On (and off) the Needles 05/27/17

Cassie's Shawl 052717 2.jpgSo October 2015 I started working on a shawl for myself with some very beautiful yarn. I’ve worked on it here and there since then, but my interest in it has waned. I finally realized yesterday that the reason my interest waned is because I just don’t care for the yarn anymore. I love the softness and colors, but the yarn itself isn’t nice to knit with. It’s really thin and did break a few times on me. So last night I knit the 5 rows I needed for a border and cast off and it is the PERFECT size for Cassie. She loves it, so it’s all good.

New Shawl 052717.jpgAfter I got that off the needles, I picked out a different yarn from my stash and started working on a new shawl for myself. It’s the same pattern and I’m liking how it’s looking with the yarn. Not taking this on vacation, I have enough projects already packed. But now I have something to work on tonight!

May OMG Finish

Hexie diamonds back 052517I wasn’t really sure when I set my goal for the month that I’d be able to finish it. I’m beyond thrilled to say I made it! We will be leaving this weekend for a week long trip to my father-in-laws – which is why I didn’t think I’d make this goal. Now the hard part, I think I know how I want to quilt the diamonds but I don’t know what color to use for the quilting. Gray, black, clear, smoke? Luckily it will wait for when we get back from vacation. I’m hoping I’ll have a decision made by then and I can get to work finishing the quilting – I want this quilt on my bed by the end of June!!!
Hexie diamonds front 052517

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts,ย NTTย and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Drank the Kool Aid

EPPParty Block 2 052017Yeah I know, I drank the Kool Aid again. I mentioned last post that I joined #EPPParty, block 2 is finished and I just got all of block 1 hexies basted so I can figure out layout for those. The next block is released when we are on vacation, so I’ll have to try and catch up when we get back.

Temp hexie quilt 052417I know I mentioned in the last post that I didn’t have time for another hexie project. Yet I caved and started the temperature hexie quilt! I have week 1’s rosette ready to applique down and I’m working on finishing up week 2’s rosette. As I have time I’ll pull the fabrics and work on these, maybe with summer break starting on Friday (!) I’ll have a little more time for sewing, Alex and Cassie can play together and won’t need me (yeah right!). I will be ONLY pulling from the 2.5″ scrap bin for these rosettes, so the colors might change from block to block. I’m using a little bit of a different color scheme from Sarah, we don’t normally get to 100ยฐ plus I really don’t like brown all that much ๐Ÿ™‚

  • 90 Red
  • 80-89 Yellow
  • 70-79 Orange
  • 60-69 Green
  • 50-59 Dark Green
  • 40-49 Blue
  • 30-39 Dark Blue
  • 20-29 Dark Purple
  • 10-19 Light Purple
  • 0-9 Light Pink
  • < 0 WOW (White on White)

Alex graduation 052217In other news, we now have a Kindergarten graduate! His official last day of school is tomorrow, but there was a little ceremony at school Monday and we are just SO proud of him and all he has accomplished in the last year! Cassie wouldn’t stay out of the picture, I actually wanted one with just Alex and I, but that’s the life of a mom! ๐Ÿ™‚

EPP Updates

hexie insanity prep 051717OMG it’s been awhile since I’ve done any kind of update on all my hexies! I’ve spent some time in the last week to do a whole bunch of prepping of hexie insanity. I have a bag full of snack sized bags, and each one contains either all the pieces for a flower or a diamond. Everything is in the bag, hole punched hexie papers and the fabrics for each diamond/flower. Based on my spreadsheet I still have more to prep, but it will take me awhile to get through all of these! I just got a new shipment of 3/4″ hexies, needed another bag since I still have all the papers in all the diamonds. I’m waiting until they are all done before I start putting them together and pulling papers out.

hexie diamonds - black 051717Hexie diamond 051717As my OMG (One Monthly Goal) I said I wanted to get all the black pathways quilted – I’m not so sure I’m going to make it! I haven’t been able to spend ANY time working on it this month! I’m hoping I’ll have free time this weekend and I can get it done, because we’ll be heading out the following weekend for a vacation! I have some started, but I can’t even tell how much is completed, I know it’s not halfway, I didn’t spend that much time working on it in April before I had to switch and make the quilt for Alex’s teacher. I’m still trying to decide how I’m going to quilt the diamonds, any one have an idea?? There’s also some half diamonds on the sides that will need to be figured out too!

Block 2 EPPPartyOk, I needed ANOTHER EPP project like I need a hole in my head, BUT I decided to participate in the #EPPParty on Instagram. Blocks are posted every 2 weeks on Mister Domestic and Pat Bravo’s sites. Block 1 is made up of all hexies – 68 of them to be exact. I’m still basting mine but those are easy to do. I opted to not worry about those now and move on to block 2 that was released on Monday. It’s using triangles and squares to create a block. I’m almost halfway done stitching it together, the picture is all the pieces layed out so I knew everything was in the right place. I’m hoping I can finish it tonight while I watch the Cavs beat Boston! ๐Ÿ™‚ Since I was already ordering from Paperpieces.com, I decieded to get the papers for the first 6 blocks. Makes it a lot easier than having to cut them out yourself!

Still working on Dear Jane EPP, I don’t have anything new to show yet.

Sarah (over at Sarahdidit.blogspot.com) made a suggestion for a temperature quilt using hexies. What an awesome idea! Maybe if I can get one of these other EPP projects finished I’d jump in and work on this too, right now I just can’t do it! Not enough time to work on all these projects!

Linking up to HeLP for Hexie-aholics!

*sigh*

eppparty block 1 050817.jpgDid I really need to cut 2.5″ squares today for a new project? Heck no! *sigh* Alex said I should start another new project – and why did I listen to my 6 year old son? Because it’s hexies (at least this block) and it’s EPP. I couldn’t decide what fabric to use, I was thinking about just using my 2.5″ scrap bin, then I saw a jelly roll set I bought awhile ago at a guild meeting from a vendor. I haven’t used many batiks in the past, so hopefully this will be easy to use with EPP.

I’m trying to get hexies basted for a Halloween Hexie swap I’m in, and I really need to be working on the secret projects for Mother’s Day – fabric is pulled for those and I hope to get all the work done tomorrow since some of them NEED to be shipped by Wednesday.

Time for bed, I can’t stay awake any longer!

Dear Jane Status Update

Rows A-C

I have been busy working on Dear Jane EPP blocks, and I’ve officially finished the first 3 rows. I’m trying to spread the colors out and I’m not 100% sure that I’ve accomplished that, but I like how it looks and it’s fun picking out the colors for each row. I am working on Row D now and I’m hoping to get Row E prepped before we leave on vacation at the end of the month. We have a LONG plane ride ahead of us!

May OMG (April results)

I was cutting it close to finish my April goals, I very quickly got Cassie’s quilt taken care of and hung back up all in the same day! (I say this because the quilt that was taken down in my office for the quilt show last October STILL hasn’t been hung back on the wall – waiting for hubby to help me!)

The second goal I had for April was to make and complete the quilt for my son’s Kindergarten teacher and be able to deliver this week for Teacher Appreciation week. I went to school and had each child draw a picture for the teacher with fabric markers. Then I put it all together, quilted it and was finishing the binding the beginning of this week. I would have been done sooner, if I hadn’t spelled some kids names wrong on the label! My son caught it and so I had to totally redo the label. I’m very happy to say that she loved the quilt! I even got a special note from her today saying thank you again!

Ok, on to May goals! I feel like the month is already over and it’s only been a week! I’m hoping that I will be able to have all of the black areas quilted on my hexie diamonds quilt. Since I took the Mario quilt off our bed and moved it to the trailer I don’t have anything for our bed right now. The picture is from March when I pinned it, it’s currently balled up on my sewing table since I needed the room for the teacher quilt. With camping and end of year school tasks, plus a vacation the last week of the month I don’t know what I will accomplish, but I’ve got to try!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation.