I love Hexagon quilts

A couple of years ago I decided to make one. I spend a lot of time waiting in doctor offices, ER's and hospitals. So I needed something to do with my hands when I don't feel like crocheting or knitting.  


So, I love hexies. I got the idea from a vintage quilt we have that one of Steve's aunt's made. It's called the "Grandmother's Flower Garden". Her hexies are really tiny, about the size of a quarter.  I decided to do a little research on the idea and found that there are hundreds of sites about stitching hexagons into quilts. I have found that I enjoy basting them to the paper piece and hand sewing them to each other. My hexies are 1in. on the side that makes them almost 2in. across. This size maybe I can finish it before I die and it wont sit in a closet left for my children to throw away. Although I am not sure yet how big I want to make it. A king size quilt of this nature seams much to big and stressful for all the hand stitching. Then there's the quilting of it once it's done. 


Here is a picture of how I my hexi fabric cut sewn and organized for carrying with me on short and long trips.

The two pictures below are of what I have done and put together so far. It is laid out on the foot of my king size bed. I am considering making it big enough to sit on the top of my queen size bed that is in my sewing room. As you can see, it is very brightly colored.

Squares A Plenty

Here are as one can tell I have taken all the strips and now cut them down to 4 1/2 squares. I have also cut all 50 stars out and have 10 ironed on to the squares and 10 have now been blanket stitched. I used an iron on fusible to hold the stars in place and to help keep the fraying to a minimum. I don't want the stars to fray much it any.

It's very strange to see a whole lot of fabric cut down to size and have it turn into something beautiful, warm and cozy.

The Pics

Ok , so here is the link to where all the pictures are going to be posted so I dont have to post every picture and take up so much space. http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/583404561GLfOoX  This is in webshots. If this doesnt work, will figure something else out.

I got a notice that webshots is changing their name and moving, so the above link may not continue to work. So here are two pictures of the finished quilt top I made for Rhea.

Here are two views of Rhea's quilt top.

Rainy Days

Rainy Days are very good pajama days. It's a very good time to be lazy or lounge and read a good book. But, instead I decided to sew. So, (haha) I pulled out the fabric bucket that I stored the quilt fabric in for the quilt I am going to make. Or should I now say making as I have started sewing it together. All the strips are sewn together and half of them have been pressed. Tomorrow, I plan on finish pressing the strips. Then on to the planning and cutting of the strips in to squares. I wish I were a very witty person with loads of things to say, but it is past my bed time and I am not very witty. Good Night for now. I will try to post pictures of what I have accomplished tomorrow. This is the only way my lovely DD knows that I am doing what I tell her is being done. Besides that; she gets to follow along and watch as her quilt is being made.

Strips measured, cut and labled

Strips sewn together in pairs ready to be cut into squares

My Sewing/Bedroom Redone

Wow, I should have been blogging all this time. I just simply forgot to blog about my experience in redoing my sewing/craft/bedroom. It took me several weeks to accomplish such a feat. This is what it looked like before I started.  It was an absolute disaster and very dull indeed.

I now have it all clean and painted white which is what is needed when sewing. To be able to match colors and see everything clearly. The accents are very light aqua shelves painted with bright colors. This is my new room.

See my ironing board to the left?

This is the view from the bedroom door. The valance and ties are made from tablecloth fabric that I had. It goes very well with the bright colors on the shelves

Don't ya just love the new colors in my room? The room is so bright and cheerful now.

My old table looks new again with this aqua
colored paint and all the pretty decals on it.

Motivation

Motivation. Wow! Such a big word. I need motivation, a lot of motivation. I thought when I got through with making the embroidered pillowcase dress for my great niece that I would really be motivated to get started on Rhea's quilt. Not! I have since finished two scarves that I had started for Christmas gifts. I have one more left to finish. I just need to make the flowers to go on it and it will be done. As long as it takes me to hand knit something, I have decided that I am not going to be a great knitter. I can crochet pretty good. I can crochet probably most anything just as long as it is not tiny thread. When using tiny thread my fingers just get all tangled in the thread and I lose my place.

Now my MIL aka Mom can do beautiful hand crocheted lace table scarves. I even have a full round table scarf that she crocheted to fit my dining room table. It is beautiful. Plus I have numerous scarves on end tables, bookshelves and dressers. I just love them.

I am still in the process of cleaning up my sewing/bedroom and making shelves to go on the wall for more organization. I just hate all the mess that is in there right now. Steve , my DH, owes me a day sanding on my shelves so I can get them painted and hung on the wall. Also one of the pieces of wood is going to be my new cutting table to put my cutting mat on. The piece that I have now is just not quite wide enough for my cutting mat and I think that is very important to have before I start cutting the fabric for the quilt. I have the boxes ready to put the cut pieces in so everything will be organized and I can accomplish what I have set out to do. So... Maybe... just maybe I haven't lacked as much motivation as I had previously thought when I started this particular post.

Well...It's time for me to finish modge podging the metal brackets to match the shelves. Until next time... Motivation... motivation

Old Magazines and Books

Well, It's time for me to finish cleaning out all my old craft, sewing, and quilt magazines and books. I have been putting this off for quite sometime now because these books and magazines are like my little children, my muses. I go to them for inspiration and creativity. But, after awhile unless one has unlimited space to store these items or a room designated to be a library one can be overcome with just to much stuff. I am slowly trying to stop collecting so much stuff and in doing so give to those whose can use it.


"What is she going to do with all those books and magazines" you say? No, they aren't going to the dumpster or trash. I am separating them into what I want to keep and the others are going to my daughter-in-law and niece who are learning how to sew, quilt and crochet. 


I had gotten some old patterns and vintage fabric from a neighbor who's mother passed away and she was cleaning out her mother's house. She knew I sewed. So, I received quite a bit of retro items.  A couple of months back  I met a young lady where I worked who liked the retro clothing and was learning to sew. I gave her some of the patterns and fabric.

Broken Machines

I guess everyone knows if you don't wash the fabric for a quilt before sewing together, that after washing it will shrink the fabric and make it kind of poufy. My daughter didnt want that look for her quilt. Sooooo, two days ago I decided I would go ahead and wash it.  I emptied the washer of it's contents into the dryer and started. Then proceeded to fill the washer and add the fabrics for the quilt. Next I heard a "Bang!" and you guessed it the  belt on the danged dryer broke. It will be a few days before Steve ( my husband ) can get to it.

In the park that we live in we can not have outside clothesline. Who wants to go golfing on the golf course and see someone's holey underwear wear or gigantic bra hanging on the line.  Fortunately the people who owned our house were smart enough to hang lines in the storage room. In the six years we have lived here this is the first time I have ever used it. When the washer quilt I hung the quilt fabrics on the line. Here in FL it took no time and they were dry.

Now it's time for me to start cutting the fabric. BUT First, I have to finish cleaning up the gigantic mess I have made in my sewing/craft/bedroom. It's a total disaster. Until next time this is the Sew Rip signing off.

Pillowcase Dress for Jameslee

I haven't gotten started yet on the quilt as one can well see. My daughter said she wanted me to finish the pillowcase dress, I am embroidering, for my niece's baby girl. I am almost there, I can see the finish line. I have one butterfly, two lady bugs and some vines and leaves. I picked this pattern because my niece likes dragonflies and I like butterflies. I think it will be very pretty. When I am done, with it I will post a picture of it on here.

Buckaroo Stars

Last night I took some pictures of the pattern book and the fabric that Rhea and I chose for her Star quilt. The name of the book is called "Buckaroo" pattern book by http://www.adornit.com/. It has a number of western oriented projects.

This is the pattern book

and this is the pattern it doesn't look to complicated

 We spent more than an hour looking at fabrics and trying to decide what would be some good choices of prints and colors. http://www.thesewingbasket.com/ This is the adorable store where we got our fabric. The ladies there are very nice, friendly and very good at helping select fabrics that coordinate.

These are the main fabric choices for the squares. The long blue fabric has words on it. It will be where the dark blue fabric is in the pattern.

These are the alternate fabric choices for the squares along with the beige fabric and blue star fabric for the appliques.

I have to add the picture of Sadie laying next to the fabric. She felt she had to be in the picture. I thought it was so cute that I have made it my background pic for now

I am really excited about starting this quilt. I will doing my best to keep this blog upto date on my progress with it. I also have several other projects going on too, on which I will write about later... My paper doll quilt squares that I have finished need to be put together and quilted, also I am doing a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt which is done in hexagons and all hand sewn together.

Starting a Quilt

I visited my daughter in Texas recently. We went shopping in a couple of small towns around where she lives. I wanted to go by a little fabric shop in the town of Salado that I had visited 4years ago while there for her wedding.

While there, my daughter asked me to make her a quilt. Sooooo, we picked out a pattern and fabric to get the project started. I want her to be able to follow along with me and help keep me motivated to finish her quilt.

In the near future I will be adding photos of the fabric and book that will be used and if I can find it, maybe a link to the little fabric shop.