Mom’s Dance Party of Horror

January 22, 2014February 1, 20155 Comments

I was doing so well yesterday. I was teaching, I was answering questions, and I was engaging in witty banter with my beloved offspring all while trimming down some hexies to baste. Voila! Lots of hexies, and school going along on schedule to boot.

My inner celebratory dance spasmed into consciousness, knocking over the can of Diet Coke I had been enjoying but a moment beforehand. Knocking over the can directly onto my fresh-faced hexies. Knocking over the can so violently that the carbonation went out of control and spewed Diet Coke all over everything in its vicinity.

Hexies, chairs, worksheets, notions case, everything in the notions case. Tidal waves of Diet Coke surging outward and destroying everything in its path.

Good feeling gone.

I didn’t freak out; I calmly dealt with the offensive can of explosive horror, wiped everything up, and then commenced with watching my once-starched hexagons curl up and peel away from their freezer paper templates throughout the remainder of the day.

This is what happens when moms dance, even just “pretending” in their heads. Heed the warning. Lock it up.

Hopefully Diet Coke washes out, and hopefully freezer paper re-adheres…everything was going so well yesterday. Until it wasn’t.

Linking up with:

Aspen Frost Piecing Completed

January 17, 2014February 1, 20152 Comments

There’s all these link-ups on Fridays for “Finished” items, but I have no finished items to share. Boo.

However, I did finish a step in the construction of my Aspen Frost…table cover/runner/mini quilt…thing. (What am I going to call this?) Hee hee, chevrons make me smile.

I’m thinking that I’m going to do a minimally-pieced backing instead of just one fabric. I love the aqua blue in the Aspen Frost fabric collection, and so I’m going to try to get some yardage. Then, after using the chevron side during the Christmas season, I can flip it over and enjoy the very appropriate winter hue during January. It will be quilted with red, green, white, and blue thread…but I think it will work.

Or I could go with a plain color back and just let the quilting shine on the other side. So many options. I’ve never done a pieced back before, and I totally love the look of the ones I’m seeing in Elizabeth Hartman’s The Practical Guide to Patchwork, and would like to give it a try.

Decision, decisions…what do you think?

Oh, hey, look at that, a “Finishing” link-up that doesn’t require a fully-finished object. Awesome! I’m linking up with the Link-A-Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts.

Pink and Green Baby Hexie Strips

January 13, 2014February 1, 20159 Comments

I’ve stumbled across the Monday Morning Star Count over at Jessica Alexandrakis’ blog, Life under Quilts, and I couldn’t resist sharing my little hexie project-in-progress:

They’re little, teeny half-inch hexagons that will embellish the side of a project bag found in Hexa Go-Go by Tacha Bruecher. (Sorry, Jessica, for name-dropping on someone else’s hexie book–but rest assured, your hexie book is on my shopping list!) The fabric is just completely random scraps I found in the bottom of a stash box.

It was the Life Under Quilts and A Few Scraps blogs that first introduced me to the idea of English Paper Piecing/hexagon quilting last year. (Ironic that my first hexie book wasn’t Quilting on the Go…) The idea’s been sitting in the back of my mind since, and then I saw Hexa Go-Go at the fabric shop I visited with my bestie over Christmas break, saw the author’s little blurb about how hexagons were “quilting’s answer to knitting,” and I decided that it was time to learn. Lack of portability has been my main reason to avoid sewing and quilting all these years, and portability is one of the reasons why I love knitting so much. I’m no stranger to crafting in public, and I’d love to include sewing and quilting in my arsenal of portable crafting!

Making hexies is fun. It’s super simple and they come together really quick, and they’re way, way cute. I’m planning to make my son’s upcoming “big boy bed” quilt with some sort of hexagon design element because I love the technique so much.

I’m trying to decide on the fabrics for the rest of the bag, so my sewing desk looks like this:

Too much cute! (And can you tell that I mostly make things for little girls?)

Piecing my Aspen Frost Mini Quilt

January 8, 2014February 1, 2015Leave a comment

I know, I know, Christmas is over, but I received Christmas fabric in my stocking and I just can’t leave it alone! Part of the Santa Stash was two charm packs of Basic Grey’s Aspen Frost collection, and I succumbed to temptation over the weekend and started a new project:

I’m finally acknowledging my affinity for chevrons, and I keep seeing beautiful chevron quilts, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon and making one of my own! If my math is right, this will end up measuring 36 x 36″, so nothing big, just a teeny wall hanging or table mat. I’m excited about how it’s going to turn out!

I have a few ideas about how to quilt this–I started learning the basics of free-motion quilting before the holidays, so I’m eager to try out some new skills. Hopefully we can all just get along and have a good experience? Alright, Aspen Frost? We’re cool, right?

I guess we’ll see…

Yee Haw, Movin’ Along…

April 3, 2008February 1, 20152 Comments

Well, the Cowboy Quilt is officially pieced. All that stands between it and completion is a couple of trips to the quilting shop; one to pick out the fabric for the backing and binding, another to drop it off with its backing and batting to be quilted and one last trip to pick it up to take home and sew on the binding. (I’m going to have it professionally quilted because I don’t like to machine quilt and, truthfully, their quilting just plain looks better than mine.)

Rabbit thinks the quilt top makes a swell picnic blanket. (Too bad she dumped that cup of water on it about five seconds after the picture was taken.)

Yes, the blanket seems small; but, in my experience, it’s the smaller baby blankets (24 x 36 inches or so) that become children’s favorites. I’ve made some 36 x 48″ blankets, but that size seems to be too cumbersome for little people to tote. Both Bluebird and Rabbit have adopted “blankies” that are about 2 x 3 feet, so I started making my gift blankets that size as well.

Coming Out of Hibernation

April 3, 2008February 1, 20152 Comments

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? She’s earmarked for a special little person and I’ve already finished with the tying, which seemed to suit her better than machine quilting…I don’t know why, but I went with it.