HoneyComb, Won’t You Be My Baby?

On Christmas eve, to fill a bit of spare time I started a half hexi quilt using the accuquilt cutting system.  Gosh, that saves oodles of time and is allowing me one more finish for 2016.

I started out with 4 charm packs from Moda Fabrics Bee Creative line.  I used up 2 of the packs and have a few left overs from the third pack.  To lighten the costs, I found everything in my stash, well almost everything.  I “shopped” my Mother’s stash to find some appropriate binding fabric, luckily she had some chicken wire fabric with a honeycomb theme that worked perfectly.  I will be hand binding this tonight. 

While making this quilt, I had an ear worm.  Urban dictionary describes an ear worm as a song that plays over and over in your head and will not leave.  Now that I am just saying the words to myself, the worm is back.  Do you remember the song “Honeycomb, won’t you be my baby?”.  Lovely song I have linked to youtube and it is by Jimmie Rodgers.

This quilt was made for a coworker of mine who has honey bees on the side.  I thought this would fit in the theme of things since he is adding another child to his hive.

Even though I shopped my stash for this quilt, it still has fabric costs regardless how long you have had them.  I bought the charm packs for $2.50 each and used 3 for a total cost of $7.50.  The backing I bought at an estate sale for $3 and still have left over fabric from this.  The binding was zero dollars (thanks Mom).  I have no idea how much batting I have left on my roll so I will not include it’s cost or the cost of the thread.  I have made a very modern coordinating quilt for a little over $10.  I learned to be thrifty long ago with my hobby.  I aim to share that story another day.  Thank you for reading my blog and Happy New year!

En Provence clue 6?

So, I went to bed late around 12:30ish a.m., anxiously awaiting clue 6 from Bonnie Hunters Mystery Quilt.  I woke straight up out of bed and could not go back to sleep at 3:30 a.m.  I kept checking the website this morning until finally, when I checked just past 6 a.m., she posted a clue.  Due to lack of sleep, I am still wide awake but the critical thinking skills are starting to fade, hence the question mark behind 6.  Yup….verified….we are on clue 6.

So we get to retire the dark purples and start using the light purples again, along with some neutrals and the introductions of greens.  I chose a caribbean greenish blue for my quilt, it seems to work.  Here is the start of my clue 6.

I did not purchase Bonnie’s new essential triangle tool.  I am making do with the companion angle and easy angle.  Instead of having one tool I have 2, and they work.  I am really surprised how well this ruler system works.  I loathe cutting and to not have to square things up with the sliver trimming is very smart.  Work smarter not harder right?  Just snipping with a scissors the dog ears on the blocks :)~.  I am wondering if I should stop doing that because I am taking warmth out of the quilt?  That little piece does add a layer of thickness….ah well.  I will leave them from now and see if they get in the way later when it all comes together.

Yesterday I had an XXX quilting event.  No, not anything naked and showing skin.  It was more of an extreme, quilty, sport sort of a productive day.  The half hexi made with Moda’s fabric line Bee Creative, is pieced and quilted.  That accuquilt cutter is amazing and takes so much work out of the cutting aspect of the quilt.  I will hopefully have another finish before years end and bind this one in the next day or so to bump my final count to 14.  Be looking for that post soon.  Now, off to the QST races.  Oh, and don’t forget to read my other blog!  Thanks for stopping by!

Barnyard Ladies Quilt

My Mother was inspired by my Father in his collecting of toy tractors.  You see, my Dad sold his collection only keeping a few pieces that he acquired as gifts.  Instead of these pieces taking up a whole room in the house, the down sized collection was more manageable to place in small spaces throughout the house.  My mom decided to have a kitchen themed with the International Harvester logo with some tractor goodness, because that is what put bread and butter on the table for years.  Very novel idea and in keeping with this farmy kind of decorating she really wanted to do a wall hanging to tie everything together.  Mom’s kitchen is all white with black accents and a gray floor.

She came across a pattern by sweetseasonquilts.com.  This website is famous for their quilting inspired theme blocks with victorian painted ladies.  She liked those very much, but the barnyard ladies won and she meticulously made her wall hanging.  The contrast of the black and whites, and all the brights really make this pop.  She had fun making this and using all the techniques involved.  She did however change it up a bit.  I snapped this picture during our Christmas gathering at their home.  I thought I would share this beautiful work of art that now hangs in her kitchen.  Enjoy!

Brrrrrrr to Blurrrrrrrr!

This past week started out COLD!  As the week progressed with the holiday, it became a blur.

The En Provence Mystery quilt clue was released a tad early which was very thoughtful of Bonnie (Click here to see how everyone is coming along with the link up).  Have any of you added up the pieces so far that are in this quilt?  I added up the blocks with all the parts in each one and we are now up to 2224 pieces!!!!  This quilt is off to an amazing start and will be the quilt with the most pieces that I have put together so far in my entire life, with more goodness to come.

I am currently working two other projects one with a deadline of ASAP (need thread for this one as I ran out)

This project above I have started quilting many layers.  The woven on the left is going to be the outside of a laptop case that I am making.  The outside layer of the chenille part will be the woven in the right picture.  There is one fabric not pictured which is the layer on the chenille side that will not be cut.  This one may be a few weeks away before I can get back to it as I have to order thread, my cone runneth dry.

Additionally I am also working a baby quilt for a co-worker.  He is a bee keeper on the side and was kind enough to give me beeswax at no charge.  And during the Thanksgiving sales at MSQC I was able to purchase 4 charm packs of Moda Bee Creative line for 10 bucks!  Wooohoo!  And in keeping with the theme of things used the accuquilt cutter die for the half hexi block and have started piecing them together.

I think I will call this quilt Honeycomb, not sure if it going to be a boy or a girl but it will work for either.

I have yet another quilt to start which the baby is due in Feb.  I have not quite figured what I am going to do for that one, but check back often for my updated posts.  Oh and don’t forget to take a look-see at my other cooking blog.

2016 Best Of Linky Party!

I have been blogging for a little over 6 months now and have learned a lot!  Looking back I am listing my favorite 5 projects that I have completed or is still under construction.  I have joined the Link Party for best of 2016.

1.)  Cup N Saucer quilt made with the accuquilt go tumbler die.  I wanted to do something outside the block.

These are tumbler blocks with snowballed blocks in between to give a hint of the cup n saucer.  You may want to click on the pictures to get more detail.

2.) A Panel sewn into a Puzzle

3.)  Tree of Life baby quilt (TOL)  With the parents to be names in the heart

4.)  The Forever UFO – Green Lemonade (note this is not my favorite, but I learned much from this event)

5.)  Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt En Provence

check out all my posts for clue 1, clue 2, clue 2 reworked, clue 3, and see the above link for clue 4.  This mystery quilt has taught this old self taught quilter a gob of great details from color ways, to getting a 3 1/2 inch HST out of two strips of 3 1/2 inches…who knew.

Thank You for stopping by and/or following my blog.  This year has been very quilty.  I have produced the most quilts in my life just in this one year.  So many babies due and delivered which helped the final tally to be 13 finishes.  A couple of these were lap sized.  One was queen sized, the rest were baby quilts.  I averaged a little over one per month.  A bumper crop of quilting cottons.

The future is looking bright as I have my En Provence work still in process.  I have two baby quilts to finish, one before Feb and one before Apr.  I have a few UFOs that I will be completing, I doubt I will get to the number 13 again, but I certainly will give it my best.  There are so many projects swarming in my head, I am afraid if I don’t jot them down, they could disappear forever.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Thank You for your comments, follows and likes.  You are a great cheerleading squad!  Happy New Year!  May 2017 be grand!

Update -En Provence Mystery Quilt

These last three days, I would sew and sew and never seemed to catch up with the purple triangles in a square or the 4 patches.  I am coming close to using all my dark purple fabrics.  I am not sure how anyone else is doing with their purples, but I had to use a lot of one of my yardage pieces so the scraptagion is not so much with this portion of the quilt.  I suspect that I have made oodles more 4 patch purple blocks.  Either the children got into them and have hidden them, or more likely they fell off behind my buffet which is sewing central for me and to get to them I would have to move everything from storage at the bottom and unstack all of my “mess” to the left.  My mess being the box full of fabrics that I am pulling from to make En Provence as well as another project that is in my Kan Ban system.

I went to take a picture of my shoe box full of blocks, and could not find my camera.  Not sure what I did with it.  I seem to misplace/forget more things lately.  Anyway, imagine a shoe box with 6 neat stacks of all 3 1/2 inch blocks up to this point in the sew along.  Five of these stacks have made their way all the way to the top.  The short stack in the bunch is me needing to iron a few to complete the stack.

Foreshadowing has happened in our Mystery Quilt realm.   Bonnie told us the next couple of weeks will be easy because she has decided in lieu of family and the holidays in the midst to make it a lighter load for those of us coping with all the stress and rig-a-ma-roe this time of year.

This is my first mystery quilt, and feel pretty good that even though I have so many responsibilities, I still find the time to do what I enjoy.  Joyful stress!

En Provence #4

Just playing around with the layout….

Funny how the batik took on a whole new shade of burgundy in my terrible lighting.

See how others are coming along in the Mystery Quilt Adventure here!

A Quilters Gift Wrap

For those of you who have a quilter friend or love one that will be receiving a gift from you, don’t waste your money on wrapping paper!  Wrap the gift in some fabric from your stash! It helps your stash and helps the recipients stash too!

For lots of images click here!

Snowman Season’s Greetings!

May all have a pieceful holiday!

This is a quilt block for my monthly cloth calendar my Mom made me a few years back.  I enjoy changing out the blocks for each month.  Thanks Mom!

Quilt Rack….a solution!

Season’s Greetings fellow readers!  It is that time of year.  The time of year you realize how hard it is to buy for a family member who has met all their wants and needs.  What to get them?  I am one who will give gift cards but do not like the impersonal idea behind the gift and would rather just give money so they are free to spend it on whatever they wish.  Each Christmas it is harder and harder to find something unique and utilitarian that my parents can use, love, and abuse.  This year I am still brain storming and will think of something, hopefully in the St. Nick of time :).

Having  youth that runs amuck in the house and those little pitter patters become thunderous footsteps as they grow, I tend to latch on to some of their little people-ness.  Whether it is clothing or sheets (to make a memory quilt one day) or their crib where many goodnight kisses have transpired, I have it waiting to repurpose it into something special.

Perusing pinterest has many great ideas to transform a crib.  I have seen the rails made into an A frame, or an L shape to stick in the corner and drape quilts over them.  I have kept part of the crib hoping one day I would know exactly what to do with it to keep it as a keepsake and pass it on.  Whether it be a gift for my children or any loved one who is hard to buy for.

Last week it was rather chilly.  This old house has a mighty draft when the wind blows and because of the drought conditions the house settled a little bit more severe this year, than in years past.  I decided to simply take the rails from the crib and drape the quilts and blankets over ever other rung.  I then just leaned it up to the door as a draft dodger.  Draft eliminated!  I repurposed with no extra materials to consume and I will be enjoying cheaper energy bills for the winter.   And one day pass this on to the child that I once kissed goodnight through the rails with quilts that I made with love.