Just a Little Bit

I've been fighting a crummy cold my hubby shared with me - luckily I don't have it as bad as he did, but I haven't been doing a whole lot of stitching or hooking. I did get a couple more stars made - these are both made from the same piece of fabric and I think they're my favorite ones so far.

This is what the fabric looked like before I started cutting the diamonds...

And this morning I was able to make five blocks for Lori's quilt along. Looking forward to working more on this little quilt. I really liked her color combo of blue, brown & tan so I'm using the same palette which is kind of unusual for me - I normally like to change things up and make my own version.

Yesterday we woke up with no heat in the house so that wasn't a fun experience. The temperature kept dropping as the day went on - service guys arrived just after noon and had things fixed about 3:00 - the house was warmed up by 5:00. Thankfully the furnace was still under warranty so we didn't have to pay anything. It's amazing how exhausting it is to try and stay warm - all I did was read a book all day and I slept like a baby last night cuz I was so tired. 

Little Hexie Quilt Done

I have finished all the sewing of my little quilt made with 3/8" hexies and it almost makes me sad. I think there are over 700 pieces in this quilt - all basted and stitched by hand.

When I saw it in the magazine I thought they had displayed it in an old window, but after looking at it more closely I think it's just a picture frame - so now I'm on the hunt for one at the thrift store that I can paint and distress before using it. I need an 18" x 24" frame but can't decide if I want glass in it or not.

This shows the back of the quilt - lots of bulk there with the seam allowances folded over - which is why it won't actually be quilted. I don't even think I'm going to take the papers out - the stiffness will be helpful while framing it. I kind of envy Kathy - of Kindred Quilts. She's just starting this same design so stop over and see how she's doing. 

Now I'm making fussy cut diamonds to sew along with the Temecula Quilt Co. I've got quite a few of them made, but I'm not sure if they'll all actually be used since I don't know how they'll be sewn together yet and I don't know if they'll all play together nicely. It's been fun learning to look at fabric a little differently for this project. And since there is so much waste with the fussy cutting I can't quite bring myself to buy fabric that costs $10-$12/yd - so I've been shopping at JoAnn Fabrics and Hancock's for potential pieces.

RED

This morning I finished up the quilt top that I started in Pam Buda's class on Friday - it's a nice manageable size and I'm still loving the colors I chose.  Not sure if I have the right fabric for the backing yet so I need to comb through my stash and see what I can find. Hope to get this quilted and bound quickly so I can hang it up and enjoy it. About 43" square.

Months ago I saw some mini design boards that Lori Holt shared on her blog - she even has a how-to video available to watch - and I decided that I needed to make some for myself. Then, JoAnne recently shared the ones that she had made and it reminded me that I wanted my own. SO - over the weekend I finally bought the supplies I needed and made up a few.

I ended up with six that measure 15" square, and six that measure 10" square - plus I have six 5" squares leftover but I'm not sure that size would be very useful. I made the first six with a fabric binding like Lori shows, but I found it really tedious - and I burned my fingers many times with that danged hot glue gun. Finally went and bought some duck tape and finished the rest with that method. It was faster, but not as cute - it'll do. There are a LOT of crazy bright colors of duck tape available, but nothing in muted prim colors - the red was the best I could find.

Lots of Progress

I spent some quality time with my sewing machine yesterday and finished piecing the four remaining blocks for the project I started in Pam Buda's class. I need to sew them all together now and add a couple small borders - I think I like it!

I noticed that the three different fabrics I chose have somewhat of a squirlly motif going on - totally unintentional! LOL

I also made a bunch more of the 3" anvil blocks - can't decide if I'll be adding borders to this - any advice? Is the color distribution good enough to start sewing these together?

Now that I'm nearing completion of my tiny hexie project I've been looking for something else I can work on it in the evenings while watching TV. Temecula Quilt Co is doing fussy cut diamonds and it looked fun to me, so I bought some papers and have finished my first two stars. I have no idea of what this will look like when it's finished, but I like most everything they do so I'm sure I'll be pleased with it.

Pam Buda Class

I spent seven hours in a Pam Buda class yesterday, along with 25 other eager students and had SUCH a good time! It's been years and years since I took a quilt class and I had forgotten how much fun it could be!  

I met up with my friend Janet - of Rogue Quilter fame - and her friend Kim. 

Janet spoiled me rotten and gave me two more paper pieced ornaments for a birthday gift. These things are SO tiny - only 2" square!. She also gave me two bars of her delicious smelling handmade soaps that smell good enough to eat! LOL

And my table mate is a new friend from Idaho - we clicked immediately and I felt like I had known her for years (hi Jami!)

Pam taught us two different ways to make flying geese units, two different ways to make quarter square triangles and several other methods  -  plus shared some great products with us. Most everyone finished making the center blocks for their quilt project and they were displayed all together at the front of the room at the end of the day. So many fun color combinations. Mine is in the top right corner of the board and I switched up the project by using black for the background instead of a light fabric. I had to always double check to see if I was getting the color placement right and only had to use a seam ripper once....

I don't ever remember the teacher giving gifts to the students before, but each of us received a darling tote bag from Pam.....

......and one of her patterns as well! Wow!

A delicious lunch was provided - along with dessert and snacks on each table. Mmmm. The staff at Village Dry Goods gifted everyone with a mug & liner for storing and organizing your tools - like pencils, seam rippers, scissors - whatever - so cute! I felt spoiled!

I loved walking around the room to see what treasures I could spot. This button covered journal was just darling - I believe she bought it at Target awhile ago.

Janet made one of her tiny little paper pieced quilt blocks into a darling pincushion.

I've seen these design boards before - great for laying out your blocks and taking them to the machine to sew - but this gal had used colorful duct tape on the one in back to finish the edges up - so cute!

One gal was wearing a darling vest that she bought on sale at Christopher & Banks. The fabric looks just like a penny rug, huh? 

She even embellished it a bit by stitching a REAL wool penny here and there across the surface. Unfortunately, it's not available in the store or on their website anymore, but I did find a size medium listed on eBay if anyone's interested.

Fran had the cutest purse made from a wool Army blanket that had wool flowers appliqued to one side - the leather straps were very sturdy and added a lot to the look of the piece.

This class is a yearly event and I think I might be hooked on attending from now on! Today I'm hoping to finish making the rest of the quilt top and I'm looking forward to spending more quality time with my sewing machine....

Twice as Nice

I meet monthly with two different rug groups. One meets on the 1st Tuesday, and the other on the 2nd Wednesday. Usually these are a week apart, but sometimes the calendar arranges it just so and they fall on back-to-back days. That's what happened this week, so I've been busy driving to and fro to enjoy hooking with friends. Here is some show & tell from both meetings.

On Tuesday, Sandy brought this astounding heart that she received for a Christmas gift. It was made by her granddaughter and is made from a thrift store book with the pages folded to form a heart in the center. I am in LOVE with this book and have searched online for a tutorial on how to make one for myself with no luck - SOB! If any of you have better luck at finding instructions would you please let me know? I'd like to get it done by Valentine's Day. I found some on Etsy for big bucks, but would prefer to make one myself.

Tonia is already thinking Spring and was working on this original design showing a mother hen harvesting colored eggs from trees. I'm sure she'll have it finished for our meeting next month and I can't wait to see it!

Sharon finished stitching down the edge of the rug she started in the Maggie B workshop we took a few months ago. This is done with wide cut (torn) strips and the background is my favorite part.

Eileen brought this sweet Nativity that she had made for Christmas - made with wool roving and a felting needle - it's small! Eileen is the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to rug hooking, knitting, weaving, spinning, felting, & crocheting. So glad she's my friend and is willing to help and answer questions from anyone.

On Wednesday, we got to see Nancy's finished tree rug - if you look closely on the left side you can see a wonderful flower with a spiral in it that is done with a special hand dyed wool that changes colors - a great detail on this rug.

This is what she's working on now - a vintage design she found in one of her old rug hooking books - lots of color and interest in this one.

Tomorrow I am taking a workshop with Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts at my LQS. I got all my prep work done last week and I'm raring to go make this quilt. (I'm switching the position of the light and dark fabrics and I sure hope it'll turn out okay).

 In the meantime, I saw a great project that Jo was working on and it really caught my attention. She blogs at Ramblin' Rows.

I decided to make my own version, but much much smaller. Here's my start on the design wall - little 3" blocks using Civil War reproduction fabrics - 

I think today's snow has finally accumulated enough that I need to go out and shovel the driveway now. Hoping there are no neighbors out there with their noisy snow blowers to disturb the peaceful quiet that I always enjoy when I do this......

Two Things

I made a car seat cover for the new baby last week. DD#1 chose the fabrics in keeping with her love of bright colors - a rainbow zebra print - - -

- - - with red polka dots on the inside. Should keep the little guy warm - and protected from bright sunshine and germs.

I finally got a few pictures of my son's wedding from various sources and wanted to share them here so you could see. The wedding was in a barn that is 130 years old and decorated with old farm implements that were found on the property.

Temperature was about 20 degrees that day and the barn isn't insulated so we had four large space heaters and two other big heaters blasting air into the building. Once the space was full of people, their body heat helped keep us warm - and the loft upstairs was quite toasty!

Lots of twinkle lights for ambiance - - - 

- - - the wedding cake and some pictures - - -

- - - hubby's gift to them was his painting of a rusty old truck - - -

- - - the quilt I made was thrown over the railing upstairs - - -

It was a fun, fun event visiting with family & friends.

Giveaway Winner

Last night before I went to bed, I wrote down the names of all those who left a comment to enter my little quilt giveaway. I scrambled them up and drew out the winner - which was Leisa - from Black Sheep Woolens. She was the very last one to leave a comment. I think it's pretty rare for the first or the last to win, so I was pleased for her.  I'll get this in the mail to you soon Leisa - hope your little grand daughter enjoys using it with her dollies - be sure to tell her Happy Birthday from me - how fun that we share the same date - just a few years apart! LOL

And to give you an update on my little hexie project - I now have all the units complete and I've started stitching them all together. I think this part will go faster than I had originally thought it would. I did a little math this morning and realized that there are 100 different fabrics used in this quilt - that's a LOT! The magazine I got this pattern from shows it displayed in an old window frame. I seriously doubt I can find a similar one just the right size, so I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with it yet - for sure it won't be quilted though - just too many layers!