Yeah 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.
I 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 100° plus I really don’t like brown all that much 🙂
- 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)
In 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! 🙂
OMG 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.
As 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!
Ok, 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 
Did 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.
This is going to be an interesting month for projects! I had hoped that I’d be able to spend the entire month quilting my hexagon diamonds quilt. Silly me, I talked with the head room parent in my son’s class and we are now making a quilt for teacher appreciation week! While I was at The Door Mouse Tuesday I picked out some purple fabrics and I found this really cute panel of teacher quotes that I can use in the border (far right side of the picture). So my OMG for April is making this quilt for the teacher – the main portion of the quilt is going to be the kids drawings bordered by the purple (and some greens that I need to buy still) and we will be working on that next Tuesday at school.
I also decided that I will be making sure that the label gets added to Cassie’s signature quilt this month. The quilt has been done for 2.5 years and so has the label, I just never got it sewn on. Now is the time to get it finished!
I’m hoping I can get binding finished today on 2 commission quilts that I’ve been working on for a friend. I got the labels, hanging sleeve and binding all machine stitched yesterday and started working on the hand work last night. I got a little tired and didn’t get as much done as I liked, but I think I will at least finish one of them tonight. If I get both of these done I can get back to working on Dear Jane EPP, I only have 4 more blocks finished on Row C. Row E just arrived yesterday, so I’m a bit behind!
I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but I did manage to finish both of my OMG items this month. We did have a really busy month, so much going on! I was planning on basting my hexagon diamonds quilt during the day at our guild meeting location, however I spend the entire morning at the hospital having a pulmonary function test done – turns out I have asthema! *sigh* Anyway, this past weekend I decided to bite the bullet and get out my old hand quilting PVC frame and start basting. It took 3 episodes of The Quilt Show and a trip to Joann’s for another box of pins, but it is now basted and I can start quilting it.
While I was working on piecing 2 commission quilts, I worked on the border blocks for Good Night Irene. I’m happy to say that it is now 100% put together and ready for quilting! Not the best picture, but I can’t lay this out in the kitchen or the dog will be all over it! Linking up to 
*sigh* This is not my year. I’ve been sick since the beginning of the year and as soon as I think I’m starting to get better I get worse again. I’m almost at the end of another bout of bronchitis and after a pulmonary function test my doctor told me I have asthma. Most likely it was brought on by all the bronchitis episodes this year! Needless to say, since I’ve been sick the last week or 2 I haven’t worked on too much. PLUS we had a birthday to celebrate this last week. My little princess is now 3 years old and I can’t believe how quickly the last year has passed. My sister and I took her for her first hair cut and then took her 3-year-old pictures. This is one of my favorites, although there aren’t that many bad pictures of her (yeah I know I’m biased)! We had a wonderful party and she gets upset when I start to take the decorations down now that celebrations are over.
I’ve been doing hexie swaps for the last few months and I’ve finally decided what I am going to do with mine. Each swap will be made into a block, about 60 hexies makes a 12.5″ square block. Once I have enough blocks sewn together I’ll sash them and put them together. All of the swap information will be put on the label so I’ll remember where the hexies came from. I just finished the first block last night, these are from the #xoxohexieswap. There weren’t enough to do the whole block, as we only swapped 30, so I pulled from my Valentine’s bag of squares to get enough to finish it. I have the next block planned and ready to start, but I wanted to work on Dear Jane a little before I started putting the next one together. I’m waiting on more hexies to arrive, but some of the swaps aren’t finished yet – I got mine sent in right away and now I have to wait for everyone else to finish and send theirs in. I’m pretty sure I can make 2 blocks from the typography hexies, at least one with the St. Patrick’s Day hexies and I have a few signature hexie flowers that I think I’ll figure out how to put into a block. PLENTY of work to do around here!
I’ve been working diligently on various projects today. Some cutting for hexies, some cutting for bow tie blocks and getting them matched up and ready for sewing as leader/enders, commission quilt work (2 tops now ready for basting and quilting), and some work adding borders to 2 different quilts. I’m not showing one of them because it’s one of my OMGs, and I want to save it for the end of the month. I have FINALLY added the borders to my redesigned original Dear Jane quilt. The problem is I can’t decide if I should add another border to it or not. I’m planning on doing a simple meander on this since the fabrics didn’t excite me. I don’t want to spend a lot of time quilting this one. The EPP one that is in progress will most likely get some special quilting – once I figure out how to do it! 🙂 So tell me, what do I do with this? I know I’m going to use the muslin for the backing, but do I add another border or leave it as is? I just can’t decide!