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Nearing the Finish Line!

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Well, it sure is fast quilting this way!  I believe I spent a total of five hours quilting this top.  Three hours last week and two hours today.  I think Grace, Jane, and I are going to be friends for a very long time!

Here I am right near the end of the quilt….the last row of blocks and the end is in sight!!  I can’t wait to get it off the quilt frame and see the finished product.

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Grace, Jane & Me – The Beginning

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Last weekend I finally decided it was time to stop practicing and actually load a quilt on my Grace frame and get started quilting with my Babylock Jane.

My first quilt…very nervous and of course don’t want to make any mistakes.  Well here is “Gracie’s Quilt” loaded and ready to go!
And here is a picture of my first row of stitching.  I chose a random loopy pattern since I really have no idea what I am doing 🙂

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Our New Puppy – Scrappy

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Here is our new edition, Scrappy!  He is a five month old miniature schnauzer and very playful. He loves to spend time hanging out while I sew 🙂 and he forces me to take breaks for a quick walk here and there!

I had not thought of it, but one of my sister’s asked if I named him Scrappy because I like to make scrap quilts. I laughed, but thought how ironic is that?  He really did get his name because of his personality and the way he was a scrappy little fighter with the other pups. 🙂 he is a funny little character!

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English Paper Piecing – This Week's Update

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Here is my first star stitched together. It probably doesn’t seem like a lot of progress, but it actually is!  I also cut the background fabric for my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt so now I can start stitching those together. 

So considering juggling multiple priorities – family, work, school (working on my MBA), training our new puppy Scrappy – I feel pretty good with this week’s progress.  Hopefully I can make more progress next week!  

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Love this book!

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Quilting On The Go is an awesome book!  Jessica Alexandrakis offers the basics along with great ways to ‘travel’ with your quilting obsession.  I love her travel quilt and although I have not finished by hexagon quilt, I bought 1-1/2″ diamonds from Paper Pieces and jelly roll of Bonnie and Camille’s Happy Go Lucky and I can’t wait to get started on my diamond stars! 

I purchased the kindle version of her book as it sort of falls in line with my ‘on the go’ English paper piecing habit :).

Check out Jessica’s blog to see her work or even join her Diamond EPP quilt along! I hope to post some progress later this week.

Enjoy!

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My Favorite Supplies

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Since I first tried paper piecing hexagons, I tried many needles and threads. I finally settled on Milliners Needles (size 10) made by Richard Hemming & Son, which I use for basting and whip stitching.

For basting I use all of my old thread since it gets removed any way.

For whip stitching thread I tried Superior Bottom Line, Essentials (100% cotton), YLI Silk, and Superior So Fine (#59/3 ply). While I love the way the Bottom Line disappeared, it was tricky to thread and slippery to work with. My favorite to work with is Superior So Fine. 
I get all my paper templates (hexagons, diamonds, etc.) from Paper Pieces. It saves a lot of time and I find the quality to be very good. I use the 1 1/2″ hexagons.  If you choose to use the 2″ hexagons, then you could use a 5″ charm pack for fabric.
My favorite online fabric store is Missouri Star Quilt Co.

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Sunday Morning Designs

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I tend to want all of my hexagons to look “put together” and yet I love the look of less organized or planned designs. My grandchildren were spending time with us at the beach and they absolutely love hexagons, especially Gracie. 

Gracie is an early riser (like me) so I gave her the early morning, quiet task of designing a couple of hexagon flowers for me. What better way to learn to relax and enjoy random placement 🙂
Gracie planning her first design. 

Gracie is so proud of her work and I absolutely love them! 

Then Carter woke up and he definitely wanted in on the fun!

Gracie is so good about teaching her little brother.

Carter’s contribution is just beautiful. 

Now I have to get to work sewing their hexie flowers together. Gracie is turning 7 next week and has learned how to baste hexies and is of course anxious to be able to piece so we will work on that over the winter. I am very excited to have my grandchildren contribute to the design it will have a lot of memories sewn in!