Design Wall Monday – 04-15-13

2013-04-13 16.18.49I have decided to work on my hand quilting practice piece for awhile this past weekend in an effort to finish it and get my first hexagon quilt basted and in the hoop.  I’d like to have it ready to go before we start camping so I can work on it while we are gone.  If I can get the hexagon quilt completed this summer I can enter it into our guild quilt show in October!  I’ve been expirimenting with different marking pencils/markers and I think I like the disappearing ones best.  I don’t think I like all the chalk ones, hopefully they will come out of this since I started this using them.

I spent yesterday working on my Wiggly Whimsy quilt and I got all the rows put together.  I’m not posting a picture of it yet because I need to take part of it apart and resew it because I somehow managed to mess it up last night.  Hoping to get that taken apart tonight and put it back together tomorrow while Alex naps.  I really like how it looks and I’ve decided to finish it for Alex to use in his bed.  He’s starting to like sleeping with a blanket and he has to have one from momma!

2013-04-13 14.17.39I also finished up the last 2 diamonds I need for the next row in my hexagon diamonds quilt.  Hope to start putting them on in the next few days.  I’ve already pulled the baggies for the next row, so I have those to work on as well – prepping them to be sewn together.  I am beginning to think I was overly ambitious in wanting this quilt completed for our first camping trip.  So when I was out buying things we needed I found a nice blanket for our bed until I can get it completed. I can work on it while we are camping.

While I was putting the Wiggly Whimsy quilt together yesterday I was also working on the scrappy 9 patch quilt and putting the 4 patches together for the border.  Since that is a long term project and I’m in no hurry I don’t mind using it as a leader/ender project.  Of course while reading blog posts yesterday I saw a quilt on one of them that was all 9 patch blocks and solid squares set on point.  I spent a few minutes designing it in EQ and thinking about how I could do it with the fabrics I have.  It would look really cool as a 2 color quilt, but would also look nice scrappy.  I just have way too many ideas in my head!  I was perusing Pinterest today and saw directions on how to do a disappearing 4 patch block.  Oh did that look cool!  I have a ton of 4.5″ charms I cut from scraps with the value die on my Go that I could use to do this.  Maybe with black squares and scrappy squares?  I’ll have to see if I can figure out the best way to design it in EQ and play around with colors.

Hopefully I’ll be back soon with pictures of a completed Wiggly Whimsy top!

Wiggly Whimsy & Scrappy 9 patch

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I finally got another hexagon diamond finished, only 2 left and I can attach to the main piece.  I really like the colors I picked for this one, but I can’t stand the maroon fabric.  I don’t remember when I bought it or what I bought it for, but I really can’t wait until it’s gone.  It is really stiff and hard to work with, especially when working by hand.

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I decided to finish up the rows for Wiggly Whimsy.  I still need to iron them and put all 7 rows together, but at least these have been finished.  I really think I’m going to like this when it’s all put together.  Still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it, or how I’m going to quilt it.  I might give it to Alex for his bed, he’s started wanting a blanket in bed lately.  I think it might fit in his toddler bed without being too huge.  We’ll have to see once it’s all put together though!

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While I worked on finishing up Wiggly Whimsy I pulled 2.5″ squares so I could start working on the scrappy 9 patch quilt.  I needed to cut more black squares with my Go, but that’s so easy and fast it really wasn’t a big deal.  I now have 120 twosies that need ironed so I can make the 4 patch blocks that make up the border.  I’ll need to cut more black squares for the 9 patches, but that can wait since I have the 4 patches to put together.  I’m thinking that I’ll work on this a little in the afternoons while Alex naps, along with putting Wiggly Whimsy together.  I can listen to the tv or a podcast while I work and time just flies.

Alex has finally hit the terrible twos and has little tantrums at stores, usually when I tell him no I’m not buying him something.  I’m at the point of ignoring him even though people are always looking at me because he’s screaming and crying.  All of a sudden he doesn’t want to nap, he plays in his room for hours until I finally let him out.  He’s locked his door twice in the last week, the first time I FREAKED out and had to call hubby to find out how to get the doggone door open.  I just could not think clearly or rationally.  There is now a wire hanger outside his door for easy access :).

I guess I better go start gathering things for the trip to the in-laws for our Easter celebration, tomorrow we’ll be at my parents all day.  Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Design Wall Monday 030413

I haven’t had an update in awhile.  I’ve been busy working on putting the next row of diamond hexagons together and finally finished the fifth one yesterday.  Here’s my excuse 🙂  hubby decided we needed to reorganize all the hard drives on our network (including buying 2 new ones!).  So I spent quite a few days moving files and renaming things. Then I was sick over the weekend – as in I was so cold that a blanket AND a fire didn’t help!  Feeling much better now, but not much got done while I was sick.  Oh yeah, I did read Jennifer Chiaverini’s The Giving Quilt that came out last fall.  I liked it, but would have like more story around the main Elm Creek Quilter’s.  Hopefully the next book will have that!

Hexagon Diamonds 030413

So I did get 2 of the diamonds attached last night, the other 3 are just in place and I hope to get attached tonight.  I had originally planned on getting this done by the end of March.  I am finally realizing that I was WAY too ambitious.    Since we still not sure when the RV will be ready I guess it doesn’t matter.  Besides, we don’t have the first camping trip planned yet!  So I will keep working and see what I can get finished.

2013-03-04 17.34.23I was looking for something the other day (can’t for the life of me remember what it is now) and found a ziploc baggie with yo-yo makers and some fabric scraps.  Red, white and blue of course!  I’ll need to get these ironed up and run them through the Go, just need to decide which die to use.  2.5″ squares, chisels, drunkard’s path….so many choices!  They really aren’t big enough to do anything else with, I’d rather make them into a size I can use.

2013-03-04 17.34.33I spent some time on ebay recently and found some really cute Valentine’s Day 2.5″ squares – 200 of them and for less than $10!!  Of course I had to get them!  Haven’t decided if I am using them as squares or if I will turn them into hexagons and them make something out of them.  I’ll decide eventually, too many other projects in line before them!  I have something else coming that I finally won, I’ll talk about that once it gets here!

Love Fat Quarter Shop!

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I got my shipment on Friday, but it’s been a little busy around here and I haven’t had time to post it yet.  I love the way things are packaged when you get order from Fat Quarter Shop.  Everything is in nice zipped bags and fit in just the right size box with no extra shipping “junk” in it.  I got a few things for myself, charm packs of Moda marbles – bright, pastel, citrus and warm – and a mini charm pack of Indigo Crossing.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with any of it, the mini charm pack might end up being a hexagon pillow or something since they are already 2.5″ squares.

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The main purchase is the Camp Peanuts bundle to make a quilt for Alex’s bed in the RV.  I need to decide on a pattern, I’m not sure the one I was thinking of will work.  I’m going to need to muddle on it for a week or two before I start anything.   Alex saw it the other night and flipped out, he likes Snoopy!

I’ve been thinking about getting an Accuquilt Studio lately.  They have a sale going on that ends today, but it’s not enough of a sale to tempt me yet.  The Studio cuts more layers of fabric, the Go can only do a maximum of 6 layers.  I’m just starting to think I need more of a power house than the Go.  It would have to be just the right sale to get me to do it though, since it’s a lot of money!  There are more dies for the Studio than the Go and now that they have a tray that you can use the Go dies.  So I’m not wasting the ones I’ve already bought.  I’d still keep my Go since it’s portable and can be used anywhere.  I’d just have to figure out where to put the Studio in my office, since I’m a little packed in here already.  I might be able to put the printer somewhere else and put the Studio in its place.  Since I’m not ready yet it doesn’t matter too much though!  But that is something to think about before I buy it!

I don’t have anything new to show on Hexagon Diamonds, I wasn’t feeling well part of the week and didn’t do much work.  I did however get all 5 diamonds prepped with the black pathways and I’m almost done with the first one.  I hope to finish it tonight while we watch the Miami-Cleveland basketball game.  Hopefully I’ll have an update on that soon!

Odds and Ends

Decided to take a trip out to the nearest Hobby Lobby today.  I was not impressed.  There was a lot of frames, flower “stuff” and knick-knacks.  Not much of a fabric selection for quilting, a few cross stitch kits that I would love to get, but they were $42 each and I just couldn’t justify it right now.  I didn’t find any of the items I was looking for, which means I’ll need to order them online now.  I’ve been looking for some vinyl numbers (years) for a project that I found on Pinterest.  I finally remembered that one of my friends has a cricut and I’ve asked her if she can do what I need.  I doubt I’ll go back there, especially since it’s almost a 45 minute drive from my house.

Tumbler RunnersBack before Christmas I was playing with a new Go die I had ordered and decided to use up some scraps to make a runner for the island.  While I finished the top, I never got it quilted before the holidays and just put it on the island as a top.  I managed to quilt it in January but hadn’t sewn the binding down to the back.  I also had a pile of additional pieces cut out to make a smaller runner for the dining room table and got that put together and quilted over the weekend.  So my Super Bowl project was sewing down binding on them.    Took me a few days to get all that binding sewn down, but I’m loving how they look!  I used scraps for the back and for the first time I sewed pieces of scrap batting together to make pieces big enough.  It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be, and I used up a bunch of littler pieces.  For smaller projects this will be a great way to use up all those little pieces.  I just can’t see doing it for a larger quilt, I’d rather buy the right size instead of piecing it together.

Paper Pieces Order

I also spent a little money this week!  I decided that instead of printing and cutting more hexagon pieces myself (which would involve getting more paper the right thickness), I’d buy some from paperpieces.com.  I ordered Sunday, they shipped Monday and I got them on Wednesday!  Can’t beat that!  I ordered the biggest pack of hexagons, and I also bought some diamonds and triangles that will match up with the 1″ hexagons, just because I have ideas in my head I’d love to try out sometime.  If I was ordering I might as well get all the pieces I wanted at the same time.  I need to punch holes in the center of the hexagons so I pin them like all the ones I’ve made myself.  I’m trying to decide if I want to make all the hexagon diamonds first or put them into the quilt as I make them.  Having this many hexagon papers will help, but I still don’t think it’s going to be enough.  One of these days I need to count how many pieces are going to be in this quilt.  If my calculations are correct there are 1605 hexagons in the diamonds (half and full).  I have no clue how many hexagons are in the pathways, that will take a lot longer to count up!  Maybe this will be enough hexagons.  I also need to take all the papers out of my first hexagon quilt so I can use those too, that will be the next one that I hand quilt, if I can ever get back to my second practice piece.

I’m thinking about joining a hexagon swap, I can’t commit to the current one because I need to get other items done first.  I’m just concerned about the way they baste, I’d like to baste my way!

Oh well, things to do around the house, hopefully I’ll be back with some updates soon.

Hexagon Update

Hexagon Diamonds 012713I’ve been hard at work on my hexagon diamonds quilt.  I now have all the diamonds that are put together sewn into 1 piece.  It is getting to the point where I have to stand on a chair and hold the camera over my head (almost!) to get a picture of the whole thing.  I don’t know what I’ll do when it gets more rows added on!  I’m busy working on all the half diamonds so they are ready when it’s time to add them in, and with making more black hexis.  Won’t be able to add diamonds until there are black pathways.  I’m hoping to have enough black made that as I put a diamond in I can add the black pathway as well.  I’ve set myself a deadline of March 31st, don’t know if it will be ready for quilting by then or not.  Right now this is the only project I am working on by hand.  I hope to work on more machine work during the day when Alex is napping, the next one I hope to finish is the hubby’s birthday Christmas present.  I’ll explain once I finish it!

2013-01-23 14.50.03_1We spend a lot of time sitting on the floor playing with Alex and I keep forgetting to get a pillow form when I’m at Joann’s, when they are on sale and I’m there I can’t remember what the size is I need, and when I’m at home and can get the size I never remember!  A couple of years ago I used triangle scraps (I think I cut them with the Go Value Die) and made this pillow cover.  Since I had pulled out a high loft batting for the ironing table and never used it and I know I probably won’t use it in a quilt since I don’t like mine that thick, I decided to fold it as needed and use that as my pillow form.  It’s not perfect, but better than spending a ton of money on a pillow form!  Alex loves to lay on it and watch tv, although we’ve decided to start limiting how much tv he gets to watch.  He’s turning into a couch potato!DSC_5913

Wiggly Whimsy Quilt

Well I have everything cut out and ready to go on the Wiggly Whimsy quilt for the QAL over at Terry’s Treasures.  I’m thrilled I got everything cut out using the black fabric I bought since I stole most of it for the Dear Jane Siggie quilt.  It’s unbelievable how quickly I cut it all out using my Accuquilt Go.  I was so glad I bought the machine and even more glad that I got the 2.5″ multiple die.  So now I’m ready for the next step in February, can’t wait to start putting this one together now!

2.5" Squares - Wiggly WhimsyWiggly Whimsy

 

 

Late Night Update

I’m waiting for the end of the Cavs game, I just have to finish watching it before bed!  I just spent the evening working on cutting 2.5″ squares for the Wiggly Whimsy quilt and using those same fabrics for kitting up more diamonds for my hexi diamonds quilt.  I only need 9 more kits of diamonds and everything will be ready for the whole quilt.  Well, not the whole quilt because I will still need to get more black for the pathways between the diamonds.  I’ve decided that I’m going to put the Cavs cross stitch away for awhile (once I finish the page) and concentrate on the hexi diamonds quilt for awhile.  I’m also figuring on this being a good choice for taking camping, since everything is already kitted up it’ll be nice to work on at night or even during the day if we aren’t doing anything else.

The directions for the Wiggly Whimsy quilt say to cut a charm square into quarters so you’ll have 4 of the same squares in the quilt.  I’ve taken that to an extreme and I’m only using 1 piece in the quilt.  I will not have any matching 2.5″ squares in the quilt.  I’ve got 130 sitting here, I just need to find 18 more unique squares.  I think I’ll be able to pull from my 4.5″ cut squares to find what I need and I won’t need to cut into my yardage.  I absolutely love that I was able to cut so many fabrics tonight using my Accuquilt Go – I never would have been able to get all this done just using the rotary cutter.  I have TONS of black to cut for this quilt, not sure if I’ll work on that tomorrow or not.  But I will definitely be finishing off the colored squares.

Hubby did help me get the cubes put together, his part was easy putting the casters on.  We checked in the garage and garage attic and don’t have any pieces of wood large enough to use for the top, I’ll need to go to Home Depot this week and have a piece cut.

No pictures tonight, I’ll take some of my 148 colored 2.5″ squares tomorrow when they are all cut.

Dear Jane Siggie Quilt Update

Chain Pieced 9 PatchI have to say that I’m loving working on this quilt.  Over the weekend I started cutting the strips for around the siggie blocks and started putting those together, after I cut them all down to 5″.  I’m doing a lot of chain piecing on this quilt because it makes it so much faster!  On the siggie blocks I put the top piece on (1.25″ x 5″) all of the blocks.  Then after pressing I added the next side (1.25″ x 5.75″) – log cabin style.  I have the 3rd side cut out already and I’m planning on adding that this afternoon while Alex naps.  I hope to cut out the 6.5″ side and get that added on this afternoon too, it’ll depend on how long he naps.  Then I’ll need to cut out some more 2.5″ black squares with my Go to finish the alternate blocks.  Boy are those easy to chain piece too!  I saw on Bonnie Hunter’s site once how she will sew together the first 2 blocks in each row, leave them connected together then add the next piece on.  Then everything for 1 block is together.  I was flying through those blocks this weekend!  I have 15 done and 34 to go as soon as I get the black cut out.  I really want this done before Thursdays meeting.  If I get enough done I’ll be back later, if not tomorrow!

Christmas Presents

I can finally post about the Christmas presents I made this year!  Unfortunately I am missing a picture of the table runner I made my mom, I’ll have to get one next time I’m over their house.  I had bought a charm pack years ago (don’t even remember how long ago it was) when we were shopping and the colors were perfect for her living room.  It sat here for a long time because I couldn’t decide what pattern to use.  I was going to use my small tumbler die to make it, but I wasn’t going to have enough charms to make it big enough and of course it is now discontinued.  Once I found out the dimensions of her table (thanks to a call to dad) I designed it in EQ to be 9 squares across and 4 rows.  I just needed a little extra on the sides.  After a few web searches I found a shop in Ohio that had yardage of one of the fabrics in the pack.  I ordered enough to use for the pieces on the front, the backing and the binding.  It only took me a couple of days to get it all done and she loves it.

Kimmie's Quilt

I decided I needed to finish the tumbler quilt for Kimmie for Christmas.  I had bought 2 of the coordinating fabrics on ebay in 2010 and put the borders on, it just needed to be quilted.  The plan was to do it on the frame, but I have a problem with tension on the back that I just didn’t have time to figure out so I used the frame to pin it and then quilted it on my machine in my office.  Took me a couple of days to get it quilted, thank goodness for grandparents taking Alex!  It allowed me to spend more time working on it. Got the binding sewed on by hand in just 2 days, even took it to my parents to work on it when my great aunt came to town.  Kimmie loves it and was super excited when she opened it.  She’s only been waiting for 2 years to get it!  I forgot to get a picture before I wrapped it or when she opened it, but she posted one on Facebook that I grabbed until I can take a better one.

I started working on some cross stitch pictures for my cousins twins, but I was running out of time and really needed to get the quilt done so I decided to put those on hold and finish them for the twins birthdays in June.

Angela's Xmas Present 2012

 

I did make a present for our friend Angela that has a bakery in Wisconsin.  I saw the pattern in the 123 Stitch ad and just had to get it.  It only took me 13 days to finish it back in September, mostly working on it at night after Alex went to bed.  It is almost all backstitch and went really fast.  She loved it, I’m not sure if she’s hanging it at home or at the bakery.