Monday, July 28, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/30

Back on track! (well, mostly-- this post was delayed due to toddler issues that necessitated washing yogurt off a handful of toy cars and cleaning oreo filling off the wall. Yes, I give my kid oreos so I can make phone calls in the morning, please don't judge!)
I spent lots and lots of time this week on Travel Quilt #5, how's it look?
These black background hexies are starting to seem overwhelming.. I have been basting and joining rows of 5 since way back, but then suddenly I put together a few diamonds and a sashing strip and they're all gone.  So much for planning ahead to balance out the work.  I love how it's looking, but it's so much more fun to baste colorful hexies. 

In other EPP news, my dad is visiting relatives in Ireland this week and he brought along my book (to show off?  I doubt he was basting on the plane).  His cousin is interested in starting to quilt so this morning we're searching for local or online shops where she can get ahold of templates-- hexies, squares, equilateral triangles.. if you know of any Irish shops (near Loughrea, Galway, or anywhere else) that carry EPP supplies, please comment or send me an email! I'm excited to get her started and then see what she makes~

Ok, if you've got progress to link up, let us see it!


Thursday, July 24, 2014

12 Hexies Blog Hop!!

Hexies!  Hexies!  Hexies!
12 Hexie Blog Hop Button-200.jpg

What's not to love?  Even though I fell in love with EPP through 60 degree diamonds, once I started to hex seriously, I found that they're so soothing.  When basted to templates, they are perfectly contained little morsels of my favorite fabrics, portable, pleasing, playful..

Today is my day on the 12 Hexies Blog Hop and I've got a little tutorial for how to make a pin cushion with just 8 hexagons.  Though this is my tutorial, I can't take credit for coming up with the shape/pattern of the pin cushion.  I actually saw it on flickr ages ago, and in the comments of that pic, the poster referenced another blog post that she was inspired by.  Really folks, it's 8 hexies joined together.. there are only so many ways to do it.  But they go together so nicely and you can turn them into a really substantial pin cushion, so let's have a go at it--
First cut and baste your hexies.  I'm using 3 5/8" squares on 1 1/2" paper hexagon templates.  There are lots of great places to learn how to baste, if you don't have my book, check out this online tutorial.

Join the first 7 hexies into a rosette.  I tend to go around adding one "petal" at a time, then backtracking through the seam allowance to get back to the corner so I can join the new petal to the center.

I travel through the seam allowance on the back to get to another corner so I can continue sewing without cutting my thread.
Next start sewing the petals to each other, making the whole piece curve into a bowl.

Then add the last hexie to the "bottom".   When you're down to the last two seams, remove the last of the templates and whipstitch carefully along the edge.  Before you get all the way around, you'll need to flip the piece right side out.



Before you complete that last seam, insert a funnel in the hole and fill the pin cushion with crushed walnut shells.  You can get them at some quilt shops and most large pet supply stores (they are sold as reptile bedding).
Carefully stitch up the last part of the seam and smoosh it around until the corners have popped out and the filling is evenly distributed.  Then find two nice buttons and some thick thread.

 Tie a knot in the thread and push it through the center of the pin cushion and up through the first button.  Come back down and catch the second button, covering up the knot on the bottom.  Go through each button a few more times (3? 4?) then make a knot and bury it.


Thanks for stopping by my post on the blog hop!  If you make one of these pin cushions, I'd love to see it!  And don't forget to visit the rest of the blogs on the 12 Hexie Hop!



Monday, July 21, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/29

Trying to remedy my outer ring mix ups, I've spent the past week basting pale colors..
 We're home again in NY and I think we've finally got the house back in order. My sewing room has been reclaimed by stacks of freshly folded laundry (all dried outside, yay summer!) but I can't put it away until I sort through the clothes in all the drawers.. George's size 5's (and some 6's) have gotten too short but Jack is still somewhere between size 18 mos-2. Today he's got on pj pants that say 9-12 mos. His drawers are a mess, needless to say. Give me another week and I'll have our wardrobe situation figured out, and maybe then I can take back my cutting table. 


As always, being home with my stash again makes my head spin with too many creative ideas. George asked me to finish the pillow covers for the big floor pillows too, so I guess I'll have to add those to the 'To Do' list. Other items to add include:
+ Sort Stash
+ Hang display shelf
+ Pillow case for L
+ work on Travel Quilt #5


How have you been doing? Please show off your progress!
Oh, and have you been following along with the 12 Hexies or Less Blog Hop? My post will go up on Thursday, please come back and check it out! 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/28

Good morning!  I have progress to report!
As promised, I pulled out Travel Quilt #5 and started to make some sense of the mess. With our mini vacations inside this big Greek trip, my travel sewing kit has been packed, repacked, repurposed, and tossed around far more than I'm comfortable with.  Right now Travel Quilt #5 resides in a large salad bowl..
With all the chaos, I inadvertently switched the outer colors on some of the diamonds (so much for all that careful pre-trip planning I did back in NY) and now I see I have too many of certain outer colors and not enough balance in some rows.  So for the moment I can't stitch much together until I finish some more.  Motivation to keep going I guess?

Monday, July 7, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count

Ugh,  guys, what have I done?
We decided to take a last minute trip to Kastro/Killini to visit our cousins who are beach camping.  It was so last minute that while I remembered to bring my epp travel sewing kit, I completely forgot to pack deodorant and hair gel...
Anyway, here it's Monday and I have no way to post a decent Star Count!  I'm trying blogger's 'post by email' feature for the first time, hope it works.  I'm writing on my phone from a hotel in the middle of (very pretty) farmland, without wifi, of course.  This one blog post is eating  up my entire data package, I'm sure. 

So, let's see if I can get pics in this post.. sorry, no inlinkz linky, I left the password to my account at home. If you want to share your progress this week,  please leave us a link in the comments and I swear,  I'll get off my lazy vacationing a** and put together a real post for next week.  Xoxo.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Greater than

Lately I've been feeling a little.. frustrated.  Plans I've made have fallen through, goals I've set don't seem like they'll ever happen-- just one set back after another.  I have been trying to stay positive and cheerful, ever optimistic, but the truth is, all the bumps in the road were taking their toll.
I needed a  pick me up, so I set my timer for 15 minutes, and I just pieced and pieced, cut and ironed, and finally that box of crumbs I was saving for "some day" started to take shape.
Another sewing session after the kids went to bed and I've got a start on something..

I have wanted a mini quilt for the wall of our apartment here in Athens for a looooong time, so I think that's where this piece is headed.  Something to remind me to keep my chin up, something to help me get my creative energy back and centered.  A piece to remind me I am greater than all the crap that's trying to pull me down. 

I feel better.
It needs to be bigger still, but not tonight.

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