Hexagons – Page 4 – Kelly's Kwilts

Scrappy Finish

I 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

Shopping and Hexie Insanity

We were camping over the weekend down near Millersburg so mom and I decided to take a trip over to Miller’s Dry Goods on Friday. I found a few things that I could use 🙂 The panel is for the back of Alex’s bed quilt (that I need to get working on!) and so is the Thomas yardage. The white on white (hexagons!) and the Moda Marbles is for the hexie insanity quilt. My mom bought the rolled up fabric for Cassie, it’s an ABC book I need to put together for her. I also got some Aurifil thread in white for hexie insanity, but it’s already in the workbox. It was a nice shop but it’s almost 2 hours from our house to get there, it was only a half hour from the campground we were at. They have TONS of Moda Marbles colors, I simply loved the one I bought called Sea Glass. I’m debating buying more of it to use for the solid border in hexie insanity, I only need about 3 yards of fabric for that border alone, but I’ll decide that later, at least I know where I can get some more colors!!

So I already cut up that half yard of Moda Marbles on the Studio so i can start using it. Didn’t take but 15 minutes to cut into 760 2″ squares and a small amount of waste. Now I can baste and make some flowers and diamonds with it! Planning on cutting up that new white as well, get it mixed in with all the other whites I have prepped. I finished adding the white path on another diamond and have a second almost done – both worked on during the camping trip.

I have a few quilts that need backs and quilting, I need to get the commission quilt finished before the end of the month and that is at the top of the list. Looks like this week is going to be busier than I thought so I don’t know if I’ll get to work on it or not. Certainly going to try!

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!

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!

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.

Project Update

I’ve gotten a few more hexagon diamonds completed, I’m now up to 36 diamonds completed and 18 flowers. I’m still trying to decide if I want to put a corner together now or wait until I have all the diamonds completed. I’m actually now thinking of waiting so I can decide how I want the diamonds laid out in the design. I could do a rainbow effect, or just randomly place them. Still plenty of time to decide since I still need 122 more diamonds!

I managed to finish the border block pieces for Good Night Irene, I now have all the pieces ready to put together. However, this will now be set aside for a bit because I got the rest of the fabric I need in order to finish Alex’s quilt. I bought the 4 yards (maybe too much) so I can do the piano key border and probably also a scrappy binding. Now that I have the kids in bed for naps (Alex is STILL sick!) I can get to work!