Last Hexagon Flowers

I am finally finished making hexagons. The total is 91 flowers = 637 hexagons. It measures 39" from side to side. The hexagons are all sewn together and I have picked out a fabric to go around them. I will applique the hexagons on to six inch wide strips that are joined together at 60 degree angles. The fabric has a navy blue background with silver and royal blue dots all over it. I will then layer & quilt it. The binding will match the strips. It will be a table runner for my dining room table when finished. The following picture doesn't do justice to the background fabric. The silver dots just make it look gray and dull, which it isn't. I will try for a better picture in daylight the next sunny day we get. I only got borders sewn on five more of my block of the month squares. My only excuse is that I did read all three books in the Hunger Games series. I found them rather disturbing but couldn't not continue reading as I needed to find out how everything turned out. I will use the dark brown fabric in the corners of the frames as corner stones, with a yellow batik as sashing and the first border. A multicolour batik will be the final border. The colours in it that stand out are the five colours that I used as frames. Hopefully it will tie everything together. These are shown in the following picture. I have a lot planned (non sewing) for the next week, so am not sure how much sewing I will get done. I am really hoping to finish the hexagon table runner as I am already planning my next handwork. How many of you have done a Cathedral Windows quilt? I am going to start small and try a throw pillow to see if I like doing it. No, I haven't forgotten my youngest daughter's table runners, but they will wait for my block of the month quilt to get sewn. I will fit them in, before I start quilting it. It has been working out not too badly machine sewing during the day and hand sewing in the evenings. I just got behind on my machine sewing this week as I was reading during the day as well. Enjoy your week & I hope you get some sewing time!

Still Block of the Month & Hexagons

I got the frames around 15 of my block of the month squares. I had to overlap them to fit on my design wall. I also have the layout figured out for all 30 of them. These squares will not be touching in the final quilt, but will have sashing in between. I now have 80 hexagon "flowers" sewn together. I just need 11 more to finish the dark round that I am working on. They are missing from the bottom left and the very bottom. I hope to get them finished this coming week. I have the fabric picked out for the bottom left, so just have to decide on the bottom row, before I go ahead and get them all cut out. Just so you know the side measurement of each individual hexagon is one inch. With 560 hexagons making up the 80 "flowers", this project is really growing! That took care of my week. How did yours go? I hope to have another great week for sewing coming up, so should have lots more to show you next week. Happy sewing!

Fun Quilting

I had a great deal of fun sewing in the past two weeks. First of all a model for my granddaughter's dog scarf. This is Stella! I finally got back to my block of the month and finished what I thought was the final eight blocks. It was the final eight blocks of the pattern, but as usual I wanted to change from a single bed to a double or even maybe a queen. As a result, I needed six more blocks. The series of patterns is done, so I made up my own. I just took some of the left over strips and started making HSTs and squares. I spread these out on my table and played around until I had some interesting ideas and then cut a few more things to complete the ideas and ended up with some pretty and mixed up (more than two colour) blocks. Then it was on to my design wall to get them mixed in with the regular blocks. I think that I am satisfied with this arrangement. This is all thirty 8" blocks. The pattern now calls for a 2.5" (mine will be 3") frame to be sewn around each block, with HSTs in each corner. I have changed this, so that I can use up most of the 2.5" Thangles (cut from 3" strips) that are left over from making the blocks, rather than buying a package of 2" Thangles. I am really not thrilled with using Thangles, so can't see the point of getting any more. To be different, I have chosen five different fabrics to do this frame. I don't want these to be in any set pattern, but I always have trouble getting a scattered look, but I will try. I will also be increasing the width of the sashing, the frame (1st border) around all the squares and the final border, once I decide whether it is going to be a double or a queen size quilt. This is what I have really been working on since I started my vacation! Lots more hexagons! The four at the top right haven't been sewn on yet. The single hexagons across the top and down part of the left side are really piles of cut out hexagons to make more flowers. This project has been on my dining room table for so long, that I think I might end up making it into a large table runner for this table. Usually my sewing projects stay in my sewing room until finished, but it has been far easier to plan this one out closer to where I am working on it, in the living room while I watched the Olympics and then the US Open tennis. My husband seems to have gotten used to my company, so I shouldn't have trouble continuing this project in the living room in the evenings, while working on my blocks during the days. It is a good thing that I have a nice long vacation as I have quite a few things that I want to get going on. Have a great week and happy sewing!

The Sewing Lesson

As I promised last week, here are the pictures of my granddaughter's sewing lesson and the results. This is a before picture. Great concentration when sewing to keep the fabric straight! The scarf Kate made for her dog. Wearing the necklace she made, while showing off a tube she sewed and a bouncy ball that goes into the tube to make the necklace. I am still making hexagons. I only made nine more flowers this week, so 63 hexagons, sewn into flowers, but not yet joined to my earlier ones. My shoulder is feeling so much better, that I am sure I can add a complete light round and then a dark round. It might just end up big enough for a lap quilt for myself. I have really been enjoying the hand work. I have one more week of work coming up and then will be off for about eight weeks. As soon as I am off work I plan on getting back to my Batik block of the month project and my daughter's table runner. I think I will machine sew during the day and then hand sew in the evenings, so keep progressing with everything. That is the plan at the moment, so we will just have to see how it goes. Enjoy your week and your own current projects!

Still Hexagons

I can't believe that I am still making hexagons! They are really addictive. I did too many during the Olympics. I got up on the final Sunday and couldn't lift my right arm above shoulder height. I had been sitting on the end of a couch with my left arm supported, but nothing under my right arm. Now I know to periodically change ends, or sit in the chair with nice big padded arms to support both of my arms. It is much better now, so I am back at it. I have 37 flowers all sewn together and four additional ones made. That is a total of 287 hexagons! I took the 37 to Evening Threads Quilt Guild last Wednesday evening. I am no longer sure of what I am making. Some of the ladies said I should just finish it as is and use it as a table runner on a round table. Unfortunately, I don't have a round table. I think that it will end up as a wall hanging, mounted on indigo, with a few extra flowers floating around it, with some Sashiko swirled around to connect them. That is the plan at the moment, but may change. This would keep the Asian theme going, as all the fabrics are Asian prints. At guild we learned how to make a necklace out of a tube of fabric and five bouncy balls. For the first time, I started teaching my eight year old granddaughter how to use my sewing machine. It was great fun! Her mother sat and watched and took pictures. I am hoping to get some of the pictures, but they have gone camping, so we will have to wait until next week to see the results. Have a good week and good sewing!

Still More Hexagons

The Olympics are still on, so I am still making hexagons! I am now up to 34 "flowers", so 238 hexagons. I am continuing to alternate light and dark rounds. I have three more dark flowers to make to finish the outer round. The center rounds are all sewn together along with two flowers in the outside round. I am pleased with the way it is turning out, so will keep going for a bit longer, at least two more rounds before I decide what size I am making - wall hanging, lap or single bed quilt. I keep thinking that I will get bored, but so far, this hasn't happened. It has been a very good project to watch TV with. I hardly ever watch TV usually, so this is a new experience for me. I have really been enjoying the Olympics, not just the sporting events themselves, but also so many stories about the participants! My striped purse will wait for me, as will my blocks of the month and even my daughters' table runner. I am hoping that I will actually get some time off work in a couple of weeks and will be able to catch everything up then. This sounds like a plan, but could get changed. After all, quilting is my hobby and as such must be enjoyed or it wouldn't be worth doing. Right now, I am enjoying hexagons! Have a good week and I hope you are enjoying what you are working on!

Still hexagons

Yes, I am still working on hexagons and probably will be for several more weeks. It is nice work to do while watching the Olympics! I have decided to make a wall hanging out of them. It is just too much work to do for a purse. I am not careful of my purses & often throw them down on the floor of my car, etc. I have decided to just sew some strips of fabric together, by machine, and make the purse out of that. All the hand work will be much nicer to have in a wall hanging or single bed quilt, if I don't get too bored doing them. I am trying to alternate rounds of light and then dark "flowers". I have 15 completed after going out and shopping for a bit more dark fabric. Saturday, several friends & I went down to the quilt show at Black Creek Pioneer Village. The weather was a bit warm, but the quilts were great! The village looked wonderful, with the quilts all over the place. I do hope this week to get back to my block on the month blocks. With a long weekend coming up, maybe I will manage to get caught up! Happy quilting!

Cathedral Windows & Hexagons

Anyone interested in cathedral windows and hexagons should check out Jean's Quilting Page at: http://quiltinjeanie.blogspot.ca/ Cathedral windows are on July 22, 20, 19, & 16th. Hexagons are on July 17th. I think they are great!

Hexagons

I got more hexagons made this week. I am up to 12 "flowers" for a total of 84 hexagons. The following is a picture of them laid out over the freezer paper purse pattern that I have decided to make. I need about 24 more, to complete side one. That leaves the two flowers that are in the top two corners, so 14 hexagons to go on side two. The only reason I got so many done, was that I was watching the British Open Golf with my husband. So I did my measuring and need 108 hexagons per side for a total of 216 - 1 inch, which is much better than the 340 3/4 inch ones that the pattern calls for. This is another picture that I would like to do photo thread play with. It is one that our youngest daughter took of Quinn Lake, up north of Parry Sound. This coming Saturday, is a road trip day! I am going with two friends to Black Creek Pioneer Village for a quilt show. I think this is a wonderful setting for a quilt show and am really looking forward to it. Have a good week and enjoy yourself, whatever you are doing!

Photo Thread Play

As I mentioned last week, I took a photo thread play class this past week. I used a picture supplied by the teacher, Wanda, at Thimbles & Things, in Orillia. I am not sure about my clouds, but over all am very pleased with the results! Now I will be picking out one of my own photos to experiment with. Actually, I might even use one that our middle daughter took. It is lovely and available. When I praised my daughter for her photo taking, she told me that she had just snapped it on her cell phone, quickly, with a dog leash in her hands, with her dog wanting to get moving. What do you think? I think it is beautiful! While my husband was having his angioplasty this past Monday, I managed to finish the one hexagon "flower", I had been working on and complete another. I am now up to six flowers (42 hexagons) done. I think they will all go together nicely. I am waiting until I have more made before I do sew them together as I will want to mix up the colours. As a result, I have had to buy more mylar hexagons. You aren't supposed to take them out until all the edges have been sewn to other hexagons, so that will be a while. I still am not sure how many I need, so I see some measuring in my future. What I need to do this week, is catch up on my batik block of the month. With all my other projects, I have managed to get four blocks behind and with my guild meeting coming up this week, I will be getting two more to do. For anyone wondering about the e-reader cover I was working on, our youngest daughter blew the screen in her e-reader, so she says to hold off on finishing the cover as she thinks she will get a slightly smaller one, when she replaces it. That means I should be able to get back to her table runners (her idea, not mine). I also have my one fabric quilt pieces up on my design wall, that will be getting dusty, if I don't get moving on it. My husband came visiting my studio this morning and mentioned that it is a bit of a mess, so it must be time to do some sorting and tidying. I really need a vacation from work to catch all of this up! Oh well all this is part of the enjoyment of having quilting as my main hobby! I never have a dull moment. Hope you have a fun week sewing!