How about a summer trip?

How about many summer trips?

My many trips around the world is done!  Bound and labelled.  Done!

Miss Ashes just had to help and give her seal of cat approval.  Gosh, how hard it is to bind and shuffle a quilt on my lap with a cat on top.  She would not budge, so shuffle I had to do.

 This will be perfect for autumn nights to snuggle under.

 This photo shows truer colours.

 DH couldn't wait to get it hung up on the wall in the foyer.

My world is happy!

Quilt facts:

Quilt size: 96-1/2" x 96-1/2" (top size: 100" x 100")
Quilt source:  drew this using EQ7 computer software program
Machine quilted by Ruth.

Have a great day!

Two down ....

.... and three to go!

It really didn't take that long to get borders on these tops.  Like seriously .... not long at all.

So, Rosie .... why not buckle down and tackle those remaining three?  It won't take long, you know.

Have a great day!

Hexie again

This has been my cottage summer project.  Progress is slow, but there is progress.  Six rows done.  Wooo hooo!

The twist is leaves and circles in the valley area on the edges.  Just on the sides.   Something different.

Can you see the empty area about half way down?  You can really see the hexagons now.  When I look at this, I see a whole new quilt down the road!  I do love playing the 'what if' game.

Speaking of 'what if', garage girl friend Darlene and I will be making another Sue Daley quilt and she was showing me what she had done so far.  Well, I started playing with her pieces and the next thing, we have a whole different pattern now.  Got her so twisted around, her head was spinning.  More on this later.  Yep, the 'what if' game came out and we played (with a lot of help from me)!

This is the new Sue Daley project involving these templates.  I like working with templates and Darlene likes working with the heavier cut out paper templates and glue stick.  She has made progress with her project and I don't dare start mine yet.  Need to finish my half hexie project first!

Have a great day!

Orphan Block

Back in the spring at our day guild, the theme was a party and we were asked to bring in an orphan block in order to attend the party.  So, we did.  We lined up dutifully and handed in our blocks.  All of us thought that the blocks would be made into a donation quilt.  So we thought.

Lordy, we were tricked.

We got someone's else orphan block(s) in return and were told that we had to finish the block into something of our choice.  All items would be shown at the June meeting.

I got two blocks.  What to do with them.  I pondered for a week or so and finally DING the lightbulb went on.  On a day trip up north, I bought two stuffed toys.

The blocks were each backed with flannel and turned inside out (or birthed as some say).  A bit of top stitching to secure everything together.

Wrapped each bunny into the block and tied a knot and viola .... a wrapped bunny.  I told the lady that the blocks belonged to to donate the bunnies to Vicars.  She agreed.  What is Vicars?  When police go out to a call and children are involved, they get something to calm them down.  I think a little one will love the bunny and will keep them calm and amused while the police do their business.

Now, my block came back to me as a snap purse.  The kind that has strips of metal measuring tape to snap back in place when closing.  So cute.   It now holds all my hand quilting notions.  Perfect size.  Not too large and not too small.

The show and tell at the June meeting was awesome.  It was so interesting to see what others did with our orphan blocks.  I will never look at orphan blocks the same way again!

Have a great day!

Just a tray?

You know how much I love to applique.  That is without question.  The problem for me was how the table beside where I sit was always a mess.  Still is, but not as bad. Noooo, no photos.  You will have to use your imagination.  LOL

So, enter this tray.  Picked it up at a thrift store.  Cheap.  Looks worn in places.  That is fine with me.  I need something that is sturdy.  I have a plan for this tray to make my life easier.

A trip to the dollar store to pick up some plastic baskets for cutlery.  Perfect for organising my scissors, thread, marking pens, etc.

A box with cover fits into the leftover space.

That box holds my pincushions with needles and pin.  I wanted a covered box so that my needles don't get attached to my project by mistake and gets lost in the shuffle.  Also, the box lid acts as a garbage collector when I'm out and forgot to take a garbage bag with me for my discarded threads, etc.

In the left over space, a perfect area for holding miscellaneous items.

A used cutting board that has been well scrubbed.  Four screws (screwed in just enough to not move) on the backside .

Can you see how much of the screw is still sticking up?

My cutting board fits perfectly and doesn't move around now because those four screws hold it in place.  The cutting board is handy for drawing circles or for pinning my applique pieces in place and a place to rest my block that I'm working on.

The cover removed from the box with needles and pins and I'm ready to applique.  Everything is handy and in their place.   The cover will actually fit under the cutting board area so that it is out of the way and it won't get lost in my mess that surrounds me.  So, no more looking for my stuff on the messy table.  You have no idea how much I love this tray!

When I go to the garage, a plastic cover (the kind that bed linen comes in) keeps everything from moving around and I'm ready to go.

So, the next time you see a tray, you will think twice about it.

Have a great day!

Half hexie crazy

Another oldie.  I've been working on this project since Nov. 2015; but I don't think this has been talked about on my blog.  You have seen snippets of it here and there beside photos of other projects that hogged the limelight.

So, now is your time to shine!

This project came from an article by Bettina Havig in Fons & Porter's March/April 2006 magazine.  The article was all about charms and showed photos of different quilts.  Bettina made a quilt for her sister using half hexagons.  I looked at the photo and decided that I could do it too.  Mine will have a twist (so, what is new there?).  Of course, it will.

So, I plugged away at it for a year and a half.  Dipping into my scrap bin and basting and basting and more basting.  My scrap bin took another dip.  Happy days for sure!

This photo was taken with the last 30 half hexagons to do.  Lordy, but these seemed to take forever!

Still, I plugged away at it until finally all the pieces were pinned in place.  Then, the fun part begins.  Sewing them all together.  Well, maybe not so fun after all.  That is a lot of sewing to do.  Oh well, just DO IT!

The pieces are sewn into triangles first then the triangles sewn together and sew on.

Making progress.

 Do you like my little bucket for keeping pins handy for pinning my half hexies onto my design wall?  Cute, eh.

This will be another perfect cottage project to take along and sew while I'm sitting in our screened-in porch.  Yep, perfect.

Add another hand piecing EPP project to my list that I have now worked on.  One day, I should take a group photo of all my EPP quilts and tops.  There are so many now.  Who ever knew that I would be doing EPP.  Definitely not me.  Surprise!

Have a great day!

Canada is 150!

Well, Happy Birthday Canada.  We are just 150 years young.  Whooo hoooo!  Loads and loads of celebrations are scheduled.  It will be a hopping time in every city and town across this land.

A year ago when I showed this photo, these were just tops and I had vowed to have them quilted by either myself or a LAer by July 1, 2017.  Oops, they are not quilted.

But, I am happy to report that they are all out at two LAer's to be quilted.  I'll be getting them back pretty soon and by next year, they will be on display again to celebrate Canada's next birthday.

A new quilt will be added to this collection.  This is the block.  More will be shown as time goes on.  This was one of my secret projects that I was planning on making for our day guild June challenge.  It didn't happen.  Oh well, now I can work on it whenever I want and openly.  Still, it will make an lovely addition to my collection of red/whiteish quilts.

Have a great day, eh!