Lions, and Hexies and More, Oh My!

I have been hand sewing hexies in front of the TV again.  Kathy has to do passive arm exercises to help her shoulder heal so we watched two seasons of The Umbrella Academy and started Schitt's Creek.  Lots of stitching while sitting in my new recliner.  There is already another row on this quilt which has been sitting around getting no attention for several years.

I asked to visit the Tosa Quilters (though was too tired to go to the meeting) so I got on their mailing list and found out about a 35 minutes away fabric sale. Since Kathy is off work til later this week healing, we went on a little road trip with Sunshine and bought all of this fabric!  Also got an early Christmas gift the hexie Go! Cutter die.  

I also have spent some time the last few weeks using up all kinds of blocks and leftover parts so that I can make a Christmas stocking for the grands, step grands, honorary grands and my own kids.  

The red one with the star was leftover from years ago when I made stockings for an exchange.  The blue churn dash is the only one I made from scratch (for Hazel) since I saw my online quilty friend Nancy's a few year's ago and knew I needed to make one.  These are not done, they are waiting for the top of the stocking...hoping to get on that this week or next.  Goal was to have them done by early November so I can mail them out for use by start of December.

You may recognize in the two multi colored stockings the blocks from several years ago when I sewed two each of the Quiltmaker Bitty Blocks (they are still online free I think) but they did a row by row and I never figured out what to do with them.  I still have some left, but I went ahead and used them and am glad to have found a use for them!  

After I completed the ones in the first picture I decided to make a few more and cover my own kids too so I used leftover parts Barb gave me from a Bonnie quilt and made three more of these.  They turned out pretty nice from a simple leftover stack of blocks!

Many years ago I hand sewed these hexies with the strange intention of making a little baby quilt.  The colors are more for antique display or something and I decided to cut it into a stocking too.  LOVE it.  Not sure if I will give this one to Kathy or to my youngest son Jay as it sort of speaks to me for him.

Hannah gave me Hazel's lion quilt since it did not have any whiskers and I got them put on one night while watching TV.  Kitty is my daughter's--Willow.

Still playing lots of games--especially solo.  Spent some time this past weekend getting better at Palm Island.  It is kind of addicting.  Simple but not!  I started out with a horrible score of 13 and am now up to 29.  Improving each time!

BJ and I have been working on our mysteries too. I am pretty happy with how this one turned out!  It now has a light blue border on it and is waiting for the darker blue with flower border once it gets a pressing.  That is up next, then back to the stockings.

 

The Sewing Storm Before the Mystery

 Here is Limbania's Good Fortune.  Done!

 Actually made sixteen towels for Christmas gifts.  Bought an automatic buttonholder for my Bernina and it is super easy to use compared to the button holes I made several decades ago!

 Started making some Christmas ornaments by hand....doing some in Packer fabric too.

 Quilted and bound this table runner for my mother.   She has a giant table and I think she will love it!

 This one has been waiting for about eight years to be quilted.  I finally did it and actually enjoyed it. 

Kathy and I are both doing a set of these for 35th Ave. BOM.  We will be gifting them to my nephews when they are done.

 I added a border and some feet to this turkey from years back.

 Finally got this UFO border fixed and Barb quilted it for me.  This was the 35th ave BOM from several years ago.

 Quilted and bound this one myself too.  This one was from the Quiltville Cruise!

 Laundry Day Mini is also quilted and bound by me.  I was killing the UFO's!

 Barb gave me her spiderweb blocks from the Bonnie workshop last year.  I decided to make a few more and then used leftover HST's from a prior BOM to make a baby quilt for donation to AZ Blankets for Kidz.  In all, Kathy and I donated eight!

 Made another Betsy Schnibbles, quilted and bound it myself.

 Made another Packer's quilt...quilted and bound it myself too!

 Used up a bunch of leftover parts from Pineapple Blossom to make this quilt and donated it.

This was one of two Shoo Fly tops I made as part of the Quilville Leader and Enders Challenge this year.  Also donated to AZ Blankets for Kidz. 
I am sure there is more I missed but I wanted to share the ones I could still find pictures for!  I am down to about six or so UFO's!  YAY!

Hexes and UFO's!

Okay it is hexies and UFO's not hexes, but it was a fun title!  We have been super busy and running like crazy lately.  Last weekend we went with the family to Mund's Park and stayed in a cabin.  The kids played in the snow and we played lots of board games and went to a wine tasting.  It was fun.  I managed to finally sew all but two of my hexi flowers onto the taupe fabric they needed to go on.  The UFO number for #APQResolution was #8.  It should have been this hexie project below, but I misread it and skipped right to the hexie flower one.  Then today I had to time to prep up stuff for this one even though I had decided to continue to just do the other one.  This is Bonnie's Little Bit Hexie.

 My borders do not quite fit, so I tucked it away until its number is drawn or I feel like fixing it and went back to working on the wrong (but now right) hexie project.

 You may remember this is the project from the Quiltville Caribbean Cruise in Oct. 2015.  I made one hexie each day of the trip in modern fabrics.

 I love how it came out with the arrows!  This is just a fun wall hanging for me so I will add it to the stack of to be quilted flimsies.

Barb sent me a link to a cool blog with projects at a glance pages and full pages for each project.  I am a list maker so I printed some out and put them in a three ring binder.  I was SHOCKED to discover that I could fill up an entire page with works in progress/UFO's!  There are twenty lines on each page.  I have not even started the page for those that need quilting.  That is next.  Really fun to cross things off (just crossed off most of the first one with Hexie Flowers) and also to remember what all I have going. 
I started another page of "quilts I want to start" and have twelve on there already.  Sheesh, I know lots of quilters have lots more of these than I do, but I do not like having so many in progress.  Many of them are super close to flimsy stage so I am happy to be doing the UFO challenge and to knock them off the list. 
My Pilates instructor broke her knee a few weeks ago--so no Pilates.  She should be back at it soon.  Meanwhile I have gone back to hiking and I love it again!  I am actually training to do about 12 miles at the Grand Canyon in March.  My cousins are coming in from Wisconsin and Minnesota to hike.  I am up to four miles and need to keep on upping it!  My knee is holding up and I have a break in my day that while the weather holds out two days a week I can hike midday.  The good news with all this is my weight loss started moving again!  I was down 115.6 pounds this morning!  It also happens to be three years I have been going to Weight Watchers.  Year one I lost 81.4 pounds, year two 24.4 pounds and year three 9.8 pounds.  Slow and steady but what a difference! 

February Goals Progress

 Last Friday after an early morning shift I sewed at Barb's.  We had planned to go to the Rusty Barn Quilt show the Friday before but I wound up in the hospital with another gallstone and got pancreatitis.  UGH!  Seems like the stone passed (or fell back down so pain went away) and this week I got to hiking FOUR times!  I did not realize it had been nine months since I had hiked.  I really missed it.  I am super sore though.  And I am happy to have gotten back to it now because my Pilates instructor shattered her knee (skiing--a snowboarder plowed into her).  I am at 111.6 down.  Super slow but not going up so I am happy about that!

 So I joined the All People Quilt UFO Challenge and they pulled #8 for February which is my "Little Bit Hexie" so I depapered them all and spray basted and pinned them to the squares.  I think I am going to try to hand attach them.  These are the little flowers I made each day on the Quiltville Cruise in October 2015.

 I also made both of my "Straits of Mackinac" blocks in the Rainbow BOM color of aquamarine.  It is not too late to join in if you want to go visit Angela's blog.  So fun to have a simple goal and a place to link up!  This group has grown and grown over the years and I have made friends of many of the participants.  I love to see what block or project everyone chooses to work on all year!

I also made block two of the Pat Sloan's BOM for 2017.  Barb and I are both doing this one.  Nice to use up scraps and be surprised by how it comes out.

In other news, Kathy was super happy the Patriots won last night.  It was quite a nailbiter for awhile and then there they were!  I do not have as much time to sew as I would like...I am teaching three classes this semester (and interpreting too) and the prep keeps me busy.  One of the classes is a new curriculum...so much work setting everything up,  Should be easier here on out though because I will finally have the basics together and can just improve as I go! 

I entered two quilts in the AQG Quilt Show in March.  I wanted Talkin' Turkey which I made for the Rainbow BOM to be shown.  I am not that kind of quilter and wish I could enter without getting any feedback. I have heard they are super picky and none of that matters to me.  That has held me back from entering anything but I could not resist this time.  The other one I entered it the mystery I made with my guild.  It is nothing to write home about at all, and my colors were the peaches--it is a bit much, however those in the guild who did it are entering them as a group thing to represent our guild so I went along with it.  I need to make and attach the binding to it soon.  Kathy is also entering for the first time!  Her Allietare is going to be in the show.  She got half the binding on yesterday.  We also need to make quilt sleeves for them all too. 

Last Sunday Sewing

 I just didn't like the overall look of my Nimble Thimbles challenge quilt so I took it apart and changed it u.  I like it better now. 

I also decided to whip up a quick hand sewing project for the cruise.  Made up hexies in little flowers and am hoping I can make one a day and it will come together in no time!

 

 I used fun modern looking fabrics and clipped them in sets to make it easier.

 Becky and I fly out on Saturday morning and return the following Sunday night!  Cannot wait!

Quilt Cam Fun!

 Last night I was motivated to get out this long forgotten hand sewn hexie project (seriously the longest running project I have ever had!) and sew on a few hexies.  It it tucked away again til I go in and get bifocals!  Yes, since the last time I did this my eyes have changed and I found it frustrating to not be able to see as I used to.  The last time I went to the eye doctor (last fall) he told me I should get bifocals and I did not believe him...I could see fine, apparently he knows more about my eyes than I do and I should have listened to him!  Anyway I am due to go back in about September and so I cannot wait to see better close up!

 Tonight I came home and got some fish, sweet potatoes and green beans going.  I then did some Quilt Cam sewing with Bonnie then dinner was done and I ate and worked out.  Jammed to ABBA and discovered my workout is more effective and energetic and seemed to go faster with music instead of the TV.  Think there will be more music.  Here is my very happy fitbit--first time I have ever seen eight leaves!

 Nailed my steps and the best part is 24 very active minutes....when I first got my fitbit it had zero forever and once in a while it would tell me one or two very active...so this makes me happy!

 Then back up to finish my Quilt Cam start on this extra Wild and Goosey block.  I was overjoyed to get another row on.  I swear this quilt never gets any larger....something Alice in Wonderland is going on with it!

Projects for the Car :)

So here are the projects I settled on for the car ride to Texas and then on to Wisconsin!  I will be doing hand quilting, embroidery, hand sewn hexies, knitting and reading.  So with any luck the ride will go by in a flash!  We have several stops planned which should make it fun too.

We are leaving Wednesday night so I am scheduling this post to come out then.  I plan to update the blog but it may be more about who I am seeing than the usual craft, quilting, knitting stuff :)

Playing with Mosaic Maker :)

I was playing with the bighugelabs mosaic maker tonight and made this little mosaic showing some of the things that the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild has inspired me to make!  I have learned paper piecing, embroidery, some free motion quilting and how to make a needlebook!  I didn't make the cup cozy this past month but I am a bit inspired to try out applique again Cristy's way!
In a few weeks we leave for Wisconsin!  I am busy planning out all my projects and books for my Nook for the car.  I plan to hand sew these little hexi flowers onto their squares while driving so I can finally get this little doll quilt done.

I also plan to keep adding to my hand sewn hexies.  I actually brought this with me to Wisconsin two years ago (when my kids jumped out of a plane to celebrate Mac's high school graduation) and I have been working on it on and off when I am not knitting or now embroidering.  I guess I will just keep plugging away on it.  

I am also bringing some knitting...dishcloths because they are so easy.  I still am working on my craftsy socks, haven't touched that project in weeks!  I need to have Becky over soon and get back to it!