Hexies Galore!

PYT Report: All of my hexies for the four borders are done on my Mosaics! Yippee! Put the last stitches in the last border piece this morning. Such a great feeling. Check out that gorgeous picture on the right. Two shorties and two long ones. Now to trim them up and attach them to the medallion center. The diamond borders are next and should not take as long. We shall see!

Thank you, Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches, for keeping us all on track with our EPP projects!

Thought I'd share a picture I took of Polly recently. I went to Wild Birds Unlimited and bought a bird feeder that sticks on the window. My cute little kitty discovered the birds eating and is totally fascinated by all the activity. Most afternoons I find her on that perch where she can keep a close eye on her new friends. *wink*

I plan on knitting this rainy evening as I breathe a long sigh of relief. My taxes have been filed and I don't have to look forward to that laborious process again until next year. Have a lovely evening!

Linking Up with FNSI

The rain continues to come down and, besides tomorrow, shows no signs of ending for the next several days. I changed out my header picture to bring a happy note ... Spring Is Springing! Can't really say that it has actually sprung yet but I'm sure all this rain will help things along. Here's the full picture of my Tulips. I finished it yesterday (Friday) morning. Can't wait to quilt and hang it -- so cheerful!

Yesterday I hurried through my chores so I could have a good report for FNSI, which stands for Friday Night Sew-In. I'll be linking up with my friends HERE. You should take a peek and see what all we've been doing. So much talent everywhere!

Here's my current progress on my projects. First, I got the  binding sewn onto my Clam Shells wall hanging. I rinsed it out to get my markings out and it's laying out to dry. Hopefully the shadowing will go away once it's dry and will look like it did before I wet it down. Otherwise I'm going to wish that I had faced the clams with a white fabric. UGH! I also noticed that the red clam in the middle of the 2nd-from-the-top row bled into the clam to the left below it. Hmmmm ... Looks like there will  be another rinse with a Color Catcher!

The other thing I wanted to mention about the Clam Shell binding: I listened to the way Edyta Sitar does her wall hanging binding on The Quilt Show. Do you know her? She's a designer for Moda fabrics and is an incredibly talented lady. Anyway WOW! Do my corners ever lie flat!! Think that will be my go-to method in future. Love to learn new tricks.

As always I continue to work on my Mosaics. This is currently in my lap, the final hexie border being appliqued down. YIPPEE!

This morning I had my monthly Applique Group to attend. So much inspiration. One of the gals enlarged her 4" blocks to 8" and then reverse appliqued them. I never think to enlarge OR shrink down the original blocks. I can usually manage to think outside the box when it comes to color but size? I have to remember that size truly does matter! *wink*

When I got home, I made up this Mediterranean Yogurt Cake. It smells delicious and has two mandarin oranges zested into the batter. All I need to do now is to brush a honey glaze on the top. It should taste good after the marinated flank steak, risotto, and wilted spinach dinner I've planned.

Don't forget to check out what everyone else did at FNSI and have a great rest of your weekend. I'll be busy sewing down that last hexie row in my usual spot in the den!

Same Old, Same Old ....

Same old, same old .... And by that I mean I'm pretty much keeping my nose to the grindstone and plugging away on my hexies for Mosaics. Doing so means that I am truly getting to the finish line on the borders. Three sides are ready to be squared up and attached to the center medallion and the fourth? Progress was made last night. I totally forgot about guild meeting until my riding partner called in the afternoon to say she wasn't going to make it. So glad I was already working on dinner since now I had to scurry out the door soon!

There are twelve hexie flowers on the long borders. I flew out of the house (on my broom! Hahaha!) headed for guild with my hexie bag. I managed to finish up hexie #9 and started on #10 before our speaker began our program.

Bad kitty! Polly feels the need to see just how much progress I'm making. Haha! These hexie photos were taken before guild. The one with the little red clip on the bottom right is the one I finished up. The bright yellow hexie clipped to other hexies at the top in the middle is the one I started.


On to another project. Do you remember the Marvelous Mini Monday Sew-a-Long I participated in with Temecula Quilt Shop? I've been trying to spend time in the basement quilting it. I forgot how tiny these blocks are: A mere 4"!!!

Getting close to having it done. Then I'll have two wall hangings to bind -- this one and Clam Shells. I'm going to try a new method that I learned on The Quilt Show with Edyta Sitar as guest. I'll let you know how that works out.

The 2018 UFO Challenge project this month is  #3 and that corresponds to my Blowin' In the Wind. All I need is to get those borders on. In the meantime, I found time to starch the fabric. Just need to get up the nerve to cut the 10" strips and contemplate how I want to quilt it. Just jump in, Sue!!!! Easier said than done ....

1930s Farmer's Wife Sampler has taken a back seat lately. I cut out 4 or 5 blocks and selected the fabrics for another. They are all waiting on me for Friday. I have an all-day quilt retreat and I think they'll be the perfect project to work on ... along with a Springtime wall hanging that I've already prepared. Yay!

Speaking of Spring, as I was washing dishes yesterday afternoon, I saw this welcome sight on the deck railing. It's a blue bird, which means Spring is just around the corner. I know he's hard to see but I had to take the shot through the window & screen before he flew away. Also, I'm not sure how skittish they are so I wanted to be quick!

Here's hoping you have a little Springtime sunshine in your day!

Linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches. It was PYT yesterday!

February Wrap-Up and March Goals

The American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge for February was very good incentive for me. They chose #9 which was one of my two FREE Months. I could do whatever I wanted as long as I made some good progress. I may have done just that!

My February focus was the Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt blocks. Look at all I now have done!

#7 Augusta - FPP

#8 Aunt* - Templates

#9 Autumn - FPP

#10 Ava - Templates

 

#11 Bea - FPP

#12 Becky* - Pieced

#13 Belle* - Templates

#14 Betty* - Templates

#15 Blossom - FPP

#16 Bonnie* - Templates

#17 Bride - FPP

#18 Carol - FPP

 *Pieced during the earlier Sew-A-Long

Aren't they coming along nicely? I even have #19 Carolina all cut out and ready to sew PLUS the next several blocks' pages of directions printed out, whether I'm doing freezer-paper-piecing or Marti Michell Templates.

As for the Mosaics quilt, I've made headway there too. I finished up Border 2 and am almost finished with Border 3. Looking forward to having all four borders under my belt! 

Border 2 Lining Up

Stitching Down
Border 2

Border 3 in Progress

Stitching Down
Border 3

On the knitting scene I also made a lot of progress with my Loopy Academy Senior Year, 2nd Semester projects. The baby sweater needs to be blocked & buttons added to be considered completely done.

From this ...

To this and beyond ...

The color in the first picture is the true color of this adorable little sweater.

While not part of Loopy Academy, I started Sarah's Hobo Mitts in February after finishing up the baby sweater. These mitts were a lot of fun to knit and the pattern name is Phalangees while the knit stitch is called Mosaic. How about that? Two Mosaic projects in one month! 

From this ...

To this!

Not only have these mitts been completed, but they've been blocked and mailed off to Virginia! Ta! Da! Very proud of myself.

Obviously I had to start another knit project. After all, my needles were empty! I've decided to try a sweater for me which would also fulfill a Loopy Academy requirement. It's called Rocio and it'll be a light sweater knit with lace-weight yarn. My progress as of last night is shown below. About 2" of the back. Not much to brag about yet ...

On a couple of side notes, I watched "The Imitation Game" movie the other day. It had been up for several Oscar nominations. Not sure if it won anything or not but I thought I'd share how much I enjoyed it. I really empathized with the two main characters. If you don't like unhappy endings, this movie will not be for you. Other than that, I found it very watch-worthy on NetFlix this past week.

Also I read about Kathy Doughty somewhere on one of the many blogs I read. She is a wonderful quilter currently residing in Australia. However she was born in the USA. Anyway, her book called simply enough "Quilting with Kathy Doughty" is a wonderfully inspirational book. I'm not overly fond of many of her fabric choices but her designs are fantastic. I found a copy of this book through my local library system. If you prefer to have a hard copy, I spied one at Calico Moon in Lebanon IL just yesterday! I think it may be clearanced right now as (sadly) Sherry is going out of business.

There won't be much knitting or machine sewing going on today. After my shower and a quick vacuum job of the downstairs, I'm hoping to catch the St. Andrews Quilt Show in Edwardsville this afternoon. Then I need to be home to catch my sister's phone call around 2pm. Bet I'll be ready by that time to work some more on that third border of Mosaics!!

Keep on stitching!

Linking Up with Hibiscus Stitches

I'm linking up with Hibiscus Stitches this morning. It's Piece Yourself Together week and I'm excited to say that I've made good progress since last link up. At that point, I was finishing #3 of 12 hexie flowers for border #3 of Mosaics. I've since finished the rest of the hexies, got them stitched together, pressed, papers removed, and glued to the background border. Yes! I am in the process of appliqueing them down with only one final hexie border to go! YIPPEE!!! Then on to the diamond borders.

As for my daughter's hobo mitts, they are finished, blocked, and mailed out yesterday. Here are some photos of my progress.

Pattern Developing

Thumb Gusset Shaping
Up on Left

 

Hey Look! A Thumb!

Ready to Start
the Fingers!

Finger Holes
Complete!

Blocked & Ready
to Mail!

(OK, I give up. That last row of pictures will stay staggered! Blogger has me whooped!)

Since that project is finished, it's only right to start another. This is called Rocio and it is by Joji. You can find the pattern on Ravelry by clicking on the link. It will fulfill the requirement to use a lace weight yarn for my senior year at Loopy Academy. It think it will be beautiful. The Malabrigo yarn I'm using is SO SOFT and the color (Zinc) is gorgeous shades of gray. I'm on Row 4 and I've only ripped it out twice so far .... Wish me luck!

So on this gloomy, drizzly day all I can say is .... Let's Sew!

It's All About Mosaics!

Last night marked FNSI #2 for 2018 and I wasn't about to let it slip by.

I worked some more on my Mosaics hexies. That pretty one at the bottom is the one I put together last night while watching the men ice skate in Pyeong Chang. I'm enjoying the Olympics and the bonus sewing time it affords me!

 I also managed to start knitting those hobo mitts that I promised my daughter. Below is the ribbed cuff and the beautiful Socks That Rock yarn (colorway Under the Boardwalk) will be used with the blue yarn in Mosaic pattern. If you recognize that blue yarn, it's because it's what's left from that cute baby sweater (Nouveau ne). The mitts are called Phalangees and both patterns can be found on Ravelry. 

I'm looking forward to making progress on these mitts. I'll be learning how to do this Mosaic stitching. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Once again I'd like to thank Wendy, our FNSI hostess. I look forward to this monthly event and checking out what all my friends have been working on. You should check out Sugarlane Designs link and see for yourself. There were 32 of us sewing last night!

Keep on sewing!

PYT!!

And here it is again, another opportunity to link up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches. Piece Yourself Together is where you can focus on your English Paper Piecing projects and see what others have been up to lately as well.

 All my lovely hexies batched up for the next seven groupings.

 Last night during guild meeting's business portion, I managed to almost complete one whole group! This is the front side and ....

 here's the back. Sew much fun!

Today I finished off this hexy plus another. That makes 3 out of 12 done or 1/4 done. Woot! Woot! Since I've already completed border #2 of Mosaics, I'm anxious to knock out borders 3 & 4!

Last night at guild meeting, I was responsible for bringing a snack to share because it's my birth month. Here's a picture of the brownies I made and decorated. I think I confused some of my friends with the icing flavor. I put in some almond extract. Delicious to me. Perhaps not so much to others. Oh well ...

Keep on sewing!