Our Thanksgiving adventure.

I hope you and yours had a lovely Thanksgiving! For only the second time in my life, we left Fort Worth for Thanksgiving. The only other time was in 1999 when my husband and I went to Paris and then to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to visit his sister who was living there at the time.  My husband skied, but I was pregnant with our daughter, so I didn't get to ski the Alps.

Last week, we went to South Fork, Colorado and skied Wolf Creek. That's our gang above without my husband who was taking the photo. My daughter was the only kiddo, but she was a real trooper. The guy in the middle with the white snowboard is my brother and his sweet wife next to him (in blue) is giggling behind her board.  The couples on either end are friends.

The weather was absolutely beautiful for skiing. Wolf Creek had received over 100" of snow and the entire mountain was open.

The last day I tried my luck on a blue run. That was a big deal for me, because I'm a bunny slope kind of girl. The view from the top was breathtaking. I did wipe out four times on the way down, but no yard sales and I was able to get myself up and keep going. I hadn't fallen until our last day and I knew it was coming. I wish I had wiped out the first day and gotten it out of the way so I wouldn't have been such a scaredy-cat. I think I had more fun after I finally fell!

I also wish I had more photos, but we were about two hours from home when I realized I'd left my camera behind! I was so upset! We've got a few phone photos like the ones above, but I'll have to rely on my unreliable memory for the rest. Wanna hear some good news though? Guess what I dug out to work on during the drive there and back? The hexagon charm quilt. It's been hibernating, but I may have rekindled my desire to finish that beast. I'll save the grizzly details for another post.

On the drive home, I also drew up a layout for the Hot Mess Plus and X quilt from my last post. I worked on the actual quilt this afternoon and I like where it's going. I think I have a layout that will contain the chaos, but still lets the scrappy goodness sing. I'll share more later. Right now, I need to clean up my room. I'm having aplaydate tomorrow! My sweet friend, Steph, is coming over to sew for the day. Life is good.

Hexagon Thoughts :: Progress

I've fallen behind on my hexagon posts. I've been absorbed with a few other projects lately, along with work, preparing to move next month, and constantly driving back and forth to town. But, I thought it was time for an update, so here goes.

I've got 472 hexagons attached to another hexagon. I'm still sewing strips of 10 and 11 together into sections and planning to attach the sections once I have more completed. I'm hoping this method will distribute the fabrics from the same collections evenly throughout the quilt.

A few weeks ago, I noticed another duplicate I sewed in by accident but, I'm not going to tell you where it is, you'll have to find it later! So, I went through all my basted hexagons and pulled out a number of additional duplicates. I was surprised at how many more I found. Along with the duplicates, I pulled out a number of hexies I've decided not include, mostly because I decided that the fabrics were too light/pale or too sophisticated for me.

As of today, that makes my basted-but-not-attached hexagon count 726. The stacks above contain 25 hexies each.

I have no idea how many fabrics are in this 3.5" stack of squares. These are the fabrics I have yet to baste from swaps and new fabrics I've cut into. I still need to go through my folded stash and cut squares from those fabrics. I'm going to hold off on any more swaps until I get more of these fabrics basted.

Here's the box I'm using for hexagon storage with all the necessary supplies.

And this is an adorable little box I found in the school supply section at Target. It has a magnetic closure. This collection is so cute I couldn't resist some folders and notebooks too. 

The best part about this box is that it fits in my handbag (I usually carry a big-ish handbag) and holds everything I need to make hexies on the go. Fabric squares, papers, scissors, needle and thread.

My tip for the week: Use old bobbins of thread to baste your hexagons. The bobbins are much more portable than a spool of thread (which wouldn't fit in my new box) and in my case, I have lots of wound bobbins from old clothing projects that I'll likely never use again.

If your bobbin thread gets unruly, use some of those little stretchy, fuzzy ponytail holders to wrangle the thread. Don't overpay buying them at the sewing store, just buy them at the drugstore.

There are 175 members in the hexagon charm quilt flickr pool! I really need to spend some time over there admiring all the beautiful work everyone is sharing. If you are in need of fabrics for your quilt, there are a number of swaps going on also, so check out the discussions.

Thanks for the love on the cheater fabric. So far, I've only received the initial FQ I ordered before I entered the contest. Those poor guys must be overwhelmed with orders. I've ordered additional yardage to cut into FQs, so I'll let you know as soon as I receive the yardage. I'll get another post together, maybe for tomorrow, with my thoughts on how the fabric turned out.

So, how is your hexagon quilt coming along?

Hexagon Thoughts :: Piecing Strips

It's been tough trying to get this video filmed today! I recorded the other videos outside (for the great lighting and acoustics), but we spent the morning in town at the vet and when we got home it was already 100°. Sorry, but that's too hot for me to sit outside in the sun and sew. I tried unsuccessfully setting up at multiple windows around the house and when I finally found the best light, my neighbor started mowing. My camera picked up the drone of his mower, so I had to stop. I resumed filming when he finished, but then he started his weed eater! I think he was weed eating off and on for almost two hours! Every time I thought the coast was clear... weeeer, weeer, weeeer! I wanted to go yell at him, "Hey, buddy, I'm trying to record a little sewing video in here!" But, of course, I didn't.

So, this video may seem a little choppy because it was filmed at different times throughout the day and then spliced together. The lighting isn't very good and portions are a little out of focus, but I think you'll get the idea. This video is how I piece my strips of hexagons together. Its isn't necessarily the right way and it's definitely not the only way, but it's what has been working for me. It might be helpful if you are new to hand paper piecing.

Thank you for all of the love on the Color Wheel quilt. I might hang it on a wall; maybe in my new sewing room.

Regarding the hand quilting video, I'll try to record something when I start on the paintbox quilt, but I'll be using Perle cotton for that project, so it's slightly different than traditional hand quilting. Amy has a fabulous series of videos on YouTube on hand quilting, so be sure to check those out. Vikivictoria also shared a video link that I found helpful. Thank you!

We had a little dog-related scare late last night. My 13 year old Yorkshire Terrier, Gizmo, has cataracts. That's her snoozing on the sofa above. She can distinguish light and dark really well, but she's basically blind. Our vet watches for complications, but says she's too old for major surgery and I'm too cheap to spend $4K on surgery for my 13 year old dog. Anyway, last night one of her totally white eyes (cloudy from the cataracts) turned blood red. A blood vessel in her eye ruptured! I could tell she wasn't in pain since she wasn't pawing at it, but she was bumping into things like it worsened her already terrible vision. We saw the vet first thing this morning and he said she was going to be okay. After fewer than 10 hours on steroid drops, her eye already looks much better! The poor old girl looked terrible and it was scary because I didn't know how serious it was. I'm thankful she's on the mend.

Speaking of pets, we have a new one. This is Coconut. He's Shea's new hamster.

She is enjoying his company immensely!

Another busy week.

It's been a busy another busy week. I only have a few minutes to post, but I thought I'd check in.

The garage slab was poured on Wednesday. This was before. The crew hit bedrock, so Sean had to rent a jackhammer and it took an extra day to jackhammer the ditches for the beams. At least we know the slab won't be moving. The family room and master suite will be above the garage. It's the size of a four car garage since it will also house the airplane Sean is building. (Yes, I park my car next to a pair of airplane wings in my garage.)

  

Dirt work for the slab addition that will be my sewing room, powder room, and Shea's bathroom. I think this was on June 5th.

And here's that same spot yesterday. What a difference a few days makes! That room with the ladder is my sewing room. We need to get the tree trimmer to come trim up that pecan tree soon.

I've been sewing during swim team every day.

It's nice to have hand work projects that are so portable.

 

It's also fun to have little girls stop to see what I'm working on. 

Perle Cotton and Hexagons

Thank you for all of the kind comments on my first mini quilt! I had such fun with that hand quilting. I foresee many more Perle cotton quilted quilts in my future.

Speaking of Perle cotton, I made a score on Ebay. This is 36 balls of size 8 DMC Perle Cotton...

that I got for $30 with shipping! Woo hoo! That's like 80-something cents each! They are mostly older, but are unused and I read online that they age well. They had been stored in plastic bins. Between these and the inexpensive perle cottons I ordered from Threadart, (thank you for the tip, Sarah!), I'll hopefully have all the colors in my Paintbox quilt covered. That's the plan at least.

We spent last evening at my mother's house for some fun and food with her and my brothers and their families. As I was sewing hexagons together, my adorable niece enjoyed going through them picking out her favorite fabrics.

I think she's got pretty good taste!

I've decided that storing the hexagons by color was causing me to over think my random layout. (Plus, they outgrew the storage box.) I dumped them all out and mixed them up. Now, I'm trying just to reach in and grab the next one and go with whatever I pull out. The only editing I'm doing is attempting to avoid attaching two of very similar color or print adjacent to one another. I'm probably still over thinking it, but at least I'm not spending a full minute or more on deciding which fabric to attach next. The best scenario for me is to ask an uninterested party to select the next hexagon and avoid the paralysis of analysis altogether.

I'm sorry I've fallen a bit behind on the weekly hexagon posts. I have a couple of piecing videos I'd like to record and hopefully I'll get those done this week. If you need a quick hexagon fix, check out everyone's progress in the flickr group. I love seeing all the beautiful quilts evolve! Keep the photos coming!

I 'll likely be scarce this week; I have a mountain of new freelance work I need to get done between swim team practices and entertaining my out-for-the-summer daughter.  Enjoy your week!  

Once upon a time...

a boy, a girl, and their wee one lived in a cute house in the city. The boy was a home builder who had meticulously rebuilt the 1925 bungalow they called home. Their house was walking distance from the elementary, middle, and high schools the girl attended and the hospital where she was born. The university the girl graduated from was much further away, about five miles from their city house. She had very deep roots in their neighborhood. The couple were surrounded by family and friends who lived nearby.

One day, the boy and girl had a crazy idea and wondered what it would be like to live in the country. They put their city house on the market and it sold very, very quickly. The couple leased a house about 25 minutes outside their beloved city and prepared to build a country house.

But things in the country weren't as blissful as the couple had hoped. They desperately missed the conveniences of city life and the girl was saddened by all the precious time she was losing by driving back and forth to the city on a regular basis.

A few months after moving to the country, the couple made the decision to uproot again move back to the city. But where would they go? They had sold their lovely city house.

The couple decided to take on the massive renovation of a 1940's rental home they owned in the city. After all, the boy was a home builder and they had completed this type of project twice before with great results.

So, in the heat of the Texas summer, the project began. They hope the house will be completed before school for the wee one begins in the fall. The couple are very excited about moving back to the city and are praying that things go smoothly and that they are able to stay on schedule.

OK, seriously. All sarcasm aside, I was going to start another blog to document our next house project, but I can barely keep up with one blog, so maintaining two might throw me over the proverbial edge. I hope I won't lose you if you are here for crafty things, but I'm so excited about moving back to the city and want to share our house journey with my family and friends. I might put together a post of before and after photos of our last house. I adore old houses and love that with my husband's skills we are able to give them new life. (And, I can't wait to decorate and landscape this next "old" house!)

And for those of you who are here for some crafty eye candy...

The 193 hexagons I basted on Memorial Day. I'm almost out of pre-cut papers and I still have a huge stack of squares remaining to baste. I also need to cut into my stash. I think my hexagon quilt is going to be larger than originally planned because I want to include every single one of these lovely fabrics!

Hexagon Thoughts :: Week Eight :: Cheater, cheater!!

I know I said I wasn't going to use the same fabric twice in my hexagon quilt, but when I saw this Lecien La fille de Pooh-tan today, I decided I'm going to be a cheater. This cute cheater patchwork is made up of 20 precious prints.

 

I trimmed it into 3" squares and then down to 2.5" squares for my one inch hexies. I guess when a fabric is really nice (and I think all Lecien fabric is really nice), maybe it's okay to cheat. Y'all just don't tell anyone I cheated, okay. I'm not planning on cheating any more after this, but if you want to, cheater prints like this would be a great way to add unique charms to your quilt.

 

Do you want to be a cheater too? This 15 x 12" swatch contains 20 different prints. Would you like to have it for your hexagon project? Leave a comment asking nicely and I'll draw a name on Monday evening (after dinner, Texas time). Good luck!

Hexagon Thoughts :: Week Six :: Piecing in sections

There are many ways to piece your hexagons. I've found that piecing in strips is working nicely for me. In the photo above, I tried piecing in a flower shape (the end with the monkey), but since I'm working with a planned random* layout, I really find I like strips better. I attached strips to my flower and now it looks like a jellyfish!

*In my planned random layout, I'm trying to make my quilt look random while avoiding having like colors or prints touching one another and maintaining a nice distribution of colors.

I've been sewing strips together and then attaching them to my largest piece once I've created a small section. I like this method for a couple of reasons. One, it's portable. I can sew strips together just about anywhere that type of thing isn't frowned upon. And two, I find that the more I handle my work, the more the back of the hexagons ravel. By piecing smaller sections and then attaching them to the larger piece, I'm handling the larger piece as little as possible to keep the back nice and neat.

Above, I sewed the top two rows together (I'm alternating strips of 10 and 11 hexagons) and then laid out the next three rows trying to get a nice color distribution.

Once I have them laid out, I stack them in the order I'm going to sew them together,

and tuck them into my box. Although I'm not making a color spectrum layout, I've been sorting my hexagons by color to make it easier to pick the color I want when I'm laying them out or sewing them together.

Another reason I like the idea of sewing them together in sections is that I can distribute similar fabrics throughout the quilt. This week, I started making hexagons with a few new charm packs and if I attach all of those now, they might end up clumped together in one section of the quilt (i.e., all of my Hunky Dory could be in one area). If I make small sections, I can attach the sections together later and spread them out. I still haven't attached the section with the duplicate. I'm going to wait until I'm further along and I'll attach that section far away from the section containing it's duplicate. 

I wanted to issue a little disclaimer. I've been looking around online at English paper piecing. There are many different ways to baste and piece hexagons, so please keep in mind that this is just the way I'm making mine. I think that using squares rather than fabric trimmed into hexagons (paper plus seam allowance) and basting through the paper are both non-traditional methods. My only concern with using squares is the additional bulk on the backside when hand quilting. If you are planning to hand quilt and are concerned with bulk, you might want to try trimming your fabrics before you baste. I tried trimming away some of the bulk on the back of already pieced hexagons and it was pretty easy. I'm not too concerned with removing the basting stitches. Since I haven't tied any knots, the stitches come right out. I'll have more on that later.

It's really fun to see all the pretty hexagons everyone is making! I've made more than half of the hexagons I need to make a throw sized quilt and I've pieced 272 together. Now that I'm this far along, thoughts of making a larger quilt are creeping into my head. I need to perish that thought!

If you have a question and leave a comment, I'm unable to answer your question via email unless your email address is public (or shown) in your profile. I'm trying to reply to all the comments I can, but I'm a little behind! I really do read every one and appreciate the time you take to leave a comment.

Hexagon Charm Quilt Piece-Along :: Roll Call

Are you working on a hexagon quilt?

Share your blog address below and your fellow hexagon addicts can stop by to check out your progress!

Only the information you enter into the name field will display on the list, so use your blog name if you don't want to use your real name. I can't wait to see all the fabulous hexagon creations in the works!

Hexagon Thoughts :: Week Five :: Hexagon Piecing 101 Video

For those visual learners (like me) out there, here's the Hexagon Piecing 101 video!

Please look past my dry hands and raspy, early morning voice. My allergies have been terrible this spring. 

Let me know if you find this kind of thing helpful. I love actually seeing something done in addition to reading instructions and looking at photos. If you do find it helpful and would like to see additional videos, please comment and let me know what you'd like to see.

I also wanted to add (again) that I use size 9 betweens hand quilting needles and 100% cotton hand quilting thread in light brown for piecing.

If you are making a hexagon project and would like to swap scraps with other fellow hexagon addicts, please visit the discussions at the flickr group. There are some great swap ideas being proposed and we'd love for you to join us!

Hexagons Thoughts :: Week Four :: Quilting Hexagons

Have you thought about how you are going to quilt your hexagons? The first thought that comes to my mind is that I will probably want to hand quilt my hexagons because it almost seems a shame to machine quilt it after hand piecing. Below are a few hand quilting options I was thinking about.

One thought was to quilt around the inside edge of the flower clusters. You could also quilt inside the center hexagon of each flower if you needed additional stitching to secure your batting.

The most time consuming method, but my favorite, would be to quilt inside each hexagon. You could do multiple hexagons without tying off your thread by moving the thread from hexagon to another inside the quilt.

This one looks a little strange in the diagram, but I think it would be very interesting on a quilt. It feels a little modern to me.

This one looks peculiar in the diagram too, but I think it would actually work well. A major advantage of going with diagonal stitching is that you avoid the bulk in the corners of the hexagon by stitching only through the straight sides. 

Added on 4/27/10.  Kait had a great suggestion and I think this is close to what she described. Another great choice!

I know there are many more options for quilting patterns and I would love to hear your suggestions. What other interesting ways have you seen to quilt a hexagon quilt?  Do you have a vintage grandmother's flower garden quilt that has interesting quilting?