FNSI

Wow, it is Friday morning and I'm already posting!!  I have the day off of work, and I actually stitched last night with my friends on the other side of the world.  It is always fun to dream of a different time zone in a warm place when I'm sewing and freezing here.

I worked a little on this January Jack Frost project from Kathy Schmitz.  I just have a few snowflakes left to embroider and then I can piece my quilt.

I also found my OLD (circa 1999) hexagon project.  I'm still planning on finishing it someday. It would be lovely to have it finished so I could keep warm on these cold winter evenings (I'm VERY ready for spring).

It is off to the sewing room for a fun day of sewing.  I have some old movies chosen to watch and a lot of fabric cut to sew.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

A Fun Weekend Trip

This weekend my son had a pinewood derby race (you know, the little cars they spend hours making and race down a track?)  The wonderful thing about my husband and son is that if I have a quilt shop that I would like to visit during our travels, they are always happy to stop.  As a matter of fact this time they told me to go back in after I had shopped for 45 minutes because they were not ready to leave.  They had some game going between their Ipod and phone and they wanted to finish it.

I was hoping that the shop (Olive Juice in Onalaska, Wisconsin) would have some brightly colored wool and they did not disappoint.  The only problem I had was knowing when to stop.  I can now start my Summertime quilt.

I then found some 1/2" inch paper hexagons and a wonderful 2-1/2" pack of Kaffe Fasset fabric squares.  Since I tend to get really nervous during my son's events I decided I should baste a few.  And I obviously got quite a few finished.

They were actually very easy to baste, even with their small size and the glue pen...

I had to laugh a little as my husband never noticed the size until we were on our way home and I was still working on them.  He thinks I'm nuts (but what is new there).  He then told me he sure hoped this wasn't going to be bed sized.  HA!  You never know what can happen once I get started! :)  Happy Stitching!!

 --Kristen

FNSI

So last night I was all ready to start sewing as soon as we got home from my son's basketball game.  I had my project all ready, and I knew exactly what I was going to work on.

The game was much more exciting than we thought it would be and the underdogs (our kids) won!  When I got home I decided to check my blogs to read and don't you know I found a different project that I should probably work on.  It involved hexies (which I LOVE) and they were fussy cut.

I always use the GO! to cut my hexagons, last night I did not, and in 2-1/2 hours this is what was accomplished.  Yep, pretty pathetic isn't it?  I should mention I had to choose fabrics and then decide just exactly where to position them, trace them, cut them out, and then glue them.  I decided to clean my sewing room after that.  I finished cleaning tonight and now I'm all ready for the next FNSI.  :)  I hope your weekend is much more productive than mine has been.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Wednesday....WIPs

I cannot believe a whole week has gone by.  This has been an extremely busy week, and you are probably wondering why the wedding cake background.  My little brother is getting married soon...and with bridal showers, rehearsals, and dresses to find, I thought I would get in the wedding spirit!

This is truly a "work in progress."  I cut the pieces for my This and That "Cobblestone Lane" block of the month.  Now I need to go and get these blocks sewn together.  Only one month left and I can start finishing the quilt.

Of course I'm still working on my Vignette hexagons.  I have been basting and basting and basting hexies as my son has a three-hour a day basketball camp next week, and I will have a lot of time to stitch.  :)

I also found another quilt-a-long (I know, I know), but this one is fun, and there is a mini quilt to make AND I'm using my stash.  These are my "warm colors."  I need to still pick out a few more warms and then work on my "cool colors."  I have a bit of problem with the cool colors as I don't tend to use a lot of blues or greens...  Should be interesting.  If you would like to join us you can go to http://incolororder.blogspot.com/ to get the instructions.  I'm a bit behind, but they are just starting the cutting now.  I thought it would be fun to really challenge myself with the use of color. 

And last, but certainly not least, I finally finished this quilt.  Everytime I look at it all I think of is summer.  It has been so hot here this week (over 100 degrees) and this reminds me of a cool summer pool and green grass.  I just love the Dilly Dally fabrics and the pattern can be found here... http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/09/candy-bar-pinwheels.html.

I'm linking with http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com/ for WIP Wednesday.  Thank you so much for stopping by, you made my day!  Happy Stitching!  --Kristen

Another Saturday and a long weekend.

Thank goodness I have a three-day weekend, hopefully a lot of sewing will be going on.  I've got big plans, now hopefully they will come to fruition. 

Here are my April blocks for the This and That block of the month.  We received the finishing kits last month and this quilt is really going to be neat when it is finished. 

And of course I've been making more flowers.  I did find the yellow glue refills today and this afternoon was spent outside basting more hexagons.  I think I need to get started on my Vignette mystery quilt though as the June magazine should be out any day.  I certainly never seem to have a shortage of large projects to work on. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend, and hopefully I will be back tomorrow with another update.  The sewing machine is all warmed up and ready for some serious sewing tonight.  Happy stitching--Kristen.

Tuesday hexagon info

I've had a lot of questions about using the Go! to make hexies, so I thought I'd share how I used it.

I started out cutting my fabric into 3-1/8" strips and then cutting again into 2-3/4" rectangles.

I then used the 3" x 2-5/8" hexagon...(it's the one in the middle)

I also used the 1 inch paper hexagon shapes.  You do have a little bit bigger seam allowance, but it is so easy to work with.

I cannot believe I am actually showing you the backside of this... :)  Have a great Tuesday.  I hope this answers some of your questions.  Happy Stitching!  --Kristen

More hexies....

Well, I finally got out the GO! and the Sewline glue pen and got to work.  It is amazing what you can accomplish in a few hours.  Now I have to say that because my other grandmother's flower garden quilt has been in the works for over 10 years, and hundreds of hours have been spent cutting, basting, and sewing those hexagons together.

This is just a fraction of the fabrics so far, and I'm trying to decide if the plain middles would be better or should some of the prints be in the middle.  Any suggestions?  Looking back now, I'm wishing I would have gotten more of the blues...but while going through the fabric I'm realizing what a hunt I was on to even find most of them.  There are some fat quarters and some 1/4 yard cuts.  There are even some 1/8 yard cuts.  I remember going from shop to shop just to find the fabric.  I do have to say I'm glad I saved them. The GO! and the Sewline glue pen are really easy to use.

Hope you have a wonderful and productive Wednesday. We are linking with Work in Progress Wednesday at http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com/.  There are some amazing projects posted on there.