In the hoop

I decided that I would go with my wall hanging idea. I appliqued it to the blue fabric. There is something about this scrappy star and the blue that reminds me of a patch put on my blue jeans as a kid. It kind of has a comfortable feeling to it.

So now it is officially in the hoop for hand quilting.  The nice thing about doing something small is that it goes really quickly. 

Linking up with Jessica for the Monday star count, at this point I have one big star. 

Star and diamond

I was so anxious to get a diamond completed. But when I looked at it with the star I was disappointed.

 Everything matched too much and the star got lost. I think it would have worked if I had stayed with a two color combo.

So I am thinking that this may make a great wall hanging or table topper. Then I can always preserve my first epp project. Now on to applique it down and quilting it.  Which also means that I could move on to another one too! Maybe something a little more planned.

 

Linking up with Jessica of Life under Quilts, check out out all of the projects everyone is up to. There is some fabulous work being done out there in blog land.

 

My first and favorite workshop

I did some thing very impulsive. I jumped into a quilt workshop class the last few days of registration. I just couldn't resist to see one of my favorite quilters, Bonnie Hunter!

Bonnie & Me, she is holding a sign for one of my guild members who isn't feeling well.

 

Without her I would have never stuck with quilting. She opened up my limits, essentially there isn't any. Due to the fact that I can not always buy a whole fabric collection to create a quilt. Now I focus on color.

 

The workshop went well, I learned quite a bit and meet some wonderful quilting ladies. I even had a chance to show Bonnie the quilts that I have made from her books and mysteries, you can see them here. She says I am really productive. The truth is that I have done one a year. But still it adds up.

 

After all of that fun, I returned home to a sick young man. It was so good to get away I will definitely do it again.

Hexagon star

Still loving it!  I just need to find more time

At this point I have no idea how many more I need to make. Due to the fact that I don't know what my final expectation of this is yet.  Do I stay with my original plan, do I stop here and make it a wall hanging, maybe I start a second project, maybe???

 

Linking up with Jessica of Life Under Quilts, for the Monday star count.

Just another... Monday!

We are coming off a long holiday weekend here. One where we tried to cram everything in. By everything I mean: we power washed and stained most of the decks. We went to the pool and drive-in movies.

Now returning to the normal routine is a bit of a pain and a bit of relief from the work we have done. Over the week I was able to sit a few times to work on my hexagon quilt. I didn't get as far as I hoped I would. But it is progress none the less.

Stats: In order to finish the star I need 7 more hexagons!!!! Excitement!

I think I am at the point where I can say this is addicting. I want to do so many more! Too bad I wasn't able to use this to get out of all the chores we did.

Letting go

I am learning how to cope with my children becoming young adults. My hubby is doing so much better with this transition. Our oldest has finished high school, started a job, and travels around quite a bit. He make choices without mom. I want so badly to make sure he is okay, has everything he needs... mother! This is what drives him crazy.

Our other son I sent off to 4-H camp. Yes, 4-H is still around and going strong in this area. Anyway back to the subject. I stood in the parking lot on Monday convincing myself not to cry. He would be fine and have a great time. Once again I want to mother him, how will he know to change his clothes without me.

So on Monday when I came back home and it was empty I pouted. I couldn't seem to find focus anywhere. Tuesday I pushed myself out the door and visited with a friend. Then I returned home and decided to start a new sewing project. Not the one seen here.

Today is Wednesday, I am starting my day with coffee and hexagons. Trying to enjoy the peace of the house. By Friday everyone will be home and it will be back to craziness.

Stats: I am uncertain of how many hexagons I have completed. If I sit and count this post may never be completed. At this point I have  3 star points done, it will take 23 more to have a complete star. My goal is to have it that far by Monday. After all I still have a few days of no one around!

Linking up with  Jessica of Life under quilts.

Hexagon's

When I first started quilting hexagons seemed so intimidating. There is paper, thread, sewing it by hand. Who would do such a thing. Apparently I would,  because now I think it's time I give these a try!!!! I have done my research. I feel confident. Really how hard can it be?

My first step was to buy this at Jo Ann's. This is in the scrap booking isle.  I bought what Fiskars call the large punch. This gives me a hexagon with 3/4 inch sides. The picture is of the larger punch that is two inches.  But I wanted to stick to using up my scraps.

When I got it home I had to give it a try. One postcard was enough to punch out seven hexagons. Now not only am I saving every little bit of useable fabric I am saving suitable paper too.

 From this point I set down and tried to figure out a pattern that I wanted. I was able to print out the hexagon graph paper from here.  I wanted something a little different from the ordinary. I wore my little crayons down to nubs, finally settling on this.

.

I intend mine to be scrappy where there is color on the graph.

Here is my first attempt. It went really smoothly. So much so that I did this on a recent road trip.

I did a lot more. I love that this can go anywhere with me. How perfect for summer!

 

Today I am linking up with Jessica of Life Under Quilts

Stats of what I have done: 26 hexagons, many more to go. Too many to count.