Still Going

I feel a little bit like the energizer bunny with my sewing machine this weekend. While I still don't see the entire list I made being finished by the time I have to go back to work on Tuesday I do feel like I will be more in control of my sewing projects. I have made some progress today though. Yesterday I got a little side tracked with taking the husband to run errands, he won't be able to drive until the doctor gives the green light so for now it's either stay home or wait for someone to drive him. First off I finished the block for Norma for the Modern Tradition Quilt Bee. She sent along hunky dory and asked that we complete a single block in a tulip pattern. It was a fairly simple block to piece but mine still seemed to get a little wonky so there were a few seams that needed undoing and remaking. Overall I am happy with the way the block looks and I hope Norma will be too. I mailed it off today and it should reach her on Tuesday just a day late.


Next up I took a little break from the bee blocks to piece together my pinwheel sampler. You might remember me talking about following along with Rachel. Well the light outside is fading so I took a few quick shots just so I didn't have to leave you in the dark but I promise better pictures soon.The pink was a last minute choice and I pretty much landed there because I didn't have enough of the yellow and this was the best of the few solids I had at the house. I think it adds a nice little pop! I am thinking about adding a border in the pink all the way around before I'm done. I like the way the pink helps the blocks to stand on there own.

The pink is Kona Bubblegum so I think the color in
this picture is a little more true then the outside photo.

And last up for your viewing pleasure I have a stack of fabrics that I pulled to use for the Mod Bento Box Swap. What you didn't think I told you about all of those projects without putting a few on my to do list as well did you. The instructions requested saturated colors which immediately made me think jewel tones. Then I thought they were getting a little dark so I tried to brighten them up a little with the brighter colors. What do you think? If you are participating in this swap would you be happy with blocks made of these choices? Is there something you would like to see go? Or do you know of there perfect print or color that is missing?




Well it's time to make dinner and then maybe manage to sew a few more stitches before bed time. Hope you are having a great weekend.

BIG PLANS

It is a long weekend here in the states as we celebrate Memorial Day and give thanks and pay respect to the men and women who have served, currently serve, and will serve in our armed forces. It also means that we don't have to work on Monday and I have today (Friday off as well) so I have BIG PLANS for my four day weekend. Four wonderful days to clean house, cut grass, and bake. Hah just kidding the grass is already cut and the kitchen is actually clean why mess it up with cooking anything, nope I plan to spend my four days in front of my sewing machine. The old girl and I have some catching up to do and like I said I have BIG PLANS. Here's a break down of the sewing to do list:

Blocks:
June String Block
Paper Piecing Block (sorry Kristian, I'm still a little scared to be honest)
4 apartment houses for May Bee-Stitched
Tulip Block for May

Tops:
Pinwheel Sampler
Log Cabin (My month is the Fussy Cut Bee)
Red & Aqua swap (okay this was the second swap I ever did and the blocks have been at my house for well, almost a year now and I haven't put them together into anything. Time to make a plan and execute.)

I know this list is a bit unrealistic but if I don't aim high I won't get anything done I'm afraid. I have some other blog post planned for the weekend too, lots of ideas running around in this head of mine. How about you do you have big plans for the weekend (be it is extended or otherwise). If you need a little inspiration check out these upcoming projects:

Isn't this beautiful. I am so glad Amanda Jean is back in the blogging world.
And now she is bringing us this great quilt along as well.

And just so you know how serious I am about getting some sewing done over the next four days, I managed to finish one of the previously mentioned blocks last night. Dena asked for string blocks for June for the Circuit Quilt Bee. She sent each of us different color pieces in one color. I got green. At first I thought green I don't have any green to add. Last night I started looking and it turns out I did have some green in my stash. Not much but enough to make one cool looking block I think. Enough to make the ever growing list of ideas in my head think okay someday we need to try this. Dena I hope you like the block and the fabrics I added. My favorite part is the middle where all the tiny pieces come together.

Mini Hexagons

There hasn't been a whole lot of sewing going on around here as of late. Sometimes life just gets in the way and you get behind on things. I have been doing a few mini hexagons during my lunch break and thought I would share them with you before you think I've gone off the grid altogether. I decided to join up with Melanie on her quest to complete an entire quilt out of mini hexagons. It is going to be a true test of patience and love. Melanie set a goal to make her quilt a true charm quilt and I thought that sounded like a great challenge. Let me tell you not duplicating fabrics when you need over 2000 hexagons is a huge challenge. I've been lucky enough to get some help from a few friends. Leanne, Ruth, my mom and I teamed up to do a charm pack swap so that alone should yield a fair amount of fabrics, we are each cutting 4 charm packs into fourths. Then we will keep one and send the other three sets to the other girls. I cut up my Love and Modern Meadow packs last night and now I am just waiting for the other to arrive so I can slice them up as well.

These are 2.5 inch squares and paper pieces waiting to be turned into hexagons.

Bea is making some hexagons as well and I commented that she isn't crazy since she doesn't need 2000+ fabrics. One of her blog readers offered to send me some fabric scraps she has so a big thank you to Bee for making the introduction and to Allison for being willing to share. Thanks ladies! In addition to that Mary was doing a little scrap organization herself and decided to share the love and sent along a scrap care package as well which should be here any day now. Thanks Mary I promise to put those to good use for you.

Here are the first 109 hexagons that are done. These are gathered from the ends of jelly rolls, bee scraps, and scraps from other projects that were in my scrap bin. No two are the same, but I did find an accidental duplicate when laying them out.

If you don't think I'm crazy for attempting this then come on over an join in the fun. There is no rush to finish and just think how amazing they will look when they are done.


And on a side note just in case I'm not the last one to know, one of my all time favorite quilt bloggers is back. Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts is back and she is always full of amazing ideas and projects so be sure to head over and check her out!

How do you learn improv?

Ironic really since improvisation isn't really something you can learn. Without sounding cocky I think I can hold my own with most quilt patterns. There are somethings I am better at then others but when it comes to following a pattern I do pretty good. I've had a lot of practice so far this year trying new techniques and trying out different things through my virtual quilting bees. When I received my fabric and instructions for May in the Fussy Cut Bee immediately my hands began to sweat, my heart started to race, and all I could think was I can't do this. The instructions were simple, there really were no instructions. She simply asked for squares or rectangles in multiples of three. A 6 by 6 square, a 9 by 9 square, a 6 by 9 rectangle. These were the examples. We were to use the camper fabric as the Fussy Cut fabric but apart from that there were no instructions. The range of fabrics and sizes that were included were widely varied as well.


Here's what I learned. I'm not sure how to make a block without instructions. Shocking I know for someone who is suppose to be a modern quilter in an era where improv is all the rage. But I like clean lines and structure. So I kept it simple and created a 6 by 6 inch square and a 6 by 9 rectangle. I didn't do a lot of wonky stuff and my blocks might even be considered by some to be a bit of a bore. But well it made me realize maybe I need to learn how to do this improv stuff. Then I took a deep breath and thought, you know improv really isn't something you learn it's just something you either do or you don't. For now at least I'm okay with choosing not to practice improv. Besides really I have enough projects on my plate.

Mini is Always Better

Why is it that things in miniature are always cuter? Did you see that new button over there on my sidebar? When one hexagon quilt isn't enough you can always make two, right? While I am enjoying the hexagon quilt along that Julie is leading over at the ORBC group. I keep seeing all these pictures of mini hexagons all over flickr. I took some time out to visit Melanie's blog and have a look around. Then I watched her videos, joined the flickr group and sat back for a minute. Then I told Leanne, we could do this. So of course since I convinced Leanne to join me I felt like I had to stick with it. Here are the few I managed to eek out on my lunch break today. Sort of a slow start but I'm getting the hang of it. Haven't joined the fun yet, what are you waiting for? There are even some swaps starting up to help those who want to make a true charm quilt without buying 1000+ fabrics.