Work In Progress Wednesday - Memory Lane....

Working on this hexie quilt has made realize something......my style and interests haven't changed much in my 39 years on this planet.  Everything that I loved as a little girl.....pink and green, cats, crafts, baking, Hello Kitty, dollhouses and anything very, VERY girly are still the exact same things that I love today.  

My hexie quilt in progress today.....

And a corner of my bedroom when I was about 12 years old.....

Muffy the Cat - around 1986-87

Wouldn't my hexie quilt fit in perfectly in my old bedroom?  Don't you just love the wall paper?  And oh my gosh.......the chevron crochet afghan!  I was sooooo ahead of my time with that one!  And the antique quilt on the wall.  Oh wow.....how I wish I still had that......

Isn't it funny how the smallest things can send you on a happy, little stroll down memory lane? 

Soooo.....other than a new found love of running and the fact that I'm no longer painfully shy (Yay!) or extremely impatient (I'm only moderately impatient now!) I really haven't changed much since this picture was taken over 30 years ago. 

Me and Kitty Paw - around 1979-80

And now I'm going to go hide the photos I found of my huge prom hair....some memories are best left hidden away in a closet!

Hugs from Memory Lane,

Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Sabotage!

I'm almost there!  Only about 20 more white hexies to go!!!

But as expected.....it get's a little monotonous making white hexie after white hexie after white hexie.  Next time, I'm going to set up some sort of rule or system where I make 10 white hexies for every colorful hexie flower.  The colorful hexie flowers will be like a decadent dessert after a healthy meal of white hexies.

It's really starting to come together....

And if a furry, little sabotuer would quit jumping up on the coffee table and stealing white hexies and my spool of thread I might have this quilt done in a week or two.....

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Hexieaholic

I think I am now addicted to hexies.  I am a hexieaholic.  And I need a hexievention.  I finished up the rest of my hexie flowers as I was lounging on the sofa over the weekend recovering from my 20 mile run.......

Yeah.....I just had to casually slip it in there that I ran 20 miles on Saturday.  Anyway.....I was actually kind of sad when I finished my hexie flowers....I was not sad when I finished my 20 mile run....but I was sad when I finished my hexies.  Soooooo, it should come as no surprise that I decided to take my quilt in the all hexie direction instead of the applique direction.....

35 white hexies down.....only 88 to go!  Yup.....that's 123 white hexies needed to finish this little hexie quilt.  I can't even imagine the mind-numbing amount of hexies that would be required for a full size bed quilt!  Eeek!

I decided to replace the "loud" lavender and yellow hexie I made last week with the "quieter" new lavender and yellow hexie in the bottom left corner.  I think the rejected hexie will get over it, don't you?  And fortunately after I arranged....and rearranged....and rearranged.....and found the perfect layout.....I was smart enough to snap a photo before this happened.....

Seriously!  What is it with cats and quilts???!!!  If I'm not able to make anymore progress on this quilt before next Wednesday it's simply because I was too scared to move the cat!  Law #1 of Kittydom:  You may never disturb a contented cat!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Hexie Happiness

Oh, how I love making these hexies!  They go together quickly.....they require very little brain power....they only require small bits and pieces of fabrics so you can cut into your favorite fabrics that you've been hoarding forever without panicking too much.....and they look oh so pretty when they're all piled up together!

I added two new hexies to the pile last night but I'm just not sure about the yellow floral one.....

I think the flowers on the yellow one look a little loud and out of place next to the other hexies....

Here's the same pile of Hexie Happiness without the yellow floral one....

What do you think?  It's better without the loud yellow floral one, isn't it? I need to make a new yellow and lavender hexie, don't I?  I hope I don't offend the yellow floral hexie if I don't let it into the quilt (yes - I really do worry about the feeling of inanimate objects)!  Maybe I should just applique it onto the back so it doesn't feel left out???

And here's my other Hexie million dollar question.....

Should I make a bazillion white hexies to go in between the hexie flowers?  It will take a LONG time.....and for some reason it's sooo boring to make white hexies even though it's the exact same process as making colorful hexies....but that would make it a TRUE hexie quilt!

OR......should I just applique the hexies onto a white background and save myself a ton of time.  Is that hexie cheating?  What do you think?

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  I'm using these pre-cut 1" hexagons to do my English Paper Piecing.

P.S. #2
This week's stats:
Active WIPs:  UP TO 8!  What is wrong with me?!  Why don't I ever just finish one project before I start a new one!!!  I need an intervention!!!
Must Make:  14
Back Burner WIPs:  4
Ready To Go: 12
New Projects:  None
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects:  None!

Work In Progress Wednesday - Align Twice, Sew Once

I decided to get brave on Block #2 of my Madhuri quilt and use a directional print in the block's "frame" and.....well.....it definitely involved more mental gymnastics than using solids.  The most important thing I learned from this block is to double check the "alignment" of your directional print before you sew any diagonals.  Just hold your fingers down where your plan on sewing, flip the fabric open using your fingers as a seam and make sure that your print is going in the right direction.  And yes.....I learned this the hard way.  I sewed all of the "frame" pieces for this block, CUT off the excess fabric from the diagonal seams and then realized I'd done them ALL wrong.  Yup.  Time to start over!  Oops!

Soooo....the moral of my story is NOT to scare you off from making this quilt.  Far from it.  It's a GORGEOUS quilt and I'm having so much fun making it.  I just want to let you know this isn't a quilt you can rush through.  You just need to slow down.....be methodical......carefully double check before you sew.  So instead of saying "measure twice, cut once" I'll just say "align twice, sew once." 

And if you look closely you'll see that most of the frame pieces aren't even attached to the center of the block yet!  This is kind of like a dress rehearsal to make sure I don't mess up again!

This week's stats:
Active WIPs:  UP TO 7! 
-Madhuri Quilt - almost done with 2 blocks 
-Little Lady - Haven't touched it in a week! 
-Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt - STILL ready to be sandwiched and pinned!
-Dollhouse Bakery - Oh how I miss "playing" with my dollhouses!
-Hooterville:  On the hand quilting phase....but haven't touched it in months
-Little White Dollhouse - STILL sitting next to my sewing machine.  
 -Vintage Valentine:  In a box....patiently waiting....
Must Make:  14  
Back Burner WIPs:  4
Ready To Go: 12
New Projects:  None
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects:  None!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  The quilt pattern I'm using is called Camping In Style by This and That Designs.  The fabric is the Madhuri collection by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs.

Work In Progress Wednesday - Testing The Waters

I finally pulled out a needle and thread for the first time in about 3 months!  I decided that my first venture back into the quilting and sewing world should be something very simple.....very easy....very mindless - it's like I just want to dip my toes in the shallow end of the pool to test the waters.  I'll dive into the deep end head first on another day!  So the hand ties on the Little Lady quilt seemed like the best place to start.  I've only done a few ties but at least it's something.  I'm slowly but surely getting back in the quilting groove.  And I didn't realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again!  Funny how that works, isn't it?!

And even though I haven't been making progress on any of my projects lately, my stats have still changed a little over the last few months.  A few projects were removed from the Must Make list.  And a few new ones were added to the Must Make list.  And since I currently have no pieced projects in the works that means it's time to pick a new one to start on.  My rule that I try to follow is that I shouldn't have more than one of any type of project going on at the same time.  Did that make sense?  I mean that I only want to have one pieced quilt in progress.  One applique quilt in progress.  One hand tied quilt in progress, etc, etc.  Now.... please note that I said I TRY to follow that rule.  I don't always ever do it.  But it's my goal. 

Active WIPs:  6  
-Little Lady - Hand ties are back in progress!
-Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt - Ready to be sandwiched and pinned!
-Dollhouse Bakery - Oh how I miss "playing" with my dollhouses!
-Hooterville:  On the hand quilting phase
-Little White Dollhouse - Sitting next to my sewing machine.  They're keeping each other company.
-Vintage Valentine:  I've started prepping freezer paper templates! 
Must Make:  14  
Back Burner WIPs:  4
Ready To Go: 12
New Projects:  None
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects: Haven't found any

Anyway....these are the five pieced quilts on my "Must Make" list.  One of these is about to get promoted to "Active Work In Progress."  Here they are in no particular order.  So tell me.....which one do you think I should make next?

Quilt Option #1:  Victory Garden in reds and blues from my stash.....

Quilt Option #2:  Chain Reaction in pink, aqua, lime, orange, red and lavender with a grey background using fabrics from my stash.  I saw a Chain Reaction quilt using these colors on Pinterest and fell IN LOVE!

Quilt Option #3:  A Swoon quilt using Old New 30s and a few fabrics from my stash....

Option #4:  Around The Block using the brand new Sweet Things collection by Lakehouse Dry Goods.  I know I shouldn't say this.....and I know that I should love all my fabrics equally.....but that Petal Pink Rows of Cupcakes fabric is my favorite fabric in the history of ever!

Quilt Option #5:  A Camping In Style Quilt using the new Madhuri Collection by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake.  I'd use the large florals and fussy cut the elephants for the centers of the blocks.  And I'd use the smaller prints and a few solids for the block "frames."

Soooooo......what do you think?

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Bottlecap Borders

Progress has been made!

The borders are now on the Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt.

And as soon as I get this quilt sandwiched and pinned and ready for hand ties I think I'm going to start work on my Swoon quilt.  Because once one quilt has moved out of the "piecing" stage and into the "quilting" stage you're allowed to start piecing another quilt, right?  It makes perfect sense to me! 

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Baby Steps

Little by little progress is being made....

More than half of the ties on the pink and black Little Lady quilt are done....

The borders for the Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt have been cut and pieced together.....

My foot has healed to the point where I'm able to run again....

The laundry pile continues to grow at an astronomical rate but you can't win 'em all, right?!

Baby steps.  They may be small steps forward but at least I'm heading in the right direction!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  Check the upper right section of the blog for our new feature, the "Sale Of The Week."  We'll announce a new sale every Monday.  This week Lush Running Stitch Fat Quarter Bundles are 25% off. 

Work In Progress Wednesday - Not Good!

I've been a very bad quilter lately.  Yet again, I have absolutely no progress to show you on any of my Works In Progress.  But I have found the time to plan ANOTHER possible quilt.  Remember the other day when I said I thought that the Old New 30s Collection would look perfect in a Swoon quilt.  Well....I ran with that idea and I picked my 9 favorite fabrics from Old New 30s and paired them with 9 dots, ginghams and solids from my stash and this is what I came up with.

Just picture these.....

Turned into something like this.....

Hmmmm.....that would be pretty darn cute, right?  I think the number of projects on my "Must Make" list just went up.  What do you think?  I HAVE to make it, don't I?

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Two Peas In A Pod

It's all fun and games until one of your kitties "deposits" a hairball on the quilt that you're working on and causes the cancellation of Work In Progress Wednesday.  Soooo.....since I have no quilt pictures to show off today I'll distract you with a picture of the "suspects" instead.

Sweet little Daisy (left) celebrated her 16th birthday yesterday!  And after that huge health scare last summer I really wasn't sure if we'd see this day. And before we make any of those jokes about Daisy being old enough to get her driver's license I should mention something.....Daisy is on blood pressure medication that specifically says it may impair her ability to drive or operate heavy machinery.  It always makes me giggle when I see that label on her pill bottle.  The pharmacy knows the medication is for a cat.  But they still diligently put that sticker on every time!

The quilt did survive it's roller coaster ride in the washing machine and is now happily air drying out of reach of the kitties.   Hopefully I'll be back to work on a dry and stain free quilt tomorrow!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  That's Bailey, formerly known as the sour puss cat on the right.

P.S. #2 - Cassi, my good ol', almost 19 year old cat is still doing great.  She just wasn't in the mood to have her photo taken today! 

Work In Progress Wednesday - Monotony

Two rows down.  Seven to go.  And loving every moment of monotonous, soothing, no-thought-required tying of this quilt.

Daisy loves it too. 

And do you happen to remember the big, huge, secret project that I started working on back in November?  Well....it's almost done....it's so close to being done that I can almost taste the celebratory champagne......but the project is at a stage that is so boring and monotonous that I look forward to taking breaks to fold laundry and do dishes.  Yeah.....sometimes monotony is good.  And sometimes it makes you delusional.  With a little luck and a lot of work I'll be putting that project in the DONE column next week.

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - No Turning Back

There's no turning back now.  I picked a sashing color and started sewing.

After all of the sashing "audtions" and requests for votes and orders of new bolts of fabric and my complete inability to decide I finally did what any sane girl would do.....I turned it over to the "man of the house."  And no.....I don't mean Bailey the Sourpuss Cat......

I mean Col. Sew Fab....

I showed him the options.  He immediately picked Royal Blue.  Yup.  I let a Fighter Pilot make my quilting decisions for me.

And speaking of Bailey the Sourpuss Cat did I tell you that he's no longer a sourpuss?  He's been an incredibly sweet and kind and affectionate and loving cat since he had oral surgery in January.  He's not beating up the other cats.  He's not hissing.  He's kind to the dogs.  He's even being nice to Col. Sew Fab who he used to glare at with utter contempt and disgust!  What's going on?  Did he have a bad tooth that was making him grumpy for his WHOLE life?  Is he just trying to behave himself so we don't do that to him again?  Or did they just give us the wrong cat at the vet's office?  Hard to say but I'm leaning towards the "wrong cat" theory!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  The "Royal Blue" that I'm using is actually Moda Bella Solids in Dusk.  It just looks Royal Blue to me so I call it Royal Blue.  And the bolt of "Navy" fabric that I ordered is actually called "Royal."  So confusing!

P.P.S.S.  Thanks to everyone who who left comments about the sashing color.  It was really fun to read all of your opinions and ideas.  And it seems like Royal Blue was winning in the voting when I let Col. Sew Fab cast the final vote!

 

Work In Progress Friday?

I know, I know....Work In Progress Friday doesn't have quite the same ring to it that Work In Progress Wednesday does but somehow the week just got away from me.  I feel like we magically fast forwarded to Friday and I don't know what happened to the rest of the week.  But sometime during this whirlwind of a week the bolt of Navy fabric arrived so hopefully I'll be able to make some progress on the Going Coastal Granny Square quilt very soon....if I can ever make a final decision on the sashing color.  I like them all and I just can't commit to a "winner!" These are the options.....

Navy.....

Royal Blue.....

 Gray.....

And White......

So what do you think?  Which one should I use?  If you "voted" in the original "Vote For Sashing" post do you still like your first choice?  Or have you changed your mind?  Maybe I should just draw a color name out of a hat.  Or lay out all of the fabric options and use whichever one Emma lays on first.  Or maybe I should just make 3 more full sets of Going Coastal Granny Squares so I can have four different quilts with four different sashing colors!  Isn't that a great idea?  And practical too!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

Work In Progress Wednesday - Vote For Sashing!

All.  The.  Blocks.  Are.  Done!!!  I am getting this quilt done in record time.  Usually, a few weeks into making a quilt, I'd still be planning it.....thinking about it.....talking about it.....and looking at the fabrics I'd picked for it.  But for me....actually having all of the quilt blocks done in a few weeks is miraculous!  Maybe I should slow down and start procrastinating so no one has to wonder "who are you and what did you do with Jenny?"

This is my tentative plan for how I'm going to lay out the blocks.  I tried to evenly space out the blues and oranges and the lighter blocks and the darker blocks but does anyone see anything that I should consider rearranging?

And now for the really big question.  Should I use gray sashing to pick up the gray in the center of each block......

Or white sashing to keep it clean and fresh.....

And as for all of my other projects this is what's going on.....

Active WIPs: 6 (Up one from last week because I officially started on the winery!)

-Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt - Blocks are done.  Time for sashing!
-Dollhouse Bakery - No progress
-Hooterville:  Happily hand quilting in the evenings while I watch t.v. and sip wine
-Little White Dollhouse:  No progress
-Vintage Valentine:  Staring at it.....thinking about it.....drooling over the pile of pretty fabrics
-French Provincial Winery:  Upgraded from Must Make to Active WIP because I've started buying supplies for it so there's no turning back! 
Must Make:  I've been wanting to make a Victory Garden quilt and I just found the perfect assortment of fabrics in my stash for it!
Back Burner WIPs:  5
Ready To Go:  19
Must Make:  10 - That number is unchanged from last week!
New Projects:  NONE
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects:  Didn't find any last week - Yay!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny 

P.S.  The prints in my quilt are from the Going Coastal Collection by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller.