Another finished top!

Hexie Diamonds 123115In June 2012 I finished my first hexagon quilt and started the next one – Hexie Diamonds. It was supposed to be finished in 2013 and used as a quilt for the bed in our trailer – but I worked on it slow and didn’t finish it when I thought I would. In July 2014 I finished the center – all 2,473 hexagons! It’s taken me another 17 months to put the borders on! I’m happy to say it’s now a finished top, not the best picture but the best place to take a picture is the living room floor and the kids have toys all over the place still! With all my top finishes I’m up to 16 that need quilting – so I guess 2016 will be a year of quilting!

Hunters Star 123115My brother-in-law got my name this year and got me The Big Bang Theory Lego set (we love that show!) and the Hunter’s Star Go die. I made one block last night after we got home and I THINK I have enough of the same fabric to make another. I’ll turn it into a table runner if I can find some fabric that matches it. It’ll be cute for Valentine’s Day!

My fabric is on it’s way for Star Crazy, I’m not seeing a tracking number but it’s coming USPS Priority Mail and it’s only a few hours south, so I’m hoping it will be here Saturday. We have no plans for the weekend and I hope to spend as much time as I can in my office sewing!

I hope to be back later and do a year in review post, might not get to it today though we are heading back down to my mother-in-laws to spend time with family before they leave tomorrow.

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday.

Scrappy Finish

Scrappy 9 patch with hexi applique 122615I started working on this on November 21, 2013. Here it is 2 years later and I’ve finally completed the top! I don’t know why I have this aversion to finishing tops – I have a bunch that just need the borders and they’d be considered complete. This was based on a quilt I saw on either Facebook or Pinterest – who remembers now? – and I changed the applique part to hexies instead of whatever they had – I don’t even remember what it was now. I already know how I want to quilt this, I just have a few quilts that are getting quilted first. Everything was cut either on my Go or my Studio and I’m thrilled that I used up all these scraps! 517 2.5″ squares were used in this quilt and I will use a few more because I’m planning on putting some hexies on the border at some point. I might even wait until after it’s quilted since they will be appliquéd on anyway.

I pulled out a VERY old quilt from 2009 that I want to keep working on to get the top finished – again it just needs the borders finished. Hopefully I’ll have an update on it soon, I know it won’t be tonight because it needs 4 borders and the one I’m working on now is 1.5″ HST! I also might have some news to announce soon!

Another Finish!!

Red and White challenge front 121815
Red/White Challenge – Front

We had a red/white quilt challenge at guild and I managed to design, create, quilt, and finish it with a few days to spare!I loved creating this in EQ7 and couldn’t wait to start piecing it. That was the easy part! I knew when I was piecing it that I wanted to do “cross-hatching” through the checkerboard border and 1/4″ inside the seam lines on the center, but I had NO idea what I wanted to do with the quilting on the inner border with the hexies. It sat on my sewing table for a couple of weeks before I realized that my deadline was fast approaching. So I very slowly and carefully stitched in the background around each hexie diamond and flower, and in the center of each one. I added a quilted hexie in between the flowers too. It turned out so much better than I imagined! I haven’t finished very many quilts this year, but this one is definitely one that I am proud of, not only did I design the whole thing, but it the top was made entirely out of fabrics I had in the cupboard. I had to buy the backing which I also used on the binding and I think it sets it off. As I was sitting at my desk today I realized I have the perfect place to hang it – right above my desk! Will have to get something to use for hanging and get it up on the wall soon! The challenge is on-going and I might do another one for our next deadline in July, I have some more ideas floating around my head. Maybe a red work one that I can do on the embroidery machine. We will have all of these challenge quilts hanging in our quilt show next October and I will be entering it into the county fair as well.

Linked to Freemotion by the River.

Red and White challenge detail 121815
Red/White Challenge – Detail
Red and White challenge back 121815
Red/White Challenge – Back

Design Wall Monday – December 23

Scrappy 9 Patch

I did it!  I finally got the 2 borders on scrappy 9-patch! Glad to have another quilt off my in process list, especially since Good Night Irene SAL starts in just over a week!  Of course I sat the other day and cut out pieces from a charm pack to make a thousand pyramid quilt.  I had bought this 100 piece charm pack during a guild meeting when a vendor had come for our program.  It’s a Benartex sampler of Fossil Fern (link is NOT where I bought it just the first link I found, but that is a GOOD price!) – which I LOVE!  I had been planning to make a thousand pyramid quilt for awhile, so I bought the equilateral triangle to use on my studio, but it is a Go die. I think I can make this big enough to use as a lap quilt, we’ll see how long it takes to put this together. We are heading back to the MIL’s tonight, so I can’t work the rest of the day on this, BUT I can get some done before we have to get ready to leave.  Plus I have most of the day tomorrow, the only thing I need to do for Christmas is make the ribbon jello!

EQ exampleI was just designing my thousand pyramid quilt in EQ in order to decide how many rows to make and how many pieces in each row and I have to say that I don’t like how they determine the counts for each row.  For example, looking at the triangles, it counts them by one of the patches, not the top and bottom of the row. This gives you a skewed count of the number of patches needed to complete the row. So using the example to the right, it’s set for 2 horizontal and 2 vertical – yet really uses 3 triangles per row (not including those half patches at the end of rows). I’d rather it count and tell me exactly how many full patches I need to complete the row, instead of needing to count them up and make sure I have the number of pieces I need.  *sigh* Maybe some day they’ll fix the way these work.

Better get working before Alex gets up from his nap and we need to head out!

Linking up to patchworktimes – Design Wall Monday.

Guild Block Challenge

2013 guild block exchange designWell, I finished the blocks I needed to make in order to put my top together.  I made 4 blocks for the corners, all the challenge blocks will go in the middle. I’ve put some of them in just as an example. I am hoping to work on cutting out the sashing pieces tomorrow and attach them to the blocks.  I am hoping I still have enough of the challenge fabric to do the borders, I’m pretty sure I do have enough, but I’m not cutting it up until I have everything put together. I used my Accuquilt Go to cut out most of the pieces for the corner blocks, I think it was cut out in less than an hour!

I’m really happy with how this is turning out so far and next I’ll need to decide how to quilt it.  I really don’t want to think about that part yet though!  I have a lot of other tops to get quilted!

Exchange blocks 2013challenge quilt - corner blocksI can’t wait to see how everyone else sets their blocks. It will be great if finished tops will get more people in the guild to participate next year.  I really like the colors in the Hoffman Challenge fabric for 2014.

Time for me to go and see if I can finish the binding on my scrappy table topper.  Hoping to post the finished piece tomorrow!

A Finish!!

table runner completedI finished hand stitching the binding down last night on my table runner!  This was made out of a charm pack called Blessings by Brannock and Patek for Moda.  I used my Accuquilt Go and my 4″ Finished Triangles in a Square die to cut out all the triangles.  It went together so quickly, and then it sat for a few months all pinned and ready to quilt.  I think it may have only taken an hour or so to quilt.  Why do I do that?  Get it ready and then let it sit when I can have it done and use it if I just sat down to quilt it.  Oh well, this one is done and ready to be used on the table.

I quilted the scrappy table topper yesterday afternoon, it only took a few hours to complete.  I put the binding on, and started doing the hand work last night after I finished the table runner.  I am hoping to finish working on that tonight.

Today I’m going to see if I can cut out the pieces I need for the 4 additional blocks for the Guild block exchange quilts.  I wanted to make mine a little larger so I’m making 4 blocks for the corners that match.  Almost all of the pieces I need can be cut out with my Go so I think maybe I can start sewing them together this afternoon.  I know it won’t get quilted before the December meeting, but I really just want to get the top completed before I forget about it!  We want to get more people signed up for next year!

Time to get to work on cutting, I’ll be back when I get the table topper finished.

Red, White and Blue Finished!

2013-04-25 14.40.39Well I did it, I finished the top today! I love how it looks and I love that it took me only a hour or so to cut the whole thing out.  The possibilities are endless with this block, so many settings.  I think I’m going to donate this for community service for our guild, I’m waiting for word on what size they need.  That way I can decide if I’m putting a border on it or not.  If not, then I’ve also found the backing already.  This was totally made from scraps and I’m happy that I have another way to use scraps up – that doesn’t use 2.5″ squares 🙂  I am really glad that I bought my Go and that they are coming out with dies that allow you to cut out more pieces at a time.

2013-04-25 14.44.44Some how when I was cutting out the blue triangles I ended up with an extra one.  As I was figuring out where to put it, I thought about the chisel die I have.  Guess what, the 3″ finished triangle fits perfectly on the chisel piece!  Oh man is my mind churning with ideas!  I can see a quilt with all scraps, a 2 color, again the possibilities are ENDLESS!

I need to stop thinking about these for awhile though, I need to design and make the quilt for Alex for the RV, plus I have a few I should get quilted before I start making more tops.

The Red, White and Blue

2013-04-24 22.58.50So I’ve been a busy beaver today! I spent the remaining time of Alex’s nap today to finish cutting out the red, white and blue quilt using the Go.  I used all scraps (red and blue) and stash (white) to make this quilt and I’ve now got 3 out of 7 rows put together.  I’m pretty sure I can finish putting this quilt together.  I haven’t decided about a border yet, but I do have a few ideas for the backing. I also haven’t decided if I I’m going to donate this for community service at guild or if I’m going to keep it.  Might make a good quilt for camping.  As is without a border it will be around 27″ x 31.5″, I’ll have to see what it looks like when I’ve got the blocks put together.  Might have another finished top by tomorrow!  Gotta love being able to cut quilts out so fast and accurately!!!

Wiggly Whimsy Finish, New Toys

Wiggly Whimsy TopYep I did it, I finished my Wiggly Whimsy top!  I ended up taking 2 different seams out and reattaching them.  Still have a couple of small puckers in one of the seams, but it won’t be noticable once it’s quilted.  Now I need to find a backing and get some batting so I can get it quilted.
2013-04-24 14.54.04I mentioned the other day that I had spent a little money to get some Accuquilt Go dies that I’ve been wanting. I got the 3″ finished half-square triangle to go with my signature die and a 2″ finished half-square triangle to go with my 2″ finished squares. Anyway, they arrived today!  I’ve already started playing with the 3″ HST and signature block dies.  I designed a quilt the other day in 2 colors in EQ and today while driving home from lunch started to think of colors I could use.  Top colorway?  Red, white and blue!  I figured I had enough red and blue scraps for the triangles and I was pretty sure I had white I could use for the signature part of the block.  I’ve already got 4 blocks done, took me maybe 10 minutes to cut and sew them together!  I LOVE how the dog ears are cut off when you use the dies.  Everything fits together so nicely and there is no guessing at all!  I think I’ll work on cutting as much of this out as I can today and maybe put it together tomorrow.  It will finish around 29″x33″ as it is designed right now, I haven’t thought about a border yet and I can always make more blocks and make it larger.  We’ll see what I decide.  Oh!  I also bought the Lil’ Twister template, I love the look of these quilts and I might be able to use a bunch of scraps to make up some easy quilts.  Hope to play with this soon too!

2013-04-24 15.20.302013-04-24 15.26.20
2013-04-24 14.53.07So I’ve talked 5 brave souls at guild to do a block exchange.  Because none of the quilt shops in our area have the focus fabric that I wanted to use, I placed an order with Hancocks of Paducah and got enough for everyone (they are paying for their yardage!).  I really like the fabric and it’s just enough out of my comfort zone that it will be interesting to see what everyone does with it.  Since there are only a total of 6 people (that’s including me) if everyone does 2 12″ finished blocks it will be a decent sized quilt – around 38″ x 50″,  if it’s on point it’s around 40″ square.  Now I need to go shopping for some additional fabrics and do some designing to figure out what blocks I want to make.  I’m thinking one simple and one that is a little more complicated.

Well, I want to get back to playing with my new dies, so I’ll be back soon with an update!

Hexagon Diamonds Update

Hexagon Diamonds 4-21-13Well, I FINALLY got the 6th row added onto the main piece last night.  Waited until today to get the picture just because it was so late when I got the last piece added.  There’s only 7 more rows to add on to this and I’ve already pulled the baggies for the next row.  Of course while I was trying to get a picture this morning, Alex wanted to lay on it so I got a picture of him posing.  He was crawling all over it finding all the blue pieces of fabric – that’s 1 of 2 colors he can say.  He understands what the colors are, he just only says blue and black (this is new in the last week or so).
Hexagon Diamonds 4-21-13 - Alex
Hubby and I have been working to get our macs setup the way we want them (he got a new Macbook Pro last week).  We’ve been buying things we need for the machines or our network at home so I decided to buy a few things for myself too!  I ordered 2 dies for my Accuquilt Go, a 3″ finished half-square triangle and a 2″ finished half-square triangle.  The 3″ die is going to be used with my signature die, and the 2″ die is going to work quite nicely with my 2″ finished squares.  I have so many designs in my head I’d love to do and having the 2″ finished triangles and squares will take care of MOST of them!  I have 2 dies I’d love to have custom made, but they are each just under $100.  I wish I could get them done cheaper somewhere else, I just haven’t bothered looking yet to see if that is possible.  It’s on my large to-do list!

I fixed the row that was messed up on Wiggly Whimsy, but then realized I had another row that was messed up.  I took the stitching out of that row this morning and was hoping to sew it this afternoon, instead I’ve been working on my computer all day.  I hope to get it pinned tonight and I’ll probably sew it tomorrow.  Once Alex gets up from his nap, my sewing time is gone and he should be getting up in the next 45 minutes or so.

Can’t decide if I want to work on hexagons tonight or hand quilting.  Maybe I’ll do both!  We were at Home Depot last week and I wanted to see if they had 1/4″ blue painters tape and forgot to look.  I’m going to Target this week, maybe I’ll see if I can get some there.  Then I wouldn’t have to mark the hand quilting lines when I’m doing 1/4″ in a block.  Looks like Alex is up, and I haven’t pinned the pieces togther for Wiggly Whimsy, guess that’s on the list for tomorrow’s nap time!