Mini Mania Challenge # 12....February Craziness

Those ladies over at the Mini Mania Challenge on Flickr put their crazy hat on for this month!

A three inch foundation pieced pineapple block from a free template by Little Mushroom Cap!

Do you know how many pieces are in that one three inch block?

THIRTY-THREE!!!

We were instructed to make as many as we wanted as long as the mini was no more than 24"....

....so one was enough for me!!!:) It's only 12" so challenge complete!!

When my eye-sight cleared a side swap at the Mini QT happened.  A zippy pouch for Sabrina....she has two white bunnies!:)

We both like the same thing....

(What Sabrina sent me!!:)

...so we ended up using the same color!!

Over at the PIPs round robin an addition was needed for Susan from OZ. Top left was Susan's starting block.  Underneath that was the sweet potted plant by Jan from the UK.  Then keeping the theme Ethne from the UK added the half pot in the center.  Onward to Scotland where Lynz added the four wee succulents.  Of course the theme had to continue so I added the "window mullion" and the other half of the pot and a wonky cactus.  Didn't mean for it to be wonky....stuff happens!;)

More happenings....finished pack #2 in the Glorious Hexagon Sew-Along. Phew!

Weather keeps happening too.  We still have snow on the ground from the big blizzard last month! Yesterday we had a huge thunderstorm...one inch of rain in half an hour....and a rainbow!:)

~d

The leftovers

So many projects....so little finishes...or at least ones I can show. 

Here is one, second for the third quarter.

It was made from the leftover half square triangles from this runner.

 There were soooooo many different ways I could have put these forty half square triangles together.  I have over 20 different configurations on my camera but love the way this one carries your eye out.  Sort of like a square drip of water ring!:)

 A few more geese and bits in the back and the envelope opening makes this more versatile. 

Table topper or pillow...I'm thinking pillow!:)

 Made a few ornaments for a swap.  Half inch hexagons.

 Never again!!

 This is what I am working on today.  All pin basted and half way hand quilted.

Of course there are always other things going on too!  

How about those Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus?:)

Like my new Instagram button up there on the right?

Thanks little sis! xoxo

~d

4th quarter Finish Along list

Bored....wanna baste some hexagons?

 Picture an awesome view of the ocean right outside your window....cool breezes blowing your hair...sand between your toes and seashells starting their march up the deck stairs...

What? You are bored?!!

Actually Pops wasn't bored last September when we spent a week in Duck, North Carolina but he didn't bring a project. No problem...I did!!

 Everything you need to baste hexagons.  Interested?

 Sure...I'll give it a go.

Eighty-three years young and grinning all the way! So cute!

(Squares on the right were finished too.)

A couple days later he had them all done.  Me...only two partial flowers!

Pops asks...any more?

Why yes!

For his October birthday the postal service delivered more...in his own quilted tray.

 My Thanksgiving present...two full bags! Guess I really need to get to stitching!

 And stitching...

 ...and stitching!

Five more to go.................

....then I have to start stitching them together!

English paper piecing...it's sort of like watching succulents grow....slow and steady but I love it!:)

~d

Hexy MF is in the HOUSE (after a photo shoot in the snow!)

Gosh, when did I start this?  I think it was June 2012 fresh after meeting Katy (i'm at ginger monkey) at the first Fat Quarterly Retreat in London.  I'm so inspired by that girl!

 Katy wrote us a bang up tutorial and you know with any quilt pattern, you do as much or as little as you want.  Only thing I didn't do from Katy's pattern was the vine-like stem. 

 Added a few more smaller flowers and leaves around the edges. The flowery fabric with the brown center is leftover from a dress I made for the girl when she was around six or seven!

The backing fabric is my fave Grunge!!  

 After sewing all the flowers (85!!) together and appliqueing them to the backing we were supposed to leave the backing behind the flowers but I couldn't stand the thought of my favorite fabric back there sort of wasted so I trimmed all the way around and got it out of there!:)

 My pal Linda did the quilting because again it was way too big to drag through my machine.

 Plus there is just no way anything I could manage would do it justice.  This quilt deserved superior quilting! Besides....I hand piece the entire freaking thing. Figured I could give myself and my hands a break!!

 Linda and I had a little miscommunication resulting in some fabric I added to make the backing bigger to fit her machine being quilted and it was UGLY fabric! 

I fixed that by adding a wider binding to part of it. 

Guess I could have taken a photo without a shadow across the binding!

Sooooo much snow and now we are supposed to get rain.  

Noah, where's the Ark?!! 

Oh, that's right-we have a boat in the basement!;)

~d

One down....five to go

Five UFOs left on my Finish Along list. Didn't put every unfinished project hidden in the house on the list or I would have been embarrassed!

 So, number one finished is the Liberty of London Hexi wreath. It's a table topper, a wall hanging AND...

...I can put a pillow form inside. Once our house is done that is exactly what I will do with it.  In the meantime it goes in the "Finished" Rubbermaid bucket!

(Some of my many future projects stacked on top of my bookself and a hidden surprise!)

Here are a few other things I finished before joining the FAL. I was inspired to make this because of a pillow Jo made last year.  Go look at Jo's...it's fabulous!

One of my problems is knowing where to quilt.  Now that I have finished this one I wish I had quilted in the yellow diamond and green triangles.  Hopefully I'll remember and learn from this experience.  Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I see what I should have done!:)

 A mini made from scraps of PB&J.  I made some blocks to hang at work...guess I should have taken a photo of them too!;) See...I think I should have quilted this one different too!

 A baby quilt for a friend in Hawaii.  Sort of an I Spy so big brother can play the game with new baby brother.  Simple but fun!

This month's theme at the Sketchbook Challenge 2014 is Sketching with Collage.  I used tickets and stubs and prints and postcards from last year's trip to the UK.  Man o'man we did a lot!!

I am now working on hand quilting the Sew Fun Bee quilt and I have sashed and joined all the Polaroid blocks but I don't have enough pins to baste it until the other one is done!

In the meantime I'm thinking about projects to use these colored elastics I found on sale. Hubby needs a Kindle cover....think he'll mind polka dots to hold it closed?:)

~d

Sand, Sunsets, Selvedges, a Flower and a Shower!

 Ahhhh...Outer Banks of North Carolina in October.....Awesome!

While climbing the largest sand dune on the east coast at Jockey's Ridge State Park we watched all the varied looks of a sunset with the girl who is home for a visit from the UK.

 What could be better?

 I'm not the only one that was taking photographs.

 Looking over the Sound.

 Worked on a double Grandmother's Hexy Flower....we are making kits for these at work!

Speaking of work...that was the real reason we were at the beach, so Don could remodel a bathroom and do a few other things.

 He didn't get a lot of time to relax. Among the many things he worked on during our week at the beach this was the main change....from this tub/shower insert to this...

...lovely marble tiled shower!

 While there I finished my Round Robin quilt....is this staged nicely enough Lynz?:) I had to wait til we returned home so I could put the couch pillows on the bed!

Yesterday I did my first selvedge blocks for Hollie at our Sew Fun Bee.  I don't think I'll be making any more because I just don't remember to save my selvedges!

Hope you've had time to enjoy a great sunset!

~d