Why or 'Y' Not

My curiosity got the best of me and I enjoyed every minute of it! I spent some time trying to figure out WHY you need to paper piece hexagons. All that cutting out wax paper and hand basting seemed so time consuming. Sooo...

I had tried hand piecing hexagons and found it very relaxing and enjoyable. I did it so that I could try English paper piecing and I knew that my Grandmother had done them that way so I wanted to do it too. I saw other quilters do it so I had to do it too.

Hmmm...time for something new!

I decided to see if I could piece them on the sewing machine and after thinking it through I gave it a go. I found a template that I had bought a while back and never used. I cut out lots of hexagons with a rotary cutter (not scissors...gasp!) from some Charm packs that I had of April Cornell fabric. My template had a hole at the quarter inch seam that I used to mark the corners. I laid out all of my pieces for the hexagon flower I was going to piece for a pin cushion. I started with the center block and put right sides together, marked the two corners that I was going to sew to and from, put the needle down right on the marked dot and sewed to the next dot. Next I picked up the next hexagon and continue marking the corners as I went, to save time I marked the corners that I needed to as I went. When I got to a 'Y' seam I folded the center hexagon in half to move it out of the way of the stitching. I did have to do a lot of concentrating on which way the seams needed to be folded, but soon I was on a roll.

After I got the first ring done I ironed all of the seams around the edge in one direction and then ironed the center hexagon out. This method layed out very nice and flat. I put one more ring of hexagons on to the outside of that.

The project that I was making these for turned out to be a bit larger than I was anticipating. It is a pincushion that measures 6" across. I found it on the Moda Fabrics Free Patterns page. I haven't finished it yet because I was thinking of a way to make it smaller, but decided that a large pincushion could be quite useful and I am liking the way it is turning out. I have chosen not to add the prairie points that the pattern calls for. I will stuff it with walnut hulls and lavender with a little batting in the center.

I'm not sure which is the best way to put together hexagons, but I found this to be simple enough with a little thought and I think it saved some time. Hand piecing hexagons does make for a nice small project that you can take anywhere and hand piecing 'Y' seams might make them a little less intimidating, but I did find the machine method to work out well for me and I had fun trying!

While wondering "Why?" I found a new project and an answer..."why not!?"

Thank you Moda!

I have to thank Moda and Sheri Howard for the fun project I just pieced today. The last thing I needed was another project but, when I saw Sheri's version of the Irish Chain I couldn't resist. I have been cutting and piecing for the last 2 days (even in my dreams). I love what I came up with. I went through my stash and pulled out some large prints that I wasn't sure what I was planning to do with them in the first place. When you cut a large print it takes on many different looks, but I found a few colors that they all had in common and I picked an nice plain lavender for my flowers and created a lavender inner border from the scraps and voila! I like it! Now I have to figure out how to quilt it...I'm sure I'll have dreams about that too. I wonder if all quilters have quilting dreams. I also dream about gardening and my job.

I was very grateful for such a fun project to give my mind a break from work for a while. I also found a new blog to follow. Be sure to check out Sheri's blog it is full of fun and crafty ideas! I see that she has been featured on Moda Bakeshop before with a cute idea for sewing cards. Thank you Moda for all the wonderful ideas that keep coming out of your Bakeshop. I hope someone will put them together into a book someday. I have been printing the ones I like and making a notebook that is quickly filling up. Now I just need to find some time to tackle all the great projects that I would like to

Another great inspiration for me has been Joanna Figueroa. I just recieved her book Fresh Vintage Sewing and some of her Fresh Vintage magazines. They are a work of art in themselves and full of beautiful projects that she makes look so easy. I am anticipating making the Jelly Stars quilt soon. I saw it done up so beatifully in the Prairie Queens Quilt shop. They had done the most beautiful quilting on it. If I get the top pieced I might just have to take it to them to quilt. Joanna's got a very fun blog also with the sweetest french music that plays for you, I hate to turn it off!

May all your dreams be of things you love!

Ferne

I have been falling behind on all my Block of the Month blocks, but I am still enjoying them and keeping all the directions up to date so that when I get to the next point I will still know what to do even if I am not on time. I worked on the February part of the Stars for a New Day quilt. This one is a real challenging project. I just added this pieced border tonight and am not sure I am up to the next border. It is made of pinwheel blocks and it is all seeming a little too busy to me, but the techniques are really good practice and the directions are very well written. The Quilt Show has even had a video to go with the directions each month which is extremely helpful. I'm not sure how much further I will go with this because of the time and difficulty. I'll take a little break from it then decide.

I have also been working on the Verandah Views blocks slowly and am just a little behind on them but I did make a pieced house block the other night for nothing in particular I just have wanted to make one ever since I got the Fig Tree Quilts Houses book. I had my embroidery laying out nearby and noticed that the colors looked so good together that I think I will have to change the layout and add the house block in the mix.

Spring has sprung and work is busy. I haven't had much time to work in my garden but, when I went to water the other day I was surprised to find that 3 of the 10 tomatoes I had planted had froze last week. Our weather has been really weird, warm one day and cool the next...today it was about 90. I guess that is normal for us though at this time of year, but still it always surprises me. I had just packed away my winter clothes and got out my shorts then we had a few really cold days when my tomatoes froze and now it is back to shorts.

Another on-going quilt project I have been working on is my color blocks. I worked on a yellow one the other day. I am using scraps that I have sorted by color then cut into 2 1/2 inch squares and alternate with a cream colored plain cotton. I am looking for an idea to tie it all together with some sort of strips or cornerstones or something. I have several ideas, but keep thinking that it would really be easier to figure out using EQ6...could that justify the purchase? I think that all the extra hours I've been putting in at work help to justify that I deserve it...that's my logic anyway.

There are some bloggers out there that have started a support group to encourage each other to finish up some of their unfinished projects from the looks of this post I should be joining their group, but I kind of like to work on whatever inspires me at the moment and figure I will get things finished in good time. The important thing to me is that I sew for enjoyment, I don't want work with a deadline. I get enough of that at work so this is something I do for pleasure, with no pressure.

One thing I have enjoyed in blogland this week is to visit Park City Girl's blog...she has done the most remarkable cyber quilt festival. She got 363 bloggers together and they all posted their favorite quilts with a little story about it on their blogs and we can all go visit and see these wonderful quilts. There are as many different styles of quilting as their are people and each project had a special meaning to the quilter that quilted it. It is very fun to go look at especially for someone like me who always seems to be working when there is a quilt show around here. I am so thankful for people like Amy who take the time to put things like this together for so many others to enjoy. It truly is remarkable!

I will be thinking Spring and freshing up things around here a bit. It's time to clean out the cobwebs, get organized, and plant some new flowers and veggies to enjoy in the warm days ahead. This is truly my favorite time of year.

Enjoy a little sunshine!

Ferne

Projects

I am really not the best blogger, but I do enjoy it. Mostly I read lots of other blogs then run out of time to post on my own. I have finished my Thyme to Water quilt. It took me a whole year to do it, but I did enjoy every minute of it. I designed the quilted border with trowels and flower pots, but they didn't show up in the pictures I took. I really like the way it turned out, so whimsical and simple.

I have been slowly falling behind on the Block of the Months that I started in January. I have been best at keeping up on the embroidery blocks for Willowberry's Verandah blocks. They are so fun and pretty easy to do. I need to start picking out some fabric to go with them because I am at the step where I should be adding it in. I just printed out the April block and can't wait to get started on it, but am trying to be self disciplined and finish March first. I am showing the blocks in the order that they came out. These are the two blocks I have finished and the third one is so close. I should be working on it right now...

I am also working on Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill's Basket applique blocks, but I haven't fully completed any of them. I am using them to learn to applique and I think it is helping a lot because they are simple enough, but I have tried several different techniques and it kind of looks like it so when I get the hang of it more I will post pictures of what I did. I think I will redo the January block, but the other two will be fine after I add a few finishing touches. I have been doing this piecing of blocks for almost 2 years now and I am still feeling like I am in a learning mode and wondering when I will feel more confident with what I am doing. Most important is that I am enjoying the time spent painting with fabric and I feel like I am putting together pieces of my life everytime I piece a block. It is a very fulfilling process.

I have been able to spend a little time making blocks for the class that I am taking. We are making several blocks that we can put together any way we want later. I am making mine from some bright wash tub prints. In the picture I laid them all out on my table, not sure how I will piece them yet. I am enjoying making each block so much I haven't really given it much thought yet. I was watching a video this morning about EQ6 and using it to design sashing which might be pretty helpful to rewatch. I keep thinking I should get this program (Electric Quilt) not only because it would be fun to play with, but because it would be helpful to visualize what a quilt would look like before I put a lot of time into something that I didn't like. The price is still quite high staying right at $150 so I'm not sure I am ready to invest that much right now. I am working a lot of over time though so it might just help me to justify it in the future.

I am hoping to get some more of my other projects complete soon and have more things to post about. We did go on a trip to Goldsmith seeds last weekend and took a lot of pictures of the flowers at the show. I posted about it on my other blog: Growing Thymes. I have a lot more pictures and things to write about on that blog about the trip. There are so many beautiful new varieties of plants in process and it was really exciting to get a sneak peak at their work in progress. The displays were so beautiful too. It gave me a few good ideas. How I wish I could grow some mass plantings of these foxgloves. They really are so impressive!

Keeping the pieces together!

Ferne

A Perfect Day

There are several things that combine to create my variation of 'a perfect day' and yesterday was full of them. I spent a few hours at my garden plot weeding and planting. The rainy weather we have been having here in Northern California gave way to warm sunshine which really makes weeds grow tall fast. This is the site I was greeted with upon arriving at the community garden. It is still there because I didn't tackle it yet and I think this mess is a community project waiting to happen, let's hope we don't wait much longer. I did however, tackle similar weeds growing in the paths around my plot. Surprisingly though my plot didn't have many weeds growing because I have been keeping them up before they could go to seed. That is the trick to weeding folks...DON'T LET THE WEEDS GO TO SEED. Sounds simple, but it's not. So I pull out my handy weeding tools, both of which I bought years ago at Smith and Hawkin back when they got tools from Japan and not China or Vietnam. They are so nicely made and have stood up to lots of use. I painted the handles with some fun colors to help me keep from loosing them.

Besides weeding I managed to do a little planting. No tomatoes yet, but I did add some flowering sweet pea starts. I am trying a new to me variety called 'Barry Dare' they are scarlet, double petals and ruffly, at least that was the description, I can't wait to see them. I planted some Sugar Snap Peas because I love to eat them while I am at the garden working and I plan to be there a whole lot more in the months to come. I had some calendulas and ranunculus blooming and I harvested some celery. I don't usually grow celery, but decided to give it a try...hmmm...don't know that I would do it again. It tasted fine, but the snails seem to love it a bit too much. I made a bouquet with the ranunculus and the celery for the greens and it was very nice!

Well, in addition to gardening I did some cleaning and reorganizing here at the homestead. I didn't take any pictures of that as I don't find it interesting, but it sure makes me feel good. Then I spent a little time on my first Dresden Plate block. My Grandmother made several quilts using this block so making this made me think of her and her quilts. I don't know how she pieced so many without all the fancy tools I am using to make it easier. This was a really fun block to make. Just picking the fabrics was fun. I have lots of them left so I am going to be making the rest of the blocks from our class with them. The fabrics actually look like some that my Grandmother used which makes it all that much more special. I tried my blind hem stitch for this and like the results except that I need to re-watch the video that Ricky Tims did explaining how to turn the corners, mine are not perfect. I also read in Eleanors book where I found some shortcuts for this pattern that they used to appliques these blocks with black thread and a button hole stitch. I might make another one because I have the fabric cut to make more and try it with the black button hole stitch. I liked the look of this block so much that I made a photocopy of it and put on my notebook that I am keeping all the information with my current projects. I think it looks kind of fun and I don't think I will loose my notebook!

Hope you have a simply perfect day!

Ferne