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

I had to share this Valentine's Day Story

Our girl wrote this story after making some snow people yesterday.  

She is the maroon truck in the story!

It's amazing she had any energy after three hours of snow people and shoveling.  

We had over 17 inches of snow then a couple more last night and more is coming tomorrow. 

 We need to go back out and shovel the rest of the drive or we are going no where!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!

~d

FAL # 4 Polaroids Forever!!!

Who doesn't love a Polaroid camera? Instant fun at any gathering. Big white-framed magic! Selfies on celluloid.  Then someone had the great idea to use cloth!

Yep, another fun swap, the Polaroid Swap group over at fun filled Flickr!

It all started at the Bitty Block Committee as a side swap but was so popular it branched off to a separate group.  The larger Polaroids are from the BBC so unframed they started as 3.5" blocks.  The smaller ones are from the side swap and new group so with frames were around the same size.

 All sashed up they ended up as nine inch blocks for a finished size of 54"x 63".  How about that wonderful flannel backing fabric. It's a Riley Blake for only $7.50 here!!!  I had a hard time picking because of all the wonderful choices!

Another reason for the multitude of mini blocks was a great package I received from my pal Sooz....she asked if I would like her blocks....of course I said yes and soon this fantastic package of tiny goodness arrived. I pulled out what I wanted and the remainders went to Laura in California to make a quilt for her granddaughter....paying it forward!:)

Thanks to all the gang at the BBC, Polariod swap and Sooz...couldn't and wouldn't have done it without you all!!

FAL #5 is all pieced together and going to my coworker Kathleen to be longarmed.

This puppy is 70"x 84" so I'm not wrestling it through my machine!!

Need to ironed it first.

I need a bigger ironing board!

~d

ps- Yes, we still have snow and are supposed to get more on Thursday!

FAL #3 Sew Fun Bee Blocks Together Forever!

Fifteen months....that's how long I have had these blocks.

 I asked for 15 1/2"low volume blocks and the gang at the Sew Fun Bee came through!

 One of the SFB peeps sent me a little extra piece of fabric so instead of making a block my self I put it in the center and hand quilted the whole thing. I SOOOO love it!!

Found a couple hunks of fabric in my stash for the backing.

Binding is from the collection Close to Home.  Looks like pebbles. I really, really like low volume quilts.  I have a couple of other ideas peculating in my head. 

By the looks of my jelly cupboard/stash storage I seem to have a lot of possibilities for low volume!
Thanks so much Sew Fun Bee Gang!!:)

~d

Icy Second FAL Finish

Snow, rain, ice, rain, wind...

 ...you name it we have been getting it.

 A river of ice down our driveway.  No walking happening there!

 This little piggy definitely didn't go to market.  I promise to upright him, when he thaws!

 That little tractor isn't doing anything.  Needs some TLC!  Hatteras Lighthouse whirligig is a reminder of warmer weather to come!

Since that's not  happening anytime soon (forecast is for more snow this weekend) I have a second finish for the FAL to share.

A little taggie and taggie steggie! He's only about 9" wide, great for small hands!

Off to work on finish #3.  Slate approved!:)

~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

Bandwagon...Here I Come!!

I wasn't going to jump....no...I wasn't going to worry about all those unfinished projects laying about the house.  No problem...they'll get done eventually.....eventually!  Arrgh! Not a good way to start 2014 right? So I'm jumping in on the Finish Along 2014 hosted by Katy all the way over in Scotland.  Come join us!!:)

 First off a Hexi flower wreath made from Liberty of London precuts I purchased last August.  I'm making this into a combo wallhanging/tabletopper/pillow! That's right...I'm going make an envelope flap in the back for a triple functional memory of our trip to the UK! Those prints are amazing and since I couldn't pick one I went for loads of bits!

 Second is my pile of Winter bitties from the Bitty Block Committee and  Polaroid swap.  Sashing them with my fav green for some snuggling fun!:)

 Third is this pile of 30 nine inch scrappy squares that have been hanging at work for a year as our Block of the Month project.  Now the year is finished and it's time to put them together!

 Fourth, Ugh, why did I start this?  But I have to finish! I'm making yarn from old tee shirts and I want to try to crochet a bathmat.  There are about 30 tees in that bag.  My hand hurts thinking about cutting them all up.  I need to cut one or two a day and get 'er done!!

Fifth is (yes Katy...bee blocks) that I have had from the Sew Fun Bee for almost two years. I asked for 12.5" low volume blocks. Aren't they lovely?  So calming and we all need some of that right?  I do think it's about time I get them together! I need to pick out something for the sashing. I'm thinking a very, very pale purply grey or aqua....any suggestions?

Sixth....and so looking forward to this little babe's birth....a couple of taggies and a surprise or two for my dear friend's daughter who's having a daughter of her own!:)

So...do you think I can do it all in three months? I know, I know...if I don't I can roll UFOs to the next quarter but where's the sport in that?  Have I inspired you to join in?

Come on....join in on all the fun with Katy....there are prizes!!!!:) Hahaha...knew that would get you interested!! Thanks Katy!!!

Happy Stitching and here's to a most marvelous, healthy, happy and productive New Year!!

~d