Follow-Up-Friday: What I've Been Up To!!!

Hi peeps! 

How's everyone doing today??? We are having crazy weather…sunny and up to 55 degrees one day, then cold and rainy the next!!! It's really doing a number on my migraines and the Fibromyalgia…grrr!

As promised in this post,I had some fun playing with my citrus HST's. I came up with the above placement and sewed them all together yesterday. I have to say that this is the first time ever, that my HST's have worked out! This time I was very careful to mark my sewing lines and I actually trimmed them too! What a difference that made!

I also promised to show you what I get up to in the evenings while binge-watching Netflix(we are on season 4 of House, MD and season 3 of House of Cards). Well, I sew English Paper Pieced hexagons(1" sides)…a whole lot of them!!! 

Pictured is a pile of about 75% of the hexies I have already done for the Kid's quilt.  These ones have already been sewn together in threes…which I call "triplets".

Once I get all my "triplets" done, I sew three of them together, side by side, into "niners". Sew, sew, sew!!!

I store my "niners" in a plastic shoebox. I have them wedged in there very tight, so they actually press themselves. This also keep them nice and flat as when I sew them together they kind of curl up at the ends.

Once the "niners" are all sewn together, I stack two of them to make an "18-patch". 

This is my basic block and they are all super scrappy. This quilt, like the one I made for us, will have 216 of these 18-piece blocks and will measure 96" x 113", plus a 4" border. It makes a pretty huge quilt, but that also means you can double it over on itself and have a two-layered quilt for especially cold nights.

These are the half-hexagons I have already basted. The ones like the yellow one on the left will be for going down the right and left sides of the quilt and the ones like the red one on the right will be sewn onto the top and bottom blocks. 

Once I have my "18-patches" done, I lay out the ones I want for the top and bottom as well as the right and left sides, then I attach a numbered label(i.e.: T1-meaning the top left-side block). That way I know which blocks go where and can attach the half-hexies. It would be way too cumbersome to have to attach these small pieces once the body of the quilt is all sewn together.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever made a quilt using the English Paper Piecing technique? If not, would you be interested in a tutorial on how to baste the fabric to the paper shapes, then sew the shapes(hexies) together?

Sharing is caring!!!

Don't forget that I am happy to share…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away*! Just please make sure your posts link back to this blog. 

*If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red pin-it button will show up and all you have to do is click it to be taken to your Pinterest boards. There is also another red button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could always use the little grey square buttons at the end of this post.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

PLEASE NOTE: The writer of this blog accepts forms of compensation such as, but not limited to; fabric/notions/patterns/books in exchange for a posted review. All comments/critiques/opinions are completely my own and are not those of the provider. This post may also contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. Thanks!

NEW SPONSOR and an AURIFIL GIVEAWAY!

Hi Peeps!

I would like to welcome Paper Pieces on board the blog today. This is where I purchased my (almost) 4,000 papers for the first and second giant hexie quilts. They have generously offered 20% off your order, using the code: qsh20. They have high quality card-stock papers to sew your fabric on, in a multitude of shapes. Head on over to their website and have a look around! They also have various books and notions to help you on your way. 

Coupon code expires: July 1, 2015.

How about that weather! It was close to 100* yesterday for Canada Day!

We didn't go to any of the festivities as I don't do crowds much, but we did head into town for some lovely air-conditioned shopping. Got some much-needed things and found an awesome tripod for my camera(alas, not purple!), and it was on sale! Yay!

I rummaged through my latest box of scraps from L in Arizona and found most of the fabrics needed for my Prism Jumbo pillow. Got them all trimmed up and drew the diagonal lines on for piecing the HSTs. I figured that since I was cutting all the fabrics needed for one pillow, I might as well make 2! You can follow along if you like! The tutorial is on my Cute Tute Links page.

 ...and now for the Giveaway!!!

There will be three, yes three, winners of my giveaway today. Each winner will receive a large and small spool of Aurifil thread(care of Alex Veronelli-Aurifil Brand Jedi!!). The thread is in various neutral colours and weights. Also in your little grab bag will be: a book of John James needles, a fat quarter of unicorn/castle print(gotta spread the purple love!), and a zipped nylon sewing bag(or you could use it for cosmetics). I had the bags printed by CowCow.com. The needles, fatties and bags are from me!

Now here's the rulezzz…

1. You must follow me by email. That includes all my Facebook, Bloglovin and Google Plus friends. 

-Just enter your email in the Follow Me By Email window in my right-hand border. 

-You will get a pop-up window that will ask you to type in a code, then hit enter. 

-Lastly, you will receive an email confirming that you want to follow this blog. Click on that and you are done! It actually takes more time to type out this explanation than it does to follow me! I ask that you do stay following me for at least a month or two. I do not share emails.

2. You must leave me a comment letting me know that you are following me by email, and within the same comment I would like you to tell me which kinds of tutorials you would like me to do. I do have a few thoughts, but it never hurts to get input from other peeps.

That's it, easy-peasy! 

Just follow me by email, comment that you have, and tell me about tutorials you would like! 

One comment per person only, please.

I will draw three names on Saturday, July 5 and will contact the winners shortly after that. Please make sure I can email you for your snail-mail addy. If you are a no-reply blogger, please make sure to give me your email address.

This giveaway is open to international addresses(I am in Canada), with the exemption of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East-due to the high frequency of lost/stolen mail.

Sorry, I am not responsible for lost or stolen mail.

Giveaway has been awarded. Thanks for participating!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline

Saturday Showcase

Hi Peeps!

It's been a while, I KNOW, but life keeps on getting in the way!!!

I finished another table runner. This one is for my Mother in Law, for her birthday tomorrow. We will all see her tonight as we are going to supper at a fancy Italian restaurant. Yumm!

Here's the back. This is another remnant that has been hiding in my stash for years!!! Use it up, I say!

This is my next scrap project. This is the Jumbo Prism Pillow Tutorial by Lee at Freshly Pieced. Have a look at all the great things on her blog. I have lots and lots of scraps and plan to use some of my bolt of Kona-Snow for the solid.

Here are my vintage china tea cups. The green one is my favourite, it is made by Ainsley. I have been slowly collecting these from garage sales and thrift stores, though the thrifts stores around here charge a mint for them.

Post-war vintage platter, inherited from my dear Granny. She was a war bride from England. Her father said "on no certain terms was she allowed to date one of those hick prairie Canadians"!!! So, she married him!!!

Another treasure from my Granny. I think this one is from the 50's. The rooster comes off and there is a depression for putting chopped green onions or crumbled bacon in. I chipped it within a week of gaining possession…grrr...

The latest box of scraps from my dear friend L in Arizona. As you can see, I had a lot of fun digging through it! Aren't those little owls cute? I am still cutting pieces for my son's hexie quilt, though I don't have that many more to baste. I will take a break from basting hexies in the evening after this. I am planning to work on a EPP 6-bladed star quilt. I have cut the kit for it already.

This is on one of the walls in our 'dining room'. It is not actually a room, just more an extension of the kitchen, and the balcony sliding doors are just to the right. My kitchen is decorated in a loose Mexican style. I have been collecting Mexican painted pottery for years and years.

Canada Day is coming up next week…and the Aurifil thread giveaway is coming soon!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline

A sunny saturday afternoon

Hi all!

I had a lovely morning sewing(while emptying the dishwasher and other nasty things like that!), and am at the halfway point on the fabric boxes tutorial I shared with you last week(link on Cute Tutes page).

These are the two fabrics I've chosen, as well as some buttons I am auditioning. Not sure which ones I'll go with yet...

One of the fatties had the designer's name printed on it, but the other did not. Love my little vintage fruit nappy, perfect for holding tidbits!

Can you see my shadow on the turquoisey-green fabric??? 

I wanted the quilting to show up a little, so I chose some Antique Gold-coloured thread. I hope to finish them up tomorrow(best laid plans... *wink*).

I was a naughty girl and did a little online retail therapy at Fabricworm. It arrived on my doorstep Friday. Happy Mail!!! I have plans for the black print, bias plaid and the teal, but bought the remaining 4 yards of the oh-so-colourful block print just because! It is in all my go-to colours, so it will be used! I am thinking maybe a scrappy BOM??? All the fabric arrived enclosed in a large, sturdy ziplock-style bag. That will be re-purposed as soon as I get the fabric into my stash. No, sorry, no pictures of the stash…it's embarrassing to say the least! hee hee hee

So I decided to jump on the blogosphere bandwagon and got the Sew Together Bag pattern by Michelle Tucker of Sew Demented. I just had to have that pattern! It is a great little zip-up organizer…perfect for my paper piecing supplies. I first heard about it on several of the blogs I follow and then again during the Sew Mama Sew semi-annual giveaway. I am a little concerned about installing all those zippers, but the 14 page pattern(it's a PDF) has loads of info. You can get your copy here.

Here's another sneak preview of the giant hexie quilt(I have to wait for the hubs' help to photograph the entire quilt):

You can see the border fabric in this one. I decided to sew the border on by hand as well, so now I can say it is pieced entirely by hand.

And this is the backing fabric. The gingham check is 1/4". 

Initially, I bought 6 yards(it is 57" wide), but by the time I finished the quilt, I realized that I needed much more. The Lord was in my corner, as I found the online store I'd bought the original piece from(they had moved their store to Etsy) and they had some left! Can you believe that? I bought what they had and now have enough! Happy story!

That's all for me folks!

Happy sewing,

Jacqueline

A new addition...

Hi all! 
I'd like to welcome my new followers! Feel free to share with your friends.

Soooo….guess what the UPS lady brought me last night??? Woo-hoo!!!! My purple camera has arrived!!! I have finally joined the 21st century! 
Thanks, hubs!

Now I can show you a few things…

This is my shoe box, get it? S.H.O.E. B.O.X. (*wink*). This is where I keep my pre-cut fabric for hexies.

 This is a view of what's inside.

These are my new quilting and embroidery books that my guys gave me for Mother's Day! Aren't I spoiled???

Last night before bed I decided to do a little rummaging through my fat quarters. I wanted to pick 2 coordinating ones to make the quilted fabric box mentioned the other day. Found them and then started playing in my huge glass button jar(it used to be a Biscotti jar, I love to re-purpose!)…well, the hubs gets out of bed and comes roaring into my sewing room, hollering "do you know how loud you are being?". It never occurred to me that my mindless fondling of all and sundry buttons was irritating the poor man! What could I do? I had to find some matching buttons, and yes, I did have to do it at that moment! He was not amused….

This is sneak preview #1 of the giant hexie quilt. Little blurry I know, I must learn to not breathe when I take pics!

This is sneak preview #2 of the giant hexie quilt! I love those blocks with the kitty cat faces and the one with the cactus.

Had my appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon yesterday. Turns out I have 'early' Arthritis in my knee and nothing can be done about it, surgery-wise. He gave me a physiotherapy exercise to do and told me to lose weight. Not so helpful, but I will do the exercise and cut back on the sweets. Groan…

The kid got called back for a second interview at the cinema, so he is quite excited and so are we!

It is a beautiful day, so I am going to have the hubs unearth my lounger and have a rest under the tree with my new quilting books.

Has anyone got any new books lately? I'd love to hear about them!

Thanks for reading and have a great one,

Jacqueline

Next in line

Hello all! 
Happy Memorial Day weekend to my American friends!

I thought I would show you what is next in line, as far as large projects go. This is Impromptu, by the very sweet Rachel Griffiths of ps. I quilt. She has a great website with lots of free tutorials and her pattern shop. You can get the downloadable pattern here. It uses a layer cake and yardage, but I am planning to use up some of my stash of fat quarters, and yardage from my bolt of Kona-snow.

It is cold and rainy, a perfect day to press my hexie quilt. So I am going to hit the ironing board. Sure wish I had the above iron. I do have a Rowenta, but it is about 13 years old. It still works well, but who could resist such a fabulous racy BLUE iron!!!!

That's all for me today, thanks for reading!

Jacqueline

A job interview...

Hi peeps!

My teenaged son had his first ever job interview last night. It is for the local cinema, which would be awesome as it is a 5 minute walk from home. Please send good thoughts! I will be keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

This is a pic of the almost 4,000 basted hexies that I used in the King hexagon quilt. At this stage, I had already sewn them into 'triplets'. The photo is not the greatest, having being taken on the kiddo's iPad. In the corner is yardage of some really nice white muslin, ordered from Hancock's of Paducah online. Also some jelly roll strips for a Strip Disco quilt, cut them out of my stash.

Connecting Threads is having a great sale…and their wonderful house-brand threads are on sale too @ $1.95(and it's a big spool)! They are backordered on white and red, but those colours are supposed to arrive before the thread sale ends on June 16. I use this thread(it is 50-weight) for most of my piecing and hexie basting. It is very smooth.

I have been ordering from them for years, and they have a great selection and customer service is superb.

You may wonder why I order a lot of things online…we live in a small town and the nearest fabric store is over a hour's drive away, and it is only a chain fabric store at that. The nearest LQS is not local to me at all, so I do most of my purchases online. Due to certain medications I take for my chronic illnesses, I do not drive anymore. So getting to a LQS is almost impossible, at this moment.

I have included the CT sale email for your perusal. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and follow your star!

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New!!!!

Hi peeps!
Guess what my dear hubs just bought me…

…and it's purple!!!! Yay!!! Now I just have to wait 4-10 days till it arrives.

I am so excited as I have lots of things to show you!

That means I have a week or so to finally press the (unnamed)mammoth hexie quilt. I have been putting off the final press of the flimsy till it was a cool day outside, and well, let's be perfectly honest, I'm just not a fan of pressing. 

A few days ago I decided to tidy the 'forbidden closet', hoping to find the digital camera I got with Airmiles about 3 years ago. Well, the tidy turned into an all-out purge! I ended up getting several garbage bags full of old stuff to send to Value Village(that's Savers, in the USA). The closet looks pretty good, but I totally over-did it. Ended up with a multi-day migraine…but that is how it goes with me.

That's all for me today, thanks for reading!

Holiday Monday

Queen Victoria

Hi all, happy Monday!

Today is a holiday here in Canada, named after the above dour-looking lady. She reigned for many years and is the grandmother of the now-sitting Queen of England. Those of us living in a former British Colony get the day off, paid!

That being said, it also means there are no newspapers…grrrr….

So, I spent my morning-coffee newspaper-reading-time flipping through an old quilting magasine and a new-to-me quilting book.

I love foundation paper piecing as you get such nice, crisp points. Something which is kind of a hit or miss in my sewing room(groan…). This book has a bunch of great patterns to try and the foundation patterns are all to size. She even gives directions on how to re-size the patterns on your printer. Another thing I like about her pattern pieces is that they don't include the seam allowances. I just find that the least bulk possible is the best, when it comes to FPP, and I would cut the excess allowances off anyway, then trim my fabric to 1/4". And, instead of using pins(which can bend and become dull when going through multiple layers of fabric and paper) she suggests you use plastic-coated paper clips to temporarily secure your fabric to your paper. You wouldn't want to do that at intersections that need to be precise, she adds.
I got my copy on Amazon.ca.

Last night the kid was at a guy's games-night-sleepover, so the hubbs and I watched 3 movies on Netflix. The first was The American-George Clooney. Now, usually in my eyes, he can do no wrong, BUT this was a miss in my humble opinion. I guess that is why it wasn't at the theatres for long. We then watched Trespass-Nicolas Cage. Not bad, but I had figured out the twist soon into it. Last was a Pirate feature animation, voice of Hugh Grant, among others. My comic-book-artist husband giggled all the way through, but I was kind of meh…got A LOT of my hexies basted, to say the least.

I have been searching high and low for my digital camera, but have a sinking feeling that DH might have tossed it by accident. No fear, I have things in the works and hope to have a camera and pics on the blog, in the next 2 weeks.

That's all for me today, thanks for reading.