Friday Finish: {Hugs}

I finished the hexagon quilt I started in Jacquie's workshop in time to gift to a dear friend who can use an extra hug right now.  I hope the cheery fabrics and quilted messages of hope, love and peace provide comfort to her.

There were times when I wasn't sure how this quilt would turn out, but in the end I am very pleased with the finished product.  I kept remembering some of Jacquie's pointers which really helped:  pin, pin, pin; use the bias to your advantage; sew with previous seams facing up so you aren't sewing blind; sweep seams away; and when finished press all seams down and to the left.  If I ever piece hexagons by machine again, I will stitch with a darker/contrasting thread for better visibility.

The size of the quilt was determined in class basically by filling up the portable design wall with the oversize hexagons I had cut from my fat quarters.  Jacquie and friends helped with the placement of the hexies.  It wasn't until I was home and finished sewing the rows and columns together that I realized the quilt wasn't quite tall enough so I added borders to the top and bottom.

Backing

I used a fat quarter bundle of Technicolor for the hexagons, with the remaining fabric coming from my stash.  The borders are from Connecting Threads; the backing is a Amy Butler Soul Blossom print; the binding is the last of the pink ribbon binding leftover from my mom's Got Pink? quilt.

"hope"

"peace"

You can't really tell (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing), but I free motion quilted words of "hope", "love" and "peace" here and there among meandering loops.  I used Aurifil 50wt thread for the quilting.  This is the second time I have quilted with Aurifil and I love it.

"love"

 I spent a few minutes admiring the crinkly goodness that comes after washing and drying a quilt before I wrapped it up for gifting.

more "love"

Quilt stats:
Name: {Hugs}
Pattern: Piecing Hexagons by Machine technique by Jacquie Gering
Finished Size: 52" x 75"
Fabric: Technicolor by Emily Herrick; Connecting Threads Quilter's Cotton; Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler
Quilted: Free-motioned loops and words of hope, love and peace using Aurifil 50wt 2024 White thread

Thanks for stopping by!  Linking up with Amanda's finish it up Friday.

What's Up Wednesday: Experimentation

I've been doing some stitching around here but even more cooking.  Over the summer I didn't cook much at all, to the point I believe my family wondered if I had forgotten how.  It's nice to spend some time in the kitchen....not as nice as spending time in my lab....but nice nonetheless.

Southern Banana Pudding

I experimented with some recipes I found on Pinterest, and happily my family approved.  That has not always been the case.  The Herb Roasted Citrus Chicken was a big hit as well as the Southern Banana Pudding.

before grilling and baking

Nothing beats my husband's filets though.  These roasted sweet potatoes aren't as good as the sweet potato casserole made at Thanksgiving time, but the lack of butter and sugar is probably better for our waistline.

hexagon stitching

 Hexagon stitching is going on in the lab.  Just when I think I've mastered the y-seam, I realize I haven't.  It's frustrating, but I am determined to finish this quickly so I can move on to other projects.

latest quilt book

This Quilt Essential book just arrived in the mail.  I can't wait to find a free minute to open it up and start reading!  Anyone else have this book?

Thanks for stopping by!

Wonderful Wednesday: Quilty Friends

It's been a crazy busy summer, but a crazy awesome summer!  I don't  know where to start or even how to start back blogging, but here I go again....

photo bombed

I might as well start with the most recent activity since I already posted a quick recap on our guild's blog.  (Hopefully I won't have the same problems with Blogger deleting the post and then publishing an older draft when I went to update.....UGH!)  If by chance you have read those two recap posts, don't go away, as I will put my own personal spin on it over here ;-)

someone borrowed my camera to take a picture of my rear

 The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild hosted two days of workshops with Jacquie Gering a few weeks ago, and it was a blast!!!!  Not only was I thrilled to see Jacquie again, but it was the first time I had touched my sewing machine since my Gruber's retreat in July (which I need to blog about...hmmm...wonder if my retreat friends have blogged about it yet....guess I would know that if I hadn't banned myself from the blogosphere...need to check that out because I am sure they have....but I digress), and I was itching to stitch.

proof

Jacquie taught her Piecing Hexagons by Machine class the first day.  I was super excited when I found the y-seam sweet spot on the first try (Jacquie's expression - not mine).  Of course as Jacquie pointed out, it only took me two classes to figure it out!  In my defense, the class I took at QuiltCon was only half-day, on the last day, we didn't get to use our own machines, and I had a sewing buddy distracting me ;-) 

Michele the teacher's pet

I was determined to be a model student this time around and didn't get in trouble at all.  I left that to Beth ;-)  Michele was my workshop buddy, and I obviously didn't distract her.  She had two columns of hexagons stitched together in no time.

future quilt for a friend

For this workshop I made my hexagons REALLY big thinking that would help my accuracy ;-)    I also have to say using your own sewing machine makes a huge difference, especially when one stitch too many can prevent you from finding that sweet spot.
  

Jacquie and I with her quilt/my quilt

 I brought Jacquie's neighborhood quilt with me for a photo opp.  It's been living with me ever since 2010 when Jacquie auctioned it along with her two others to raise money for the Red Cross.  The quilt now has her signature on the back (and a label), and my copy of her book has a lovely, sweet note from Jacquie inside!

label your quilts folks!

  Michele arranged dinner at a favorite local hangout where the owner showed us his own quilt.  It's times like this when a cell phone just doesn't do a picture justice.

showing us the details

Jay's aunt made several of these family photo quilts - can you imagine?  I love this type of quilt and have not seen one quite this beautiful.  The pictures are sharp and colorful, and the background fabrics are so soft and pretty.  I could have stared at the quilt for hours.  

attracting quilters wherever we go!

While having dinner, a quilter on vacation from California stopped by to chat and see Jay's quilt as well as a local quilter.  We may have a new member!

we opted for shots rather than tattoos

I have many more pictures from the workshop on Flickr if you care to see them.  Well, this was exhausting.  I think I'll save the pictures of the Stitch and Flip workshop for another day.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy stitching,

Mini Monday: Blocks and Such

First little bit of sewing since returning from QuiltCon:

February MCM Bee block

Already I'm behind in my bee blocks.  Cindy requested the winged square block for February's Mid-Century Modern Bee block.  I enjoyed selecting the fabrics for this one, and the tutorial is easy to follow.  I had to throw in a shot cotton for Cindy.  Can you spot it?

Here's a little bit of sewing done at QuiltCon:

Diamond blocks

 Elizabeth's Marmalade quilt making class was only a half day.  After making my templates, I managed to piece two diamond blocks.  I am looking forward to more strip piecing now that I have access to my full stash of fabric.

Paper piecing

 I showed these paper piecing blocks from Penny's class before, but I can't resist showing them again.  The cupcake is the only one paper pieced; the others were made with the freezer paper technique.  We even learned to stitch y- seams.  Not bad for a beginner.

Hexagons

More y-seam stitching in Jacquie's machine pieced hexagon class.  I mentioned before that I did more talking than sewing in this class (which was also a half-day class), but I did pay attention to the teacher and learned the technique ;-)  Today I did more hexagon fabric cutting for another project I have in mind.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy stitching,

Wonderful Wednesday!

I finally found a little time to sew!!!  Yeah!

I added more hexagons to my collection.  Still have a long way to go to finish this quilt along, but I'm getting there.

These strips are sewn and cut...hope to sew them together today.

I usually keep my Wonderful Wednesday posts wordless for the most part, but I have to say thank you to Sheryl of Random Threadz.

These way too cute batik moose panels safely arrived....finally.   For a week the USPS said they had been delivered, but I did not receive them.  After numerous phone calls between Sheryl and myself {which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the circumstances}, between Sheryl and the USPS on her end, and between me and the USPS {which I did not enjoy} on this end, they finally and mysteriously appeared in my mailbox {thanks I believe to a neighbor who mistakenly received them}.  

In the meantime, Sheryl located more moose panels (not available in this colorway anymore) for me and ordered them hours before I received the lost package.  She knew how much I REALLY needed wanted those moose.  I had seen some of her pattern designs and kits at Quilting in the Country and also fell in love with the unusual batiks she used.  My pictures do not do them justice.  {Click here to see a better picture and a pattern using the moose.}  I also ordered these adorable lizards, and Sheryl had thrown in an extra lizard panel and a fun frog panel.  Thanks Sheryl, you rock!

Have an amazing day!!!

Checking In

I'm participating in Jacquie's Spring to Finish Challenge.  I don't know what I was thinking when I listed  my goals.  Of the seven, at least four of them involve quilting and binding in order to consider them done.

The first goal I listed was keeping up with the pinwheel sampler quilt along.  The pinwheel quilt top is finished, basted and ready to be quilted.  I plan to work on that today.  

My second goal was to keep up with the hexagon quilt along.  So far, so good.  The latest block was made with our solids.  You can see I used the chocolate brown.  I also have some blue that I am considering.  I need to make some Block 4s with the blue to compare.

My AAQI needs to be labeled and mailed.  I'm just waiting on my number assignment so that I can add that to the label and ship it off.

Speaking of AAQI, today is the last day to bid in the May auction.  I've got my eye on one or two lovelies.  We'll see if I'm still the high bidder at 10pm EST!  If not, there are a couple for sale that I've also been eyeing.  Check it out!

Have an amazing day!!!

Sashing and Cutting

I was cruising with the pinwheel sashing...until my realtor called and said she wanted to show the house.

This is as far as I got before I had to pack it all up and make my studio look tidy.

I'm still loving this clever ruler.

I used it to cut triangles for Hexagon Block 3.  Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to sew these together.

Have an amazing day!!

Hexagons...finally

After unsuccessfully trying to figure out a hexagon quilt design myself, I was thrilled to see Julie's Hexagon Quilt Along pop up over at Old Red Barn Quilt Company.

The instructions seemed straight forward enough.  Sew sets of two strips of jelly rolls.  She gave instructions for cutting the triangles using three types of rulers.  I went with the mack daddy cool looking 60º Double-Strip Equilateral Triangle Ruler.  This being the first time making hexagons I figured I could use all the help I could get.

I don't know if it was the fancy dancy ruler, but these were pretty easy to figure out.  They look pretty cool, don't you think?   

Above is the suggested layout of Block 1. 

 This is the layout that Julie used to make her original hexagon quilt.  I really think this layout is pretty cool too.  I went back and forth until finally deciding which one to use.

I had enough triangles to make ten blocks.  Here are the two halves....waiting for further instructions.

One more picture...just because ;-)  

Keeping up with the hexagon quilt along is my goal #1 of Jacquie's Spring to Finish Challenge 2010.

Have an amazing day!!!