2015 – Page 2 – Kelly's Kwilts

Hexie Insanity Update

We’ve been in and out on vacations and various camping trips, but I’ve finally made some progress on hexie insanity! I’m now 8% done! LOL Seems silly to be proud of that, but that’s ok, this is going to take awhile to finish! I have lots of white on whites that I’m using, most of them were acquired from the guild fat quarter swap. I’m using 7 different ones in the path around each diamond, so I’m hopeful I won’t have the same ones next to each other! I found a nice container at Walmart recently that I have all my basted hexies in, along with a stack of diamonds waiting for the pathway, plus my scissors and thread. It snaps closed so if Cassie gets if off the table they won’t go everywhere!

Kids are doing awesome, Cassie does new things every day. She’s now climbing on the couch – actually on anything she can. She’s learning new words too and now calls her big brother Bubba since she can’t say Alex! Alex is going to be starting his second year of preschool in another month and then next year – Kindergarten!

Off to get something done before Cassie is up from her nap!

Good Night Irene Update

I have FINALLY gotten all the center of the quilt put together. When I originally signed up for the SAL and designed it in EQ I was going to put a border of just one fabric on it. I decided I didn’t have anything I liked or wanted to use for the border and I’ve now designed a border with 9 patches to go next. After I finish working on my next commission quilt I’ll get back to this one. I’d like to get it finished and put in the “to quilt” pile.

I’ve decided to work on Bonnie Hunter’s leader/ender project this year since it’s tumbler blocks. I have SO many 2.5″ squares that have been cut over the years that I needed to do something with them. Cutting them just a little into tumblers is so easy and I can easily make some kind of quilt out of them. I just ordered a template from Missouri Star Quilting Company and after a discussion in one of my Facebook groups, I found out that Sizzix makes a die for cutting 2.5″ tumblers (4 at a time) and it will work on my Studio, so I happened to find that die on MSQC as well and ordered it. I need an adapter to use it in the Studio, so until I find out the thickness and either buy one or have daddy make me one I can use the template.

We finally got together with our friends so we could give the girls their birthday presents. I’ve had them done and sitting here wrapped for over a month! I made them Mondo bags in their school colors and I’m happy to say they loved them!

It’s getting late and I want to get a few more things done before bed, hoping to be working on projects more and being able to post updates!

On the Needles – July 10, 2015

I’ve gotten a bit farther on my sock, but I’m realizing now that It’s going to be too big. I was following a pattern and increased to the number it said I needed, and of course I think it’s too big by like 8 stitches on each side. I’ll finish it the size it is, but then I’ll need to decide what to do on the second one – make it the same size or decrease it to where it should be? I really like the striping and I’m sure the second one won’t turn out exactly the same, but I’m perfectly ok with that! I think it’s turning out pretty well for a first sock! I’m just about to the spot where I need to figure out how to do a heel, hopefully it’s not too hard! I’ve been working on this and hexie insanity at the same time, trading off when fingers are sore so I’m slowly making progress on both. Hopefully by next week (yeah I’m hopeful!) I’ll be working on or have the heel finished. We’ll see how much time I have this week!

Linking up to Patchwork Times – see what everyone else is up to!

Hexie Insanity Update

I’ve been busy with the kids and camping this summer and just haven’t had a lot of time to work on my projects. Cassie is teething and that means lots of sleepless nights for her and for me.

I’ve been working on white hexies for hexie insanity, and started putting the pathways on diamonds so I can start deciding how I want these to go together. I’ll be awhile before I actually stitch them together – I think – but at least I won’t have to do the pathways too. We have a lot more camping trips scheduled for the summer, mostly weekend trips, but one of them is a longer trip to Virginia to Smith Mountain Lake – where we are having something of a family reunion – get to see my BIL, his girlfriend and all the kids along with lots of other family members. I’m going to try working on hexies in the car this time, which I didn’t even try on the Missouri trip, just because I really wanted to read on that trip! I have a lot of white hexies to baste! I hope to post again tomorrow with an update on my sock knitting, getting close to where I need to figure out how to do the heel!

On the Needles – June 26, 2015

I finally did it! After ripping out and starting over multiple times I finally got the hang of Judy’s Magic Cast On and Magic Loop to get the toe done. I had forgotten to take it on vacation with me, so I couldn’t work on it until we got home. Took me a whole afternoon to get it figured out and now I have all the increases completed. Now it’s just mindless stockinette until I get to the point where I need to work on the heel, and I’ll have to figure out how to do the heel too! I’m liking the way it’s knitting up with the stripes, doubt I’ll be able to get the second one to match exactly, but that’s ok with me, as long as I can complete them! I’m using Red Heart Heart & Sole yarn in the Razzle Dazzle color-way.

Go over and visit Judy at Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting this week.

Commission – Wedding Quilt

Wedding Quilt 053115 So one of my very good friends asked me to make a signature quilt for her to give her niece. She wanted something like what I made the kids when they were born, a quilt that was a remembrance of those at the wedding. So after designing a few ideas, we came up with a plan and I started looking for the fabrics. Found everything I needed at fabric.com and was ready to start sewing. Didn’t take long to sew all the blocks together, the longest task was getting it pinned so I could quilt it! I was very happy with how it turned out and from what I was told the bride loved it!

Now I have a baby one to make for her in pinks and grays!

On the Needles – May 15, 2015

Ok, so I haven’t finished the blanket for my sister yet, but who says you can only have 1 knitting project? 🙂 I’ve always wanted to learn to knit socks and since hubby and the kids got me an Amazon gift card for Mother’s Day I decided to buy the circular needle I needed to learn to do magic loop from the toe up. I did the cast on today and now I need to watch the YouTube video again to learn how to start working it, this might be a good project to take camping!

Linking up to Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday – May 4, 2015

I finally have some work to show! I decided to start putting the border together on Hexie Insanity, I like how it looks, but I’m realizing how long this is going to take! That’s ok though I knew it would be a slow project when I started it! I have 9 more flowers that go in this border, and a bunch of white that needs to be filled in. The Cavs are in the playoffs this year, so I have plenty of time to work on it!

Recently, a good friend asked me if I’d make 2 signature quilts for her, one is a wedding gift and the other is a baby gift. The wedding quilt is due the beginning of June, and since I have a lot going on this month I needed to get to work on it right away. Yesterday during nap time I got all the pieces cut out for the blocks of both quilts, and this morning I got all the blocks stitched together and trimmed for the wedding quilt. This afternoon I managed to get the center all put together, I just need to cut and put the borders on to have the top completed. I’m just going to do simple quilting, since it’s a signature quilt I have to leave the white sections free. I’m hoping to get that done tomorrow during naptime, I might be able to do it in the morning while Alex is at school and Cassie naps.

I teach this week so I need to get lessons done this week and get the trailer ready for our weekend trip AND make 2 trips to school for Mother’s Day Tea – 2 since he’s in preschool and day care. Linking up to Patchwork Times.

I’m back!

UGH! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted! SO much has been going on around here and I really haven’t had time to work on projects. Cassie turned one in March and yes, mommy made her onesie! I found the design on etsy and stitched it out twice – because the first one I cut the applique wrong and the satin stitch didn’t cover the edges. It was a wonderful party and she looked beautiful!

I started working on the end of school year gifts for Alex’s teachers, both teachers are getting alphabet/number magnets out of felt that are done in the hoop on my embroidery machine. These are pretty quick to do, just need time to work on them! I’ll take pictures when they are done.

In the last 2 months I also created a shop on etsy. I used to have my own website with a shopping cart and never got any hits/business. So I did some thinking and decided that since anything I make on the embroidery machine is custom, and there’s no shortage of items that are decorative that I can do in bulk that I’d create a shop and start filling in items. The listing fee is pretty cheap and are good for like 4 months. Please visit my shop! 🙂 I need to come up with a logo, but I’ve needed that for a long time!

Earlier in the month at guild we had a speaker from a semi-local quilt shop and I bought a pattern for a Mondo Bag by QuiltSmart. I had previously made some Lone Star quilts using their interfacing panels and I really wanted something different for a diaper bag. I wish I had realized how BIG this bag would turn out! It wasn’t too hard once I figured out the instructions, and I do like how it looks. I’m planning on using it as a diaper bag until I can see what size the Midi bags turn out to be. I’m going to get some of those panels once hubby gets paid.

I’m still slowing working on my knitting and my hexies, I’ll have to do some update posts of those soon!

Friday Night with Friends

I was reading one of the many blogs in my feeds and found that the first Friday of the month is Friday Night with Friends over at Gone Stitchin’. So I signed up for this month. I spent a little time knitting (see yesterdays post) and then I switched to hexagons. I finished up one I had started and then kept going! I now have 40 of the 158 diamonds finished. Thank goodness this is a long term project! I still can’t decide if I want to work on some white hexies and start putting it together or wait until I have all 158 of them done. I like the idea of doing a rainbow effect, but random appeals to me too. I don’t know why I’m so indecisive!! Oh well, off to see if I can finish Alex’s quilt while the kids are napping.