Late night reading here in Tennessee.

Dreaming of Hexies...

Spent time on Flickr tonight instead of packing. I think I see a rainbow inspired Hexie project in my future....

(Click on the image and it'll take you to Flickr where you can see all of the links.)

Hexie Inspiration

Hexagon Class

If you are in the Gatlinburg, TN area and are interested in learning how to hand piece hexagons I'll be teaching at Mountain Stitches by Susan. The class is July 11 from 10 until noon. The cost is $20 (kit included). You can call 865.436.0077 to reserve your spot. I'm looking forward to it!!

Saying Goodbye

My little blog has been very quiet for a while. It's been a summer full of fun activity with Jenna. And then just a few weeks ago, after a very complicated surgery, my mother-in-law passed away.

We are all so very sad and a little lost without her. Jenna in particular has lots of questions. Some are easy and some are a bit more difficult. We are spending a lot of time sharing wonderful memories we've made together through the years and are so grateful Grandma had moved closer to us before Jenna was born. They were so close and Jenna enjoys hearing stories about her Grandma, especially at night before she goes to bed.

We are so grateful for the kind words and gestures of friends and family during this time. So many have sent food, cards, phone calls, helped with Jenna and shared such great stories.

So even in great sadness, there has been laughter and joy and celebration for a strong woman, caring mother, doting grandmother, and incredible friend who will be missed more than I can say.

More than anything, I know how important it is to spend time with those you love. Now. So we are heading to Tennessee to spend time with my sister and sweet niece Sophie...

...Jenna's Papa...

...and her GiGi...

...and if I'm lucky, I will get to celebrate my brother's engagement to a wonderful young woman I'm looking forward to getting to know a little better.

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying time spent with those you love!

Back From Camping...

 Hi Everyone! I left Thursday night for a camping trip and just returned. Laundry's started and camping supplies are tucked back in the garage waiting for the next go around. We went back to our old stomping grounds from our high school and college days, Milford Lake. That was our home base for several little day trips in the surrounding area this weekend.

We took Jenna to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure just outside of Salina, KS. Lots of unusual animals and such a great setting. For dinner, we stopped at Salina's famous Cozy Inn to sit at the six stool counter and enjoy a few tiny Cozy Burgers. Yum!

On Saturday we visited Old Abilene Town. It was a bit of a let down with so many buildings in disrepair. We rode a stagecoach, watched a staged gunfight and saw a steam engine roll into town. It was a good time but we felt like the town could have presented a lot more information about the history of the area and buildings. Jenna was entertained so it was a success.

I took this photo out of a window in one of the old log cabin churches in town and discovered when I went outside that the fence contained a small cemetery. 

This headstone was a reminder of how wild Kansas was at one time.

I tried to get a little hexagon sewing accomplished by the fire last night but the smoke kept blowing my way. So my little helper and I moved to the table, but the wind picked up. I settled for working on them on the drive home today. I'm so excited about the project I'm planning with them! 

But first I need to finish hand stitching the binding on these two quilts. Hopefully, I'll have a little time tomorrow to work on them as we wrap up the holiday weekend. 


I've REALLY enjoyed reading all of your comments from the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway post about how you all planned on spending this or the past weekend whether it was Memorial Day weekend, Victoria Day weekend or even a regular weekend where ever you are! I had originally planned on responding to all of your lovely comments but at 275 comments, I was a bit overwhelmed and then I was out in the sticks with no cell phone coverage! I've read every single comment though. Now I'm enjoying peeking at your blogs. So much fun!


Stacy from Paint.Sew.Create was the pattern winner and I was able to drop it in the mail Thursday on my way out of town. Thank you all for playing along!

May Giveaway Day 2011

Hello friends! If you are visiting from Sew, Mama, Sew!....Welcome! I'm Melissa and I started this little blog a while back to share sewing projects with my own Mama (and Dad, and sister) who all live a couple days away in Tennessee. I've had fun making new friends in the blogging world and connecting with other quilters here in Kansas along the way.

Some of you remember "Seeing {Pink} Squares" that I made following the Seeing Squares Pattern designed by Shea from Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio. I thought I'd share a few more details and then offer you a little giveaway.

Here's a photo I took quickly one afternoon when the sun finally peeked out for a bit.

And this is the pieced back. If you've never tried a pieced back, Shea gives suggestions for a pieced back from leftover blocks complete with measurements and diagrams that make piecing pretty quick and easy.

Here's a closer look.

 Angela Walters quilted it and did an amazing job. Here are a few special spots that are accented with her very cool quilting designs.

I made a smaller version (48" x 56") of this quilt for my daughter and Paula made the beautiful solid quilt (60" x 84") on the pattern's cover. 

Shea kindly offered a pattern for me to giveaway to one of you lucky readers. You'll love her patterns! They are printed in color and have easy to follow directions and awesome illustrations throughout.

It's easy to play...

just leave a comment about your plans for the Memorial Day weekend! 

If you'd like an extra entry...

leave a second comment to let me know you are a follower 

(or just became a follower).

International friends are welcome to enter.

I'll draw a winner at random on the evening of May 25.

**Giveaway now closed**

Still here....

It's that time of year that always seems so hectic but exciting. Preschool activities, Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), and soccer are all wrapping up and we are looking ahead to a fun summer filled with camping, biking, swimming and traveling. 


My irises were beautiful this Mother's Day. I transferred some from my parents home in Tennessee and last year I only had one or two blooms but this year they were plentiful. They were originally from my aunt's garden who got them from my grandmother's garden so they make me smile when I see them taking off.


I was really spoiled for Mother's Day this year. So much so, I'm I little embarrassed to tell how wonderful it was. One of my gifts was a weekend at home to sew while everyone else went camping. I love to camp but enjoying the quiet was a rare treat. So I finally got this quilt basted, quilted and the binding sewn on. I just need to turn the binding and hand stitch the back now.

 

Hope you are all doing well!

Japanese Fabric

Hello Friends!

Just a quick little post. I'm busy getting ready for my sister and her family to visit from Tennessee and I can hardly wait. They'll be here for almost a week and we have tons of fun planned.

I signed up for tha Japanese Fabric Swap over at Gen X Quilters so I picked up this cute print at Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence today. I know, you are thinking great boy fabric, right? Actually, Jenna has been in love with dinosaurs since last summer when we visited two different dinosaur exhibits.

I have a few other little scraps of Japanese fabrics with cute novelty prints and thought it would be fun to have a few more so I'd have enough for a little project. Here's the Flickr group for this swap if you're wondering what some of these Japanese prints look like.

Home on the Free Range Chickens - A Collaborative Quilt

I have been so fortunate to get to know and quilt with a group of women and one young lady (9 years old). Camille, Sheryl, Darcy, Diane, and Lydia have been meeting to work on various projects over the last few months. This quilt is our second collaborative project.

 Here's how it came together:

Sheryl suggested we create a chicken quilt inspired by the style and techniques in this book. We each started making chickens on our own and in Darcy's wonderful studio. Thank goodness, Darcy made me a step by step cheat sheet/pattern because I don't think I would've ever been able to figure out how to put one of those chickens together just looking at the directions in the book. After a few chickens, Camille got started on making "parts" (borders, eggs, a star) that could be added somewhere. We brought all of our chickens and parts with extra fabric to a retreat that some of us were able to attend and put the top together there.

Several people asked how it was possible for all of us to work on and come up with this quilt together. I think we might all have a different answer to that question but I can tell a bit from my perspective. We used a design wall at the retreat and put our chickens on it. We had many different sized chicken blocks and played around with different layouts and putting different parts in and around the chickens. Ideas where thrown around. Other retreat friends shared some ideas and opinions.

At some point more stars and a length of half square triangles were created and moved around to different positions. We would sew some and stare some. We'd take a break from a meal and come back with more ideas and a fresh eye. When someone suggested that we get all the chicken blocks to the same size with a log cabin style border, things seemed to really take off. It took a few minutes to figure out how we wanted the colors and sides of the log cabin to look but then we had a more solid plan.

The chickens came together on the design wall and then it was decided that we needed some sashing to separate them so they didn't get lost in all the craziness. More playing and shuffling and it just came together!

Sheryl took it home to quilt and of course she is incredibly talented. (You may have seen here quilting here.) She quilted a yellow loopy pattern that hints toward the egg shape. I love this design and want to try it on something.

I added the binding and appliqued the eggs that Camille made onto the top. Darcy is finishing off the hanging sleeve right now and then it will be handed off to Camille for a very cool label that she's designed.

It will be displayed at the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild Annual Show in Lawrence KS, April 30 and May 1.

{Anything I should add ladies?}

This is what I learned:

1. Step out of my comfort zone. When Sheryl suggested making chickens I wasn't so sure about it. That was the last thing from the Collaborative Quilted book I would have tried. After a bit of thinking time, I decided why not. It was something different to piece and it would be fun to try something new.

It was completely different for me to go into making a quilt without some idea of the end result. It was definitely something I wouldn't have tried on my own. It was very eye opening to go through the process and see that it really will come out okay in the end. You just shift things and adjust.

The wild color scheme was way, way out of my comfort zone. I love scrappy quilts with lots of fabrics but usually with a lot of white space in between or with a simple repeated pattern throughout. But once we got started, it really worked well and the more free I felt to throw just about anything in.

When we got the chickens on the design wall with some other pieces, I really like it. By the time I was binding this quilt, I truly loved it.

2. I'm slow. And I'm okay with that. Seriously. I'm slow and methodical. With pretty much everything in life. I spend way too much time deciding, adjusting and lining things up. I do need to probably let go of some of the perfectionist tendencies but I sew because I enjoy it and really don't feel the need to rush through. I spent enough years as a teacher telling my slower readers not to worry and to just enjoy what they were doing that I just believe the same thing about sewing. I think as I gain more experience, I will get faster with a lot of things but I'm pretty sure I'll never be one of those people who can crank through much of anything. My favorite 30 minute meals still take me an hour to cook.

3. Sewing with other people is a great thing. It goes without saying that I love the virtual world of blogs and flickr and message boards for learning and inspiration. But sewing with other people is priceless. Not only is the company enjoyable and friendships made but there are so many little things you learn while sewing around other people. For example, I wanted to put together the rectangles in the outer border of this quilt and started cutting out individual blocks of a certain measurement. Luckily Sheryl caught me before I got too far and suggested sewing random strips together and then cutting the group of them down to the size I needed. Hellooooo! Brilliant and so simple! There's been countless other little things I've learned about color selection and techniques just by being around my sewing friends.

Sooooo, long post but inquiring minds wanted to know and it's nice to have this experience recorded to look back on.

Have any of you been involved in a collaborative process? I'm curious to know how you liked it. If you haven't, is it something you'd try?