Hunky Dory Hexies and a Stalled Quilt

I refilled my little hexie kit with a bit of Hunky Dory. What a beautiful color combination! I'm not certain what I'll make with them yet. Contemplating a small tablecloth but I can picture using these in a quilt block or runner. 

 So far, I've stitched these in a McDonald's Playland, during a library storytime, at a friends house, and on the road to Kansas City to visit a dinosaur exhibit at Union Station. I'm loving having them on hand for a few quick stitches when I can.

Earlier this year, I was anticipating the appearance of Blush by Basic Grey. I fell in love with the prints when they were printed as scrapbook paper. I knew I would make something for myself with this line. I decided on using charm packs so that I could have all of the prints and planned on using this pattern with a little modification.


I got started on cutting and sewing a few pieces towards the end of my retreat in March. After I returned home I started worrying about all of the red I was including. I don't usually prewash but I got nervous about bleeding. I wasn't sure about all of those charm pieces either. I was worried they would just shred in the washing machine. So I put it in my closet and stayed there until today. 


My next retreat is coming up and I want to use this quilt as a leader/ender quilt. Time to make a decision and take action! I prewashed the yardage in the washing machine and hand washed the charms, both with Retayne.  It's all now drying on a guest bed. Lots of ironing is in my future before I can start cutting!



*ETA: I received a lovely email from Dorothy in Oz and she said she has washed Blush before and it didn't bleed and that none of her Moda reds have ever bled. Good to know! Thank you!

Fabric for Projects

I certainly have enough projects to keep me busy for a while. I've been on the hunt for fabric to applique my hexagons to. I chose a Kona solid in Robins Egg. I think the polka dots will go on the back and the middle fabric will work for the binding. I'm excited to start stitching those hexies down!

This little bag is for a couple of quilts that I haven't started yet. Can you tell who designed all of these fabrics? The darker colors are for a Christmas quilt and the pinks are for Jenna's quilt. I finally decided which quilt I want to make with a jelly roll I have and needed backing to go with it. I may have changed my mind though. I'm considering another quilt along and using my jelly roll for this quilt.

I was reading the Freckled Whimsy blog today and KarrieLyne posted about a beautiful quilt she received in a swap. You must take a look! Even more beautiful is the story behind the quilt. Angela from Cut to Pieces very eloquently writes how her quilt illustrates the journey through years of infertility. It's a story that tugs at my heart because I've also made that journey. It reminds me of the hope and pain and countless other emotions that were impossible to express even to my closest friends. Happily, both of our stories end in beautiful miracles. I'm enjoying reading through her blog and I hope you'll visit too.

Is it wrong....

to love a fabric because of the selvage?

 I had a 4 year old helper at Sarah's Fabrics the other day who made her own choices in fabric.

How could I say no with such adorable selvage? 

Win Win purchase!

I can't wait to see what Tula Pink's selvage for her new Parisville line will look like. My bet is on the mouse/rat in her logo. 

I'd love to hear what your favorit selvage is.

And if you have a clue as to where I've misplaced my camera I'd love some hints. It's driving me insane!

Explore the World

It's so easy to get into auto-pilot mode as I go about my day to day activities. I see things fresher when I go on vacation. I'm so excited to be immersed in new surroundings and I just soak in the details, trying to savor and remember each moment. Then I go back home and try to get back into that comfortable routine and the details start to blur. So I'm challenging myself to look around and explore the world around me. Visit places nearby that I haven't been to and photograph or sketch the details that inspire me.

I had a chance to run a few errands alone this weekend and decided to run into the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence. I may have visited once in the last twenty years but I certainly don't remember. There's a quilt exhibit there and thought I'd pop in for a few minutes to check it out. As I looked for parking, I drove by this garage set into a hill and something about it made me catch my breath. I knew I needed a photo! Of course, I'd taken my camera out of my purse for one reason or another. My iphone camera would have to do. 


The exhibit at the museum was small but interesting. On the way out, I almost missed a small exhibit across from the gift shop. It was a quilting project that a middle school class created using literature as inspiration for small wall quilts. They were amazing, and it was so interesting to read the students' comments on the process. I don't think they will be on display for very much longer but if you have a chance check it out.

My iphone camera also captured a potential hexagon layout the other day. I snapped a picture to remember some of the options I tried. I'm trying to decide now whether to take the time to hand applique the hexagons onto the background or just do it by machine. I like the look of hand applique better but it'll take so much longer. And I plan on letting Jenna use this as a doll quilt. Hmmm. We'll see....



 

Selvage Bookmark

Here's my Selvage Bookmark that began with this lovely pile of scraps. I finished it late last night and intended to photograph it in natural light today but the day was just too busy. Now it's very late and this is the best I can get in my sewing room after midnight.  **Just swapped out the picture for a better one.
 

 

Here's the story of how it came to be:

I have a mother who knows I love pretty things and sent me a little surprise package recently. She's always tucking in little things she'll know I'll like or use. Needles, thread, a recipe, a fat quarter, a magazine, a handful of scraps. So this latest package just happened to have strings of scrap fabric to keep the stack of magazines from sliding around and they just happen to be in a line of fabric we both love (Fresh Cottons by Fig Tree Quilts). I knew I had to make something with them!

I remembered that Jacquie had a selvage tutorial on her blog and thought I'd start from there. I discovered that her selvages were no smaller than an inch and had at least 1/4 inch of pattern showing above the selvage. My scraps were much smaller. I think the largest piece was about 3/4 of an inch total and not much pattern above the selvages. But I thought if I alternated a selvage with a printed fabric strip it might look similar. 

This 5x5 square was the result. I thought I'd make a pincushion for my sister. But the more I inspected I realized that my seam allowances just weren't deep enough. I was afraid it might split open and I'd never hear the end of walnut shells spread across my sisters house! So I thought for a day or so about what I could come up with that wouldn't stress out my seams. I know Viv loves to read so I dreamed up a bookmark. 

Scraps + Scrapbookpaper + Sewing Machine + Adhesive + Button = Cute Bookmark for Viv. I'm sure she won't see this for a while since she's chin deep in teaching at the moment.

It took some trial and error. The big discovery was that I needed to leave the foundation paper on the back as I sewed it to the heavy scrapbook paper. Otherwise it stretched in the direction I was sewing.

Here's the back. Gotta love Basic Grey. (Did you know they make paper? Did you know scrapbook paper has selvages too?!)

And Mom, if you are reading this, I have enough to make one for you too!

Can you believe...

Can you believe I'm making something from this pile of scraps my mom used as padding in a package she sent. Too pretty to throw away!

Shoo Fly and Surgery

My Monday to-do list was long and I accomplished much. Emails, phone calls, playdate, cleaning, laundry, more playing, cooking (new yummy recipe), bathing little toes. However, it's after 11 and I'm still in my workout clothes that I put on this morning since I was going to exercise just after I finished a few things. That one item is rolling over to tomorrow's list but I think I'd better do it first thing when I wake up! So I got lots done but not necessarily what I really was hoping to do.

I was going to tell you that I didn't get to sew at all today but I just remembered that Amy the Penguin was in need of emergency wing surgery. I suppose that my sweet girl remembers a rather lengthy wait for one of Monkey's surgeries so she put Amy the Penguin just where she knew I'd find her. So cute! I'm happy to report that the penguin is recovering nicely snuggled up next to my sleeping girl.

I did get to sneak in some sewing this weekend after a lovely breakfast date with my husband. I made these Shoo Fly blocks as part of Tia's quilt along.They were so fun and quick to put together. I'm enjoying the quilt along so much and I can't wait to see what else Tia has in store for us. 

 Those are  a couple that I really liked.

I think I'm going to have to let this swirly fabric go for this project. Just doesn't seem to go with the others. Doesn't produce enough contrast either. It's funny how you can really like a fabric but when it's wrong for a block, uggh!

And red is always a favorite.


I must go get some sleep. We're off on another adventure tomorrow with some little friends and some mamas. Can't wait!

Buttons and Triangles

When I was a little girl, my mom kept a container of buttons in her sewing room and I loved playing with them while she sewed. She gave me this little juice pitcher a long time ago and as things go, it sat in my kitchen cabinet a long time because we don't really serve juice that often. I want to use it so I put it in my sewing room to hold the buttons Jenna collects from quilt shops. The two little "dishes" beside the pitcher are actually attachments from a kitchen tool my mother-in-law had in her cabinet. Sometimes I can't get a stain out of a cute outfit of Jenna's and before I throw it out I pull off any of the fun buttons. These make a great place to put them since they are special to me and I don't want to throw them in with the others. Call me sentimental! Do you store any of your tools or supplies in special containers?

Have you tried Triangulations? It such a quick easy way to whip out either half square or quarter square triangles. Just like dot-to-dot. You sew on the dotted line and cut on the solid line with your rotary cutter.

I've made a few star block with these and they are so fun and easy to put together. I use a bone folder from my scrapbook supplies to "finger press" my seams open before I hit them with the iron. I'll try to get a few pictures of them since I just pulled them out to work on again.

Potholder Swap

KC Modern Quilt Guild had a potholder swap a few months ago. It's been so fun to open up my little potholder drawer and see these two lovely creations peaking out. I'm still surprised when I see them. I forget they're in there!

The potholder above is made from Tula Pink's Nest line of fabric. Isn't the little egg perfect for the kitchen?

This next one is so cute with donuts and cookies. The really cool part is the middle. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

It looks like a vintage cookbook page was copied onto fabric. What a neat idea! The quilting is pretty cool too. Here's it's sibling. We each made two to swap but they were passed out randomly.

These are the potholders I made for the swap. I love the fabric but I encountered some problems. The pressure on the quilt sandwich was so great that I had to literally pull the potholder through the machine to quilt it. It was pretty thick with Insulbright and batting. It stretched out the corners as I did pretty dense straight line quilting. I cut out some extra pieces so I'm planning on trying again with my new machine to see if it makes a difference. Here's the tutorial I used. I really do learn so much with every project I try. The only way to learn is to get in there and give it a go!

A Fun Quilt Along

Tia from Camp Follower Bags & Quilts is hosting a Free Piecing Quilt Along and I thought it would be fun to try my hand at some wonkiness again. I had two goals as I started this Quilt Along. I wanted to play a bit with my new sewing machine because I've been doing a lot of handwork lately. I've been anxious to get some fabric in it!  I also wanted to play a bit with color choices.

I usually choose fabrics from one line in my projects and when I mix things up I tend to get matchy-matchy. I end up with too little contrast. I dug into my little stash and discovered the only solid I had was white! But I dug a little more and found a few fabrics that I thought might read as close to solid. In the end I found some prints and tone-on-tones that I thought might achieve some contrast.

The blocks are 6 x 6 and pretty quick and easy to put together.

This itty bitty anvil block is an example of some hand piecing I did on my trip that doesn't have enough contrast to it. The greens are blending together.

It's fun to start experimenting. I feel like am learning so much! The more I do though, the more I find I want to tweak and learn.

So go check out Tia's blog! She is just the nicest gal and makes the coolest bags and quilts for her military friends from uniforms and quilting fabric! I met her at the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild but she just moved to TX so I'm keeping up with her on her blog.