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  • Monday Morning Star Count

    OK…so it is Monday night, not morning :).  I actually made a lot of progress this week, but not without a few challenges.

    Sooo….this is what happened when I turned my back on my puppy (just for one minute).  And I thought I only had to worry about the grandkids :).  He left quite a few bite marks and a lot of saliva….not sure I can salvage this!
    Then, on Friday night I put the grandkids in bed and sat down to stitch. I stitched up a storm and about 11pm, I made this mistake.  Has anyone else ever done this?  For all the times I worried maybe hand-stitching wouldn’t hold up, I take it all back – it took quite a bit of working to rip this out!  I am glad I only stitched one wrong!
    So even with the setbacks, I finished adding the 3 background hexagons to 18 flowers.
    I counted all of my basted hexies – I have 530, which is way more than I thought I had.
    This week I am heading back to making hexagon flowers and cutting more background fabric so I can be ready to stitch the 3 background hexies on a new set.
    Phew…..I have never gotten so much done in a week!

  • Monday Morning Star Count on Wednesday

    I am linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts for the Monday Morning Star Count and hoping for inspiration to keep focused and make progress!  This is my very first English Paper Piecing project and I am in love with the method and the simplicity and relaxation that it brings.  I started this project this past summer.

    I chose Bonnie & Camille’s Marmalade line for the hexies.  I will be making a quilt, but have not figured out the finished size yet.  I will do a full tally for next week’s post 🙂 and that may help be figure out the size.
    Right now I have completed basting about 300 – 1 1/2″ hexies – this is just one box of them.  
    Here are some of the hexagon flowers completed:
    For placement, I used Jessica’s concept from the diamonds tutorial, and add three hexies in the surrounding fabric.  This allows me the chance to play with placement.  I have only completed the main section that I will use to build off.   I have about 15 sections to add the 3 plain hexies to and then I will need to figure out what size I want to make the quilt.

  • Christmas Tree Skirt

    I have been holding off on  posting as I was working on Christmas gifts and did not want to spoil the surprises!!

    Here is a Christmas Tree Skirt that I completed for my sister and she absolutely loved it!  I used a Youtube tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  It was super quick and so cute!!

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  • The Finished Quilt & Little Gracie

    Okay…so not quite finished, I still have to bind it, but pretty close and I couldn’t wait for Gracie to see it.  This quilt will be on her bed up in Maine next summer and she is on her way over to see it now.  Hope she likes it!

    The picture above is the front.  I don’t think it is bad for my first time!  
    Here is the back of the quilt.  I do think that next time I will use a solid back as it did prove tough have the top and backing pieced.
    And here is Gracie with her quilt!  She loves it and thinks I am the best G-Mom (grandmother) ever!  She is so funny…I think she likes the back better than the front!
    OK – I ran out of fabric to make the binding so I need to order more and then I will post a picture of it completely finished!  On to my next quilt top….I have several waiting to go.  Get ready Grace & Jane!
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  • Nearing the Finish Line!

    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.

  • Grace, Jane & Me – The Beginning

    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 🙂

  • Scrappy Quilt Back

      
    I am working on a quilt for Gracie and couldn’t decide on a backing. Finally I decided to piece one. I took scraps of different widths and sewed them together. I then cut them into strips that ray varying widths. I already like it :-).   I am sure Gracie (below) will like it too!

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  • Our New Puppy – Scrappy

    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!

  • English Paper Piecing – This Week's Update

    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!  

  • My First EPP Diamonds

    Okay! Here are my first English Paper Pieced (EPP) diamonds!  I used the 1 1/2″ sixty degree diamonds from Paper Pieces and fabric from the Happy Go Lucky line by Bonnie &Camille. It was very fun and I am looking forward to stitching them together. More to come and very soon I hope!

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