ABCs and Hexagons

I have finished piecing all the alphabet blocks that I'm doing with Cheri's sew along, and I know how I'm going to sash them. Now I just need to make some blocks for the corners, and decide on what kind border to add.

As I was cutting fabric for some of the blocks, I glanced off to the side of my cutting mat and was astonished to see a small note pad that I've had for ages sitting there - printed with an alphabet quilt! Too funny!

Some of the blocks have been pieced the same way I did mine, and some are different. 

And then, I grabbed my tyvek bag recently and realized that it is covered with the alphabet too! I bought this bag years ago on a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas and use it to tote books to and from the library where I hang out at least once a week.

I just thought it was funny how I started seeing alphabets all over the place when I started working on this quilt! 

And I've got all my tiny hexagon diamonds sewn together. Instead of joining them with another row of hexagons - which is the traditional way - I just appliqued them to a background fabric and spaced them so it looked like there was another row in there.

Here's the stitching from the back - - - -

And after the back is removed from behind the hexagons and the foundation paper gone - - - 

Still trying to decide on borders for this one too. A couple of the diamonds are slightly askew, but it's good enough for me. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing any rug hooking - just not enough time to do everything I want to!

Not Too Much to Share

I don't have too much exciting to share today, but I finally got all the hooking done on my small rugs. I need to press them and cut them apart, then I'll stitch each one with a backing and stuff them little little pillows to be displayed in a bowl or basket.

I recently made a trip to California and back - about a twelve hour drive each way. I thought I'd get a lot of handwork done, but the truck was too rough so I didn't do as much as I'd hoped. Got some work done on some small hexagon projects that I've started. The small diamonds are about the size of a dime, and the ones in long rows are the size of quarters. I'm not exactly sure of how these will be sewn together yet, but it's coming together in my mind a bit.

My camera is having some issues - I went to a quilt show last week and snapped a whole bunch of pictures, but none of them turned out. Looks like I'll have to send the camera in for repair - luckily there are still two weeks left on the one year warranty - yay!

Rug Group

On Tuesday I went to hook with the Salt Lake rug group. There were only four of us this month, but we still enjoyed visiting and seeing each other's projects. Myra told us about her recent trip to Ireland & Finland.

Nancy has finished her patriotic rug - I like the way she brought in some more colors in the border treatment instead of making it exclusively red, white & blue.

Arline usually hooks with #3s and #4s, but last month she attended a rug camp in California and started work on these portraits of her grandparents using a #8 cut of wool strips. It's amazing to me to see this kind of work - not something I'll ever attempt, but I sure can appreciate the talent in making it!

She told us about a dyeing technique she learned about and walked us though a dry demonstration. I guess it was originated by Wanda Kerr and it's called Hot Rock Dyeing - uses small pebbles in the dye pot between layers of wool - - -

- - - and this is the end result - nice mottled wool - more than one color can be used. I hope to give this a try someday myself - it's been ages and ages since I've done any dyeing!

Nancy lives right in the middle of Salt Lake City. Her living room has an entire wall of glass windows and doors and I was shocked when I noticed some movement out in the back yard and saw this deer nibbling on her trees! We've been meeting at her house for several years now and I've never seen one before, although she said they're regular visitors. She lives near a cemetery and he makes himself at home in all the surrounding neighborhoods. He was probably 10 feet away from me through the glass. Fun to see him up close and personal!