blocks – Juanita Collins

August 27, 2013September 3, 2013

Sewing a Hexagon Quilt

There hasn’t been much in the way of quilty stuff on my blog lately. Probably because I’m living out at the lake right now, and no electricity equals no sewing machine.

But I wouldn’t let that stop me, eh?

My friend Melissa had sent me a little care package containing (among other wonderful goodies) a jelly roll of Free Spirit Pirouette a month or so ago and I couldn’t wait to cut into it. Her instructions were to experiment, play and enjoy. I took this literally and decided to do just that by learning a technique that was brand-new to me.

I have always admired heritage quilts, and have always wanted to make a quilt entirely by hand. One day I saw that there was going to be Hexie-Queen Blog Hop, and since I had never made a hexie flower before, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn.

I took the jellyroll to my LQS and paired it with soft grass-green for the flower centers and garden path, and a creamy/buttery pale gold for the background. I loved the way the prints seemed to sink down and make themselves at home in these two complementary shades.

Having decided to take the plunge, I looked at a couple of tutorials and then jumped into the deep end with the decision to start a hexagon quilt.

I am slowly sewing 1.5-inch hexagons all sewn together into a Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. By hand.

I carry it back and forth to town and work on it in the car.

This antique glass butter dish is the perfect little container.

It’s going to take awhile, but that’s okay. Handwork is relaxing. Why rush it when I enjoy it so much? I can already tell it’s going to be beautiful. 🙂

Today is the last day of the Blog Hop. Thanks for visiting, and don’t forget to check out the hexie-goodness on these other participating blogs:

Marjorie’s Busy Corner

Also linking up with Lily’s Quilts Fresh Sewing Day

May 12, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend!

My goodness…I opened up the website to write a mother’s day post and saw that this will be post number 201! Now how did that upcoming milestone get past me, I wonder? I think I better start planning ahead a bit better because surely a prize would have been appropriate. Well, never say never, and I will put some thought into that!

Meanwhile, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone, whether you are a mother or not! I have had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Look what I was served for breakfast!

I adore French toast. And didn’t he set a beautiful table, oh my! I must have raised him very well, if I don’t say so myself!

Chef Michael:

And on the sewing front, I picked up Heidi’s quilt for the first time in too long and did some hand quilting whilst we watched a movie on TV last night.

Yesterday I worked on my 3×6 bee blocks. I decided to make disappearing 9-patches this time around. Sometimes I feel badly that I make such simple blocks for this group, but everyone makes the best of their ability, and you are placed in a group by first-come, first-served. So there are very experienced quilters making some very advanced blocks in the group, and then there are the beginner “me’s” who make simple blocks. So anyway, I felt that the disappearing 9-patch was going to be a challenge – and it was, but in a different way than I had expected. The challenge wasn’t in the sewing, it was in the fabric selection. A couple of the blocks I made over because while the colours looked like they would be perfect, when the block was actually sewn, they just didn’t cut it.

So what is a disappearing 9-patch, all my non-quilting friends are wondering? Well, you start off by sewing a straight-ahead 9-patch block that looks like this:

Then you cut it into quarters, like this:

And then you twist and turn the quarters around until you like the pattern!

Pretty cool, eh?

What I learned is that strong colours work best, especially a contrasting colour in the center of the original 9-patch. All of these squares are the same pattern, and the colours I used are according to the chosen palette of each person in the bee. See what you think:

Happy Mother’s Day to you all, and especially to my own mother!

I hope you all had a great weekend, and if you’re hungry, I’ll share my French toast with you.

Bonn Appétite!

May 4, 2013

Because You Matter: Boy Quilt #2

I’m really moving right along with these sibling quilts! Here is quilt number two:

It measures 43″ x 30″ – a nice size for a preschooler. I was digging around in the bottom of my stash and I came up with six 6″ squares of bright cartoon jungle print that my friend Karyne had given me years and years ago and that I had totally forgotten about.

I dug out some jellyroll strips in bright primary colours, cut up a dark blue cotton pillowcase donated by Pam for the background and sewed up six wonky courthouse square blocks.

I hand tied it with red yarn and ran around the outside border with the machine. I’m pretty sure that the machine lines are a lot straighter in person than they look in the picture. And if they aren’t, well, I guess they’re just a lot like me, lol!

Don’t ya just love pictures of quilts all rolled up? I do! Something about the colours against the binding just makes me smile.

I’m linking in with Cat Patches for her New Fabric Object linky party. We’re supposed to show what we started in April. I started the project of making three quilts for three little boys. Two down, one to go!

Ciao for now!

April 1, 2013

Good Monday Morning!

Good morning! Isn’t it wonderful to have a four-day weekend? I am feeling so relaxed . And yet I feel that I have accomplished so much at the same time! On Friday Kelly and I loaded up everything that we had set aside for a garage sale and donated it to the annual diabetes fundraiser. This is a giant garage sale where all proceeds go towards the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. We took over an entire pick-up truck load. Honestly, I don’t think we could have crammed one more thing in! I hope it earns a few dollars towards a very good cause. And the second good cause is that I don’t have to pack it up and move it! Yay!

Friday evening we headed out to the cabin in hopes of a clear night or two so that Kelly could set up his scopes. No luck. It clouded over minutes after we arrived. Seems this happens to us a lot! We spent Saturday relaxing. I read a book and worked on my orange peel quilt. I only have eight more squares to applique and I am loving the super scrappy-ness. I don’t think it will be long now!

I took my sister’s quilt out with me, too, with hopes of getting an entire frame segment quilted…but I forgot to take the quilting thread! Arrgh! It’s a lot of work to pack that big quilt up and haul it around with me, so I wasn’t too happy with myself. But then, I did get an awful lot done on the orange peel quilt, so it’s 6 of one and half a dozen of the other and I’m happy with my handiwork.

Remember the knee socks I knit for Amber last month?

Well, I had an itty bitty bit of wool left over, and so I decided to try knitting an itty bitty pair of socks. Aren’t they sweet? And no, I don’t have a new-born to give them to, but someday I will! (aaak! not mine! I’m a fair bit beyond that ability, lol!). I mean that someday I am sure someone I know will announce a new arrival, and then I will be prepared!

Last month I started a new project. I had an afternoon of play in my sewing room – an afternoon of no expectations. No bee blocks to make. No BOM blocks to make. Just me and my cutting board and my fabric stash and a whole lotta ideas & patterns to sort through. An afternoon where I could do or make anything I wanted. Anything at all! Luxury indeed! And what did I make? Chinese Lanterns! I started something and I’m not sure what it will end up as, but OH, I am full of ideas and plans!

Yesterday Number One Son came over for spaghetti, and I made chocolate chip peanut butter cookies for dessert. Oh, Yum! Aaaak diet!

And what am I going to do today? Today is a homework day for the creative writing class I’m taking on Wednesday nights. I have to do a critique on a piece written by a classmate (a really good scarey short story) and I have to work on revisions to two pieces that are due in two weeks. I don’t have a lot of time, so today is for tea and writing. There’s so much happy creativity going on around here, I can hardly breathe for the joy of it!

What are YOU doing on this marvelous Monday?

Today I’m linking up in two places: it’s New FO Linky Party day over at Cat Patches and Fresh Sewing Day/Small Blog Meet over at Lily’s Quilts.

March 23, 2013

Two things for show and tell!

Last year I did the In Color Order 1/2-triangle-square block of the month, and last weekend I finally sewed all the squares together! I added three extras to make a long, skinny quilt for the back of the couch. Perfect to snuggle under with a bowl of popcorn and a good movie. I will be putting borders on eventually – I need to take it to the quilt shop and audition a few fabrics. I’m thinking of a yellow batik. What do you think?

And I got presents! Wonderful Mr. C (that’s “C” for charming, don’t ‘cha know!) brought home these!

The charm packs are Bella Solids for my orange peel quilt, and the jelly rolls are 2wentyThr33 by Eric and Julie Comstock and Boho by Urban Chick. Just because he loves me. I love him too (but not just because he buys me fabric, lol!)

How was your Saturday?

March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

Creative Update

I have been feeling quite guilty about not posting anything for pretty nearly an entire month! Lots has been going on, but since today is Wednesday, I want to do an update on what I’ve been up to in the sewing room and leave everything else for another day. Maybe even tomorrow!

I participate in a couple of on-line bees. Unfortunately, I can’t post the photos here because I put them into Flickr and then deleted them! I didn’t realize that you cannot copy and past from Flickr! Only one survived the deleting – a wonky log cabin I made for the 3×6 bee:

Remember the valentine quilt I made for Because you Matter? I delivered it to the social worker and it has been given a new home with a little girl who loves the colour pink. That makes me so happy!

I also finished my first pair of knee-high socks, I made them for Kelly’s cousin Amber to keep here feet warm at night. Since she had the stroke, she finds that the circulation in her feet is very poor and she is always cold at night.

January was my month in the We Bee Canadian group, and I picked a bow tie block done in gardening fabrics. Those, plus some extra’s from my friend Dee and also several I made myself resulted in this top – I love it!!!

And last but not least, here is another Because You Matter top, with squares donated by the wonderful and generous quilters over at Quilts for Kids.

Linking in with Freshly Pieced and the Needle & Thread Network.