it was a sunny morning....

and I could stitch in the sunbeams but I really didn't get much done.

The electric came on just as I was leaving for the LQS. Figures!

Saturday evening was also a bust, stitching wise, as we had three rescue calls in less than 4 hours.

Since I hadn't gotten my Saturday stitch fest in, Sunday became the day to spend on the couch watching Criminal Minds #6 and stitching. It was a fantastic sunny, junk food filled day watching DVD after DVD. After CM6 I moved onto Longmire #1 - another fantastic show.

Soon enough, I had 8 sections to my tree skirt!! I can't believe I've only been stitching the diamonds together since the beginning of February after sitting around for 3 years.

I kept stitching until it was late and then 8 became 6. I should have 2 more sections sewn together by the end of today. It's even possible that I'll have them all together before the end of the week! Then I need to pick backing and binding. I'm trying to decide between the reds or greens...

Weekend Update

I finished tree skirt section #7 over the weekend!!!

And that leaves just one more section to go! Woot! Who knew back at the beginning of February that I would be this far along this fast...

Section #8 in the morning sunshine

I would have liked to have gotten more done over the weekend. I could blame it on movie night at the library (Coco), cleaning and prepping for this week's dinner party (now up to 16 people) or the birthday party where we learned to play African drums but when it comes down to it, I was just plain in a low key mood to lounge on the couch and not do much of anything else. I watched a couple good movies, took a Sunday afternoon nap and ate junk food.

It also helped to be held hostage again =^..^=

Hostage Situations

Due to the big storm 2 Friday's ago, we had postponed Hexie Club to this past Friday. Unfortunately,  we only had 3 people at the meeting which turned out ok - we had cookies and got lots of stitching done.

Saturday was my Guild sit-n-sew where I finished section #6 of my Christmas Tree Skirt. I quickly laid out section 7 (above) and got right on it. As of lunch today, I've got the left and right corners complete up through the red rows and I have 3 of the 4 top rows completed. I should be able to finish this section by the weekend thanks to several evening meetings. I hope they don't mind my stitching while they talk. That leaves just one more section. Eeeeekkkkk!!!!!

Yesterday I went to a town on the other side of the county to visit their quilt store - I needed a little more of 2 grunge fabrics for current projects. Well. I gotta tell you. I was held hostage by that grunge section until I came up with the following idea.

It's an incomplete idea as I don't know what (EPP, of course) pattern I'll be using but I'm being a good girl and not even thinking about it until that tree skirt is done!

I also visited a new "junk" store where I was held hostage by several crocks. I know I probably already have enough crocks but that's like saying I already have enough fabric. Ain't neither never gonna come out of my mouth...

The label on this crock claimed it was a 2 gallon. Really? Pretty sure it's a ten-er...but I could be wrong.

This means I now have a 20 gallon, 10 gallon and 2 six gallon crocks plus 12 to 15 smaller ones. The only crocks with out a purpose are the new crocks and I'll find a use for them soon enough. I use the 20 for fabric scraps, a six for rolls of wrapping paper and the other 6 for a kitchen garbage can. I use the smaller ones for all kinds of storage all over the house.

BTW - using a 20 gallon crock for scraps is NOT a good idea - can't keep up with the scraps when the container is that large.

I thought this 1.5(?) gallon crock had a different/neat bottom. It's got blue speckles on one side like it was around other crocks being marked with blue glaze but other than the bottom it's a standard crock.

I'll let Zorro tell you about my other hostage situations on Friday =^..^=

Wednesday Weather Report #41 - 2/28/18

Yesterday I finished tree skirt section #5. I tried to get the quality control officer to help me out with a photo this morning but all I got were blurry motions shots or pass thrus.

This was the best I could get so we'll just skip it and move right on to the catless photo...

Much better!

And #6 is already in progress. I'll probably have a good share of the bottom right corner done before lunch is over today.

40 - 31- 42 - 38 - 51 - 43 - 52 F
(52 is the bright green on the left)

And then THIS! This has got to be the cutest picture ever! I was trying to get Z to pose with today's rosette but I didn't think it would work out since he was also trying to chew on it.

I scolded him for chewing yet the rosette hung from one nail and he looked right at me. There was a one in a bazillion chance the photo would turn out and it did!!

Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket today...

An InLinkz Link-up

Couch Time!

I've been making lots of progress on my hexie tree skirt!!!

You may recall from last Wednesday that I had section 4 almost done. I had wanted to finish it Friday night but I was just so run down that I gave up and went to bed early. That of course meant I woke up early. Well first I woke up at 3 when Z turned into a cuddlebug - on my pillow - but then I woke up again at 5 and there was no going back to sleep at that point so I got up and stitched.

Tada!! - we have no crossed the half way point with 4 done and 4 to go!

I quickly layed out the 5th section and got it started before we headed off to Ryan's hockey game and some shopping in the city.

Sunday was "supposed" to be spent on mass producing name badge holders but early on I got sucked into binge watching Criminal Minds and never really got off the couch other than to let the cat out and in and out and in and out and in until finally at the end of the day he took up his supervisory position and stayed still for a while.

It's hard to tell with his dark eyes but
I was getting the stink eye about his dinner accommodations...

As soon as I hit publish I'll be spending the rest of my lunch stitching a seam so that everything to the right of the left most reds is in one piece and that leaves just 2 more seams to have section #5 finished. Woot!

It will be a struggle tonight to get some housework done instead of finishing #5

Wednesday Weather Report #40 - 2/21/18

I had three quilty goals for my long Presidents Day Weekend...

Goal #1 was to work on inventory items for an upcoming sale at my annual work conference. That began with working through some of the bits and bobs on the tables that have taken over my huge living room.  I didn't take any worthy photos but I did get some of the fabrics sorted and kitted so that I could put the scraps away. I really already have a lot of my general inventory thanks to a poor Christmas sale so my biggest goal is to make tons of name badge holders - I like to cut out as many as possible and then stitch them in batches by thread color. Someone asked how long it takes to make one and I had no idea since I mass produce them.

Goal #2 was to complete the 4th section of my Christmas Tree Skirt and I came pretty close.

I only took the one photo so you'll need to trust me...I've got 4 big seams left until it's in one piece so I'm certain I'll have it done by the end of the week.

Goal #3 was to get all my temperature rosettes appliqued onto back ground squares and this was completed 100%!!!!!

The blank square on the bottom left is for the rosette that finished yesterday and the 2 blanks on the right are half of the "label" that will be a thermometer to explain the rest of the quilt.

I did have snoopervision while I was sewing but I had to be very, very, very careful not to move my rolling sewing chair!

I thought I was so cool, basting yesterday's hexie before work so that I could stitch it in place during lunch and then get it appliqued after I got home really late for a final photo of the updated quilt.

44 - 56 - 32 - 30 - 35 - 46 - 70F

Except!! We were in for a big surprise when it was actually a record breaking 70F yesterday. I had prepped yellow but I needed orange!! I took several walks yesterday, just ask Mr Cranky Ankle, and I even slept with the window open last night. It was fabulous to wake up to the birds singing. Yet, it's February in Wyoming County and tonight it will be a mere 30F when I get home. We all enjoyed it while we could!

The pic is pretty washed out but I couldn't resist the morning sunshine. That orange in the bottom left sticks out like a sore thumb doesn't it??!!

And one last photo of my new mug. Thanks for the link Janet - such an enabler!!!

And now it's time to share your latest temperature rosettes:

An InLinkz Link-up

Push It!

It's amazing how a little push can really make a project move forward.

I've told you that my hexie club is doing a UFO challenge for the first 6 months of the year. I spent most of January working on something else but really pushed myself to get this Christmas tree skirt going just about the time of our February meeting.

I've had section 1 of my tree skirt into 3 or 4 bits for years. I was able to get them into one complete section the weekend of our meeting. That meant it was time to start a new section. Each section has 36 diamonds but because it's a limited fabric pallet I've been picky about laying out the blocks to try to keep the project balanced. This is what has originally pushed me into thinking this was a stay at home project - how was I going to travel and keep the diamonds in the proper order?

Last weekend I spent all day Sunday on the couch. It had been a busy work week and I didn't want to push my luck with everyone around me getting sick - it was time to relax. Well, if you call stitching all day and binge watching This is Us season 1 relaxing than that is what I did and that allowed me to finish section 2 and get started on section 3.

Uh, Zorro, honey, the peeps can't seem Momma's project!

That's better!

And now I'm already 3/4 done with section 3. This pic was taken a couple days ago and since then I've completed the blue row that isn't on the design wall and as soon as I hit publish on this post I'll finish sewing the blue and white rows together. I've nearly gotten 2 sections done in 2 weeks! Woot!

With a three day weekend coming up who knows how much I'll be able to push through - I'm thinking nearly another section?

Sew!! What's the trick to pushing me full on back into this project? That's easy! My smart phone. I didn't have a smart phone when I first started this project but now I do. I can take a picture of the layout on my design wall and it's always handy for any project to make sure I'm putting it together in the proper order. It's amazing how this one "little" tool can really push a project forward so quickly.

Have all my references made you think of this video????!!!!! Sorry, Couldn't resist :)

Wednesday Weather Report #38 - 2/7/18

24 - 43 - 11 - 24 - 38 - 19 - 23F

Not the best picture of one of my weather rosettes but I think it gives you a pretty good idea of the weather outside. The weather people were preaching gloom and doom with 6-10 inches of snow today but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess we top out at 3" based on the current snowfall.

For the second year in a row, my hexie club is having a UFO challenge. Each member is encouraged to pick one of our hexie UFOs to work on until our Christmas in July Party. Of course it would be great to finish a project, but the point of the challenge is to make as much progress as possible.

The project I chose is my Christmas Tree Skirt. According to my blog labels, it looks like I probably started this project in December 2013 since I finished cutting the diamonds in January 2014. It's finally time to buckle down on one of my earlier hexie UFOs!

I originally bought the fabric and papers as a kit. Would I now choose the same fabric? Not necessarily. I like the fabrics but I wish I had thrown in a bunch more for variety. My scrappy skills have expanded in the last how many years and I'm much more in to tone-on-tone fabrics that really read the desired color.

No matter what, I'm on a roll and enjoying this project again.

An InLinkz Link-up

Quilt Lab clean up post #3

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 - home to most of my hexie UFOs.

This is my hexie puzzle project. The only fabric I purchased was the cream for the background. Everything else is scraps. Some were mine and some were from friends. Some were fussy cut and some were not. 

Nothing exciting in this box - just cream hexies...

Unfortunately I am at a serious standstill on this project. I had intended to make a circular quilt to put over the top of my great aunts small pedestal table so that the pretty feet would still show. I was having trouble getting a round shape so I was going to make it into an oval. You can see 2 opposite corners (top right/bottom left) are not the full star and that was where I had started to round it off. I became thoroughly frustrated and set it aside for something easier and here is still sits, waiting for inspiration. Ughghgh.

Hard to tell from the photo but this is probably arm's width wide.
 I just needs a new purpose so I can continue working on it.

This next box is a someday project using the Ferris Wheel pattern, shown below. I've spent so much time trying to arrange the chosen fabrics to fit the 3 shapes in this pattern that I've been thinking for the past 3 days that maybe the fabrics should just be put back into general circulation and some day the "right" fabrics will pop up in front of me and then I can start the project. I think when I get home tonight I'll be emptying this box and finding something else to put in it!!

I think this selection started with the 2 feathery FQs at the top right.
 I LIKE the fabrics, I just can't make them fit in to the 3 shapes of this pattern. 

This is called Ferris Wheel - it's just 1.5" hexies, squares and equilateral triangles.
I've seen lots of fabric placement ideas online but none of them really grab me.
Some day, I'll find the 'one' and get this project started.

This kit was purchased with several Christmas gift certificates an unspecified number of years ago. When it grows up it will be a tree skirt. I mean every hexie-ologist should have at least one hexie tree skirt, right??!!

This is the left over fabric and papers after basting all the diamonds.
I would really like to put them back in the stash to clear a box but I'm afraid
if there are extra papers that maybe I can't count...

Here you can see the box that has been in the curio,
the basket of basted diamonds that sits on my cutting table
(don't ask about the panic when those diamonds were not where I thought they were)
and the pieces that are already stitched together.

This pattern needs to have some thought put into placement so the fabric usage is balanced.
At some point I decided it had to be a stay at home project for that reason but
I'm finding that I don't work on it at home so I'll have to come up with another plan.

Whooahhhh - moved the basted diamonds into an empty box, instead of the basket = more
counter top space. But now if I empty the bigger ferris wheel box I can combine these into the
one box, making room for 2 projects.

And lastly for today is this table runner that is going to be made out of Cherrywood hand dyes. I'm flinching cuz I bought this FQ bundle in Houston in 2011. The fabrics are so soft, I just want to pet them instead of stitch them. Check this link for the rainbow runner that I am going to formulate with these hexies.

Check back tomorrow for more photos from the curio cabinet...