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Dear Jane Siggie Blocks

April 23rd, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Dear Jane, Hand Piecing | Leave a comment

Well I got my blocks done today, they are all packaged up and will be picked up by the mail carrier tomorrow.  I love being able to print shipping labels online and have them pick it up, I don’t have to go to the post office anymore!  All of mine were done with some form of green outside of the center square.  At least I have 50 blocks done and it will be shipped way before the deadline!  I did get some more white on white fabric today at Joann’s and I already have them all cut up and in the 2.5″ square bin just waiting to make some more hexis.  Planning on work on the beading the rest of the night, I’m hoping I can get the first one done tonight – it is a possibility!

Design Wall Monday

April 23rd, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Hand Piecing | 4 comments

Well, I actually got the next row attached on the Hexagon quilt last night!  I have 2 rows left to do and I already have the flowers ready, just need white hexis!  I mentioned here that I wasn’t sure if I should do a scrappy border or solid colors.  I’ve decided that I’m going to do scrappy.  Especially now that I have all my 2.5″ strips cut up into squares!  I love my Accuquilt Go!  I mentioned in February that I got the 2.5″ squares die that has 9 squares on it.  It was so easy to line up the strips and just keep running it through the machine.  I even found a stack of fabric I didn’t realize was there and cut it with the chisel die.  Not that I have a plan for a project, the strips were just the right size!  Alex and I are going to Joann’s today after his Dr’s appt, I need a different container for these beads, a different pen/marker for the Dear Jane Siggie blocks, and maybe some more fabric, we’ll see what I find.

Head over to see what everyone else is up to over at Judy’s.

It’s been awhile

April 22nd, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Cross Stitch, Dear Jane, Hand Piecing | Leave a comment

I know, I haven’t been around lately.  I’ve been busy!  We now have an 18 month old, and man is he active.  He never stops!  I mentioned last time that I joined a SAL on Facebook.  I have all 4 words done, just have to do all the beading which is totally new for me.  I think I need to get a beading needle, I found some that might work, I just need to try them.  If not I’ll go to Joann’s after Alex’s 18 month Dr appt and get some.  I don’t have pictures yet, I hope to have some this week as I finish the beading.

I now have all of my Dear Jane Siggie Swap blocks done, I just need to stamp and sign them all.  Had to make 50 blocks!!  When I get a chance I’ll have to start designing the layout, I should have them all back sometime in the beginning of May because they are due to the coordinator by May 1st.

While I was finishing up my siggie swap blocks today I was looking at the pile of 2.5″ squares on my sewing table.  I have a basket of colors and was going to buy another basket for the white/lights.  I also have a basket for 1.5″ strips and 2.5″ strips.  I decided today that since I never use the 2.5″ strips and might not ever, I’d rather use my 2.5″ square die for my Go and cut them all into squares.  Since I’m working on the Hexagon quilt using the 2.5″ squares, this will give me some more variety.  I actually threw some strips away, I don’t know where they came from and the fabric was just so thin I didn’t like how it felt.  I got everything ironed and waiting on the cutting table, hopefully I can get it all cut up in the next day or so.

I’m working on adding the next row to the hexagon quilt, hoping to have that done tonight so I can get a picture.  I have the next row of flowers done, just need to get some white squares prepped, I’ll have lots of papers for them once I get the row added.

See you soon!

Still flying along!

February 24th, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Electric Quilt, Hand Piecing | One comment

I really have been flying on this hexagon quilt.  I’d say I’m just about halfway done and I’ve only been working on it for 2.5 weeks!  I was surfing today while I was stitching some pieces together and found an interesting website with the History of Hexagons.  I also saw a picture that gave me a great idea for the border, and no, I’m not telling until I have it designed out in EQ and know for sure that’s what I’m doing.  I still haven’t decided how big I want to go with this, but I do know I want to try hand quilting it.  I was thinking about making a small flower – maybe with 2 rings around the center hexi – and hand quilting that first before I start on the whole quilt.  I still want to take a class on hand quilting, but I don’t know if and when that will happen.  I forgot to post the picture the other day of the pile of 2.5″ squares I cut with my Accuquilt Go, so I’ve posted that below along with the current status of the top – I can’t wait to get more done!

Pile of 2.5" Squares cut with Accuquilt Go

Hexagon quilt status 02-24-12

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about blogging and something bothers me.  You don’t know if anyone is actually reading it or if you are really just talking to yourself!  I know my hubby reads this, because it’s in his RSS feeds and he mentions it all the time, “I see you blogged today”.  But I don’t know if anyone else is reading this or not.  I don’t seem to get any comments, which makes me think either I’m not interesting, or no one is reading.  Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

WOW!

February 21st, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Hand Piecing | Leave a comment

I got my new die yesterday and boy is it nice!  I just cut 48 2.5″ squares in 1 pass out of a fat quarter!  And there is so little waste!  Here’s some pics I took as I did it.  I’ve cut up 2 fat quarters so far, I have 6 more to do, plus the three 1/4 yard white on white’s that I bought.  I’m really glad I spent the money for the die, should have done this sooner.  I’ll have to finish cutting later, Alex is up from his nap and I need to give him a bath!  I’ll be back later with a picture of all the pieces I cut out today!

So much done!

February 18th, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Guild, Hand Piecing, Quilt Show 2010 BOM | Leave a comment

Oh my goodness have I accomplished a lot lately!  Today was the guild sew-in, only 2 people besides me showed!  I finished the blocks for The Quilt Show 2010 BOM and started working on the borders.  I got the first set done, I have 136 half square triangles to put together for the next set of borders.  Probably won’t get to that yet, but it’s next on the agenda!

December Star Crazy Blocks

Remember last year when I said I was going to start hand piecing a quilt?  Well, since I want to use the 2.5″ squares on the hexagon quilt I decided to just machine piece everything I had done and see how big it was going to turn out.  It’s kinda on the small side unfortunately (only 20″ x 36″) , I’m thinking I might put some borders on it and have it in the car for Alex.  We’ll see what I decide to do with it, it won’t be anytime soon!  I might just decide to start making more blocks and make it bigger, I do like how it looks.

hand piecing project

My die from Accuquilt shipped last week and should be here Monday, so I will be able to cut up the whites I bought last week and the fat quarters I pulled from the stash.  I’m really happy with how it looks so far, I did a mock-up in EQ and right now it’s designed at 37″ x 43″.  I’m not sure how big I want to make this, so for now that’s where I’m headed as a starting point.  I need 39 whole flowers and 10 half flowers for the top and bottom, right now I’ve got 15 whole flowers completed.  It looks dark in the picture but’s it really not that dark.  I bought some plastic templates at Joann’s last week and have started using them.  I haven’t decided if I like the heavier weight paper or the templates yet.  They are a lot thicker than the paper, I’ll have to see if there’s a difference when it’s sewed together and the templates are removed.

Hexagon Quilt 02-18-12

Never got up to the frame the other day, I still need to finish removing the red tacks from the backing so I can get working on re-tacking it, I want it off that frame!!!  Now that I have my MacBook pretty much setup the way I want with music, I’m hoping I can work on it tomorrow since I’ll have music to listen to while Alex sleeps!

Wow I’m flying!

February 12th, 2012 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Electric Quilt, Guild, Hand Piecing | Leave a comment

Was it only Tuesday I posted about starting my hexagon quilt? I cannot believe how much I have done already! I’m using red centers for the flowers and scrappy around that center. White in between each flower. I have 9 flowers done, 7 of them almost all put together. Putting this much together allowed me to pull some of the templates out and I can work on getting more flowers together. I’m hoping (weather permitting) to go to Joann’s tomorrow and get some fat quarters – white for sure and possibly some colors – even though I have a bunch of squares all ready to go. A few years ago one of my friends gave me a gift certificate for Accuquilt, and I haven’t used it yet. I think I’m going to get the 2.5″ square die which will cut out 9 squares per layer at once. It’ll be so much faster doing it that way instead of using the value die that came with my Go that only cuts 1 per layer at a time. It’ll also help when I decide to go back to my other hand piecing quilt project with the 4 patches.

Hexagon Progress 2-12-12

I didn’t mention it the other day, but I never made it to the guild sew-in last month. I spent the morning of the 26th prepping Star Crazy and making my pillow case contribution. By the time Alex got up I wasn’t feeling very well and had a fever! Somehow I managed to get the flu and was sick until the following week. However, they are having another one this weekend and I already told hubby I needed to go. Have to figure out a way to start working on my projects!!!

Pillowcase for charity

Hoping to get up to the frame in a little bit to see how much I can get done on basting my mom’s turning twenty quilt. I had it almost done and discovered that there wasn’t enough backing fabric the way I had attached it to the frame. Had to take it all out and start over again. Since I’m using those red plastic tacks I need to get the off the backing so I can start again. Hoping to get that done soon so I can quilt the tumbler quilt for my sister – haven’t worked on that in a long time! I just went back to link to the post where I showed it and I haven’t taken a picture of it yet! I don’t feel like taking it out right now, but I’ll get a picture before it goes on the frame.

It’s been awhile….

March 11th, 2011 | Category: Accuquilt Go, Alex, Hand Piecing | Leave a comment

I know, I’ve been absent for awhile. I don’t much time to sew anymore since I spend all my free time (and some that’s not free) with Alex. I can’t believe he’s going to be 5 months old on Monday! Time is going by way too fast!

Anyway, since I don’t have time to sew at my machine anymore, and since I’ve been kinda jealous of Karen with all the hand piecing and hand quilting that she does. And because I have my little tubs full of already cut up scraps of fabric, I decided to start hand piecing a quilt. Once Alex goes to bed at 9, I’m just too tired to sit at the sewing machine to sew. But I’m awake enough to be able to hand piece blocks while I watch basketball games or movies with my husband! I’m making 4-patch blocks, 2 white and 2 scraps. I had to pull a bunch of white fat quarters out and cut them into squares with my Go, because I just don’t have a lot of white scraps. Not quite sure why. I took it with me last night to guild and managed to sew 17 pairs of 2 together. This is not something I even care about being finished right away, and I might set it aside and work on something else, but for now it’s the only sewing I can do!

The start of the hand pieced quilt!

I did pick up 3 kits from guild last night to make charity quilts. I need to help more in the guild and I really need to get in front of my sewing machine before I forget how to use it!

In addition to working on the hand pieced quilt, I’ve decided that I want to learn to hand quilt. Again, since I don’t have a lot of time in front of the machine, I need to do things that I can work on in the family room while Alex is playing or we are watching tv at night. There is a class in May that I’m going to sign up for, hubby can take care of Alex for a 3.5 hour class! Oops, just realized that I have a dentist appt that day, now I don’t know if I can sign up…..doggone it!

I’ll try not to be a stranger anymore….I need to start reviewing books, blogs, something!!! Oh and here’s a gratuitous picture of my baby!!! :)

Alex lounging on Lady

Happy Day!!!

August 4th, 2010 | Category: Accuquilt Go, PhD Challenge, Quilts | Leave a comment

I’ve had my Mini-Pinni frame for almost 2 years now and have really only played with it. I haven’t finished a SINGLE quilt on it! It wasn’t until March that I figured out why it wasn’t working correctly (this post). I decided that if I’m going to get anything else on my PhD list done before this baby is born, I have to be able to do some pantographs. So I went up today and tried the free one that came with the frame package. It worked! :) I need the hubby to help me figure out the right way to hook the laser up to my machine so I don’t have to hold the button down while I’m sewing, but it works! I think the first one I do is going to be the Quilter’s Suduko that I put together in January. Hopefully I won’t make too much of a mess of it and be able to put the binding on in a few days!

Last weekend I put together the backing for the quilt for the shower. I mentioned last month that I wasn’t going to actually quilt it until after the shower, but I figured it might save me some time later if I figured out the backing now. I got out my Accuquilt Go and cut out tumbler blocks out of all the fabrics that were used in the front. Lucky for me I had just enough tumbler blocks to have enough for the backing without adding anything! This left some of the fat quarters that I didn’t know what to do with. So I got out the die that came with my Go and starting cutting them up into 4.5″ squares and 2.5″ squares where I could. I now have a nice pile of 4.5″ charm squares that I can use to make some more quilts! Not that I need to make anymore!

Since I already had the Go out, I decided to start going through all my scraps and see what could actually be saved and cut up into 4.5″ or 2.5″ squares or 2.5″ triangles. I still have more scraps that need to be cut up, but it will get done sooner or later. I also have a small pile of scraps that can be cut into 1.5″ strips (this needs to be done by hand since I don’t have the die for my Go). The 1.5″ strips will be used for my locker rug hooking. I know, I have way too many projects going!!! :)

Sorry, no pictures today!