sew what's new?

We will be visiting our children in Illinois and be going to graduation ceremonies in Kentucky,  at University of Kentucky,  for our only grandson.  I sent him pics of the  twin quilt I made him from tee shirts his mom gave me.  She also purchased the border fabric. It is right now at the quilter's. I will send it to him after I bind  it. I am going to share pics with you too! Blocks with signatures are people who signed the quilt and have worked   for or  with  my grandson. He was a tutor and managed other tutors. So for the next week you will not here from me. Chill out and have some fun in your sewing room. Martha.

When I am going to travel by anywhere I like to make up something to do , with handwork. So I might be able to take anywhere , Bleacher seats , lobbys , nine hour truck rides, you have been there, you know what I am talking about.  Plus when we visit our children and grandchildren, they sometimes have school or work to go to. So I started looking thru Kim Diehl's book "Simple Graces"   and I found something that fits the bill. I not only have a nine hour drive to see my kids but another seven hour drive to be able to see my grandson in Kentucky. Then there is the trip back. No need to say any more!  I first picked this base to work on...... Then  after  some wool additions we have this.... Now all  I need to do is gather all the threads needed to stitch them down .Then  I will have what I need to keep me occupied and busy. My husband cut me a piece of pressboard 18" x 12" for a portable ironing board. I wrapped it in leftover batting...

We have a winner of "Scrap -Basket Surprises" book by Kim Brackett!  It is Gayle who said "I like the serpentine stitch for quilting......".  Gayle if you will contact me with your snail mail address I will send out your book.  I also promised a pic of the table runner when finished.... Will chit chat later, Martha.

How about a give- a -way for our special sunday finish!  Kim Brackett's book " Scrap - Basket  Surprises"  Just leave a comment and you will be  entered!  I quilted the table runner that was made from left over pieces of my hexagon quilt with just a serpentine stitch  ; I used it just as it came up when selected.    I  just stitched in ditch on the hexagons. I attached 2 1/4 " binding.   Just a little tuck not as big as a 90* turn on a regular corner. Once backround is  trimmed  I hand sew down. I will finish the straight edges and give a pic later. Good race today! Remember to leave a comment and enter the give-a-way. Martha

I just finished  the small quilt " A Light In The Window " by Pam Buda. I have the flimsy done , now I just need to layer it and quilt it. Hope you like it.... And I am still experimenting with hexies also.. I have sewn together two blue 2 ' x 22 strips on both sides of a teal blue  1" wide strip. Once ironed cut at a 30* angle  2" cuts. (cut 6 ) I then took another 2" strip of blue and joined it to another teal one inch strip.  This second strip I did not cut. I laid my six previous pieces to it and sewed them together leaving a small space between so that I have room to cut them apart and have six larger pieces for my hexies.  Once my hexies were marked on the back I pinned them each to a piece of fabric and aligned them and trimmed off excess. So then I could baste and put together my hexie flower or snowflake. We will visit more later, Martha.

I have made some three color hexie's. I am again useing a 1 1/2 " hexie template. Drawing on six templates these division lines..... Useing 2 1/2 " strips  and sewing them  like  thus.... I trimmed as before and did the sewing by hand. Once each were joined together  my end  result was this..... Kind of spiffy!  I am going to do a little more experimenting because I am really enjoying this. I also finished my 10 little 3 1/2 " hole in the barn door blocks needed  for my" Light in the Window" quilt by Pam Buda. We will chit chat later, Martha.

Yes I have been playing with my hexie's again.  I have been experimenting on what happens when you don't use just one piece of fabric to cover a hexie template. I am useing 1 1/2" hexies here. First I drew a guide line from one point to another on one side of the hexie. You may want a bigger hole than I have here, in the middle of your hexie. It not only helps to make the pin in fabric and cardboard , but also helps you see fabrics seams. You will find out how that makes a difference later on. I have sewn two  2 1/2 " wide  fabrics together and ironed seams open. Then I cut 3 1/2 " wide strip pieces ( 6 of them ). I pinned each piece of fabric to a hexie template useing mark on template to align fabric seams. I then trimmed around edged to 1/2 " around. Once I have all six of mixed hexies and one solid center  finished, I then played with them moving around to see what I might come up with. WAA   LAA!   I am now going to try...

My hubby was trying to mess with my mind today.  He started to vacuum  the great room, a.k.a. the  living room and dining room area.  Doesn't he know housework does not come before sewing except in the dictionary!  Needless to say when he started to spongemop the area I told him to hold off as I was intending to do it anyway today. Can't let him mess with my mind too much!  Anyway today is  Scrappy Sunday !    I have been working on finding ways to use my scraps from " Science Fair Quilt" by JayBird Quilts  (Julie Herman).  Just can't seem to throw out perfectly good equilateral triangles.  However I do need a backround which I choose a one yard piece of a Buggy Barn print that reads a solid black but actually is a black two tone check.  When joined together, my triangles make a 4 1/2 inch wide half hexagon. So therefore I have cut six 4 1/2 " strips going width of fabric. That left me three 2 1/4 " strips for the bind...

Today I was blessed enough to be able to take part in a class with Linda  Hohag of  " Brandywine Design" She has written over 25 books and has many lovely patterns .  I  along with many others enjoyed the day!  Linda  Hohag is on the right in grey and white stripe. We are hard at work creating one block of her  " Wooly Critter Sampler" pattern.  This is a picture of her quilt we are trying to recreate...  Her website is  www.brandywine-design.com , check it out! Martha.