Round and Round We Go

It is getting so close to finishing up my pinwheel quilt from Rachel's quilt a long. This weekend she is supposed to post the last block and then there is just the sashing. Eeeeepss!! 

Now of course I couldn't make it easy and just do the 16 blocks she is posting, I want mine to be 25 blocks. Mainly because I want it to be bigger, plus I just want more pinwheels! Soooo...I've been scouring the net to see if I can find more blocks. I've found a few but there is more scouring to be had.

Tonight I came across a block that isn't necessarily a pinwheel, but it sort of is, and I loved it and I knew I wanted it in my quilt! I saw it here on Kerry's blog first. She posted what tutorial she used, which can be found here on Christina's blog. Then I saw it was paper piecing. As much as I liked the block, that in itself almost made me pass on it. 

The last time I tried paper piecing it was a mess. Not a fun mess either, mind you. The last time I tried it those paper pieces didn't want to come out for nuthin'. I pretty much had to soak it in water to dissolve that darned paper the last time. See why I was disappointed? However, once I like something, it's not easy for me to let it go. No matter what. So.....I said I'd give it another go. Only this time I was going to shorten my stitch length, a lot. I didn't know this tip the first time I tried it, but was advised to do so by a woman at the shoppe I purchased my machine from. I knocked my stitch length down to 1.25 and had at it. When it was time to remove the paper, it tore right out! I was VERY pleased!

This block was not difficult in my opinion, however I do strongly suggest that you start with fabric that you are not planning to use in  your project and do a practice block to get the feel of how it goes together. Doing this will ensure you are not wasting your really nice fabric and if you make a mistake,  you're not out that fabric for your project. I ended up using my Frolic scraps and didn't get it right until my 3rd block. Third time really is a charm. Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy and goes together pretty quickly. I'm not sure I'd do an entire quilt like this, but maybe, now that paper piecing is a piece of cake. :)

Here is the completed block... 

Here is what my workstation looked like when I was done... =/

I'm not usually that messy....usually. ;)

Much Love!!

Nature's Teacher

I have this tree in my front yard and I love it so. It's beautiful because it is a deep plum color and every spring it blooms these wondrous dainty pink flowers. I wait for it every year. Anticipate it. Wait some more. Then it happens. Those sweet baby flowers emerge and cover the entire tree. I only get to enjoy this vision for about a week. At that point the petals start to fall and all that is left is a pretty purple tree. 

 

One week out of fifty two. It's one of nature's teachers. It teaches you to enjoy the things you have when you have them. To appreciate it then and now, because you never know when it will be gone.

 

Speaking of appreciation....I never thought in a million years that connecting with people over the internet would be a lasting endeavor. At one time in my life I always wondered how you could connect with someone that you've never met in person. Over the years, time and time again, its been proven  to me that you can. Different connections with different types of people. Some short lived. Some that have lasted years. No matter the time, they are moments cherished. 

 

Someone that recently came into my life via the intrawebs is Jeannie. It all started on Flickr over pancakes and cinnamon rolls, which still cracks me up.  She is one of the sweetest people I "know" and she is very dear to me. Compassionate, caring, kind, cheerful and quite an inspiration. I think she'd tell you that I was the enabler of the two of us, but I just might disagree. ;)

Thank you, Jeannie, for making me smile each and every day! You truly are a gem! :)

Just to show how sweet she is....lookie what I got in the mail today from her! The inspiration, I think, was because I got her hooked on the Keurig. Ok, maybe I am a wee bit of an enabler... hee hee :)

 

Much Love!!!

Monday Madness

Monday is almost over. Thank goodness! That means one day closer to the weekend! I guess I count down a bit early, huh? 

Good things can happen on Monday's though. This is what came in the mail for me today! Nothing like yummy fabric to cheer me up after a long day! :)

I urge you to go check out Burgundy Buttons! Leah is great and she ships super fast. I ordered this on the 8th, at night, and I got it today! She also runs great sales. Just subscribe to her blog and you'll be the first to know!! 

Another place I fancy is Fat Quarter Shop.  They have everything! They ship super fast! They even send notifications when they get something in, upon request. That's how I got my Frolic Layer cake for my Pinwheel quilt so fast. :)

Speaking of Fat Quarter Shop, Jaybird Quilts is hosting a give-a-way from them. Head on over and post your comments on her blog so you have a chance to win the Soul Mates quilt kit!! I wanna win that kit sooo bad! It features Frolic....and the name is just perfect. If you comment and win and don't want it, I'll be happy to take it off your hands. :)

While you're there, have a lookie around Jaybird's blog. Oh, and sign up for her hexagon quilt along too!! The more the merrier! :)

Much Love!!!

Heartfelt Thanks

You know those moments where you are so touched that you just can't help but get all choked up? I had one of those moments today. 

It had been a really, really long week. When I got home from the office I took a minute to sit down and read a few blogs to unwind. I just happened to check my blog stats first and thought for sure something crazy was going on in blogland because I had *a lot* of hits.  I checked the track backs for most of the hits and I was stunned. Don't worry. That's a good thing! :)

The links tracked back to Jaybird Quilts, and as always, I was happy to see a fresh post from her. Wait. Fresh post? I don't know why I said that. Anyway, I was enjoying all the photos she was posting of that cute little viking nephew of hers, finding some new Flickr groups, reading about her friends......and then there it was.....

Me! Little ole me counted in as one of her friends, and she thinks I am funny, AND that I make cute stuff!!! Ok, so she spelled my name wrong, and I'll give her crap about that later {haha} but how sweet is that??!! And she wonders why I think she's cool? She really is the bomb diggity, aaaaaaand the queen of hexagons!

By the way, if you haven't figured it out, she's famous. I have her signature and one day it will be worth a million dollars. :)

Thank you for making my day Julie! You truly are a peach. Or you can be an apple, but I like peaches better. :)

Much love!!!

It's A Thug Story

I've never really been one for rap music. Some of it is ok and some of it I love, but most times I pass. 

This may be old news but I saw it for the first time the other night. I just might like rap more if all the songs were like this....

I just cannot help but crack up... T-Swizzie...oh..and that "Big Ass Chain"...LOL! 

I {heart} Taylor Swift, and maybe now I even like T-Pain a wee bit more too. :)

Much Love!!!

Happy Easter!

Hoping everyone had a blessed day and if that silly bunny brought you my chocolate, please return it. :)

A Wee Bit Crazy?

One of my New Year's goals was that I was going to finish more of the projects I start. I know that I've definitely kept that up, although I still have quite a few that I began long ago that someday I'd like to finish but all these new ones keep popping up. I read so many blogs that are FULL of inspiration and the gears just get a turning. 

I don't know exactly why, but I've become strangely addicted to pinwheels and hexagons. Browsing through Flickr, those items always draw me right in. In looking through so many wonderful projects, I kept coming back to the same one. One that I know would take a LONG time. One that I kept trying to sweep under the rug and cover my eyes about.  I kept telling myself I would hate this project once I started it, even though it is a beautiful quilt.

So I gave in. I thought by now I'd be sorry, but far from it!! I am actually really enjoying it and I can't wait to see how it comes along.

Have you ever seen the Grandmother's Garden quilts? Oh. My. Goodness! They are beautiful. They are (in most cases) completely made my hand, meaning hand stitched. No machine.

This is my next endeavor.  I think I might be a wee bit crazy. I know I've tried to do hand piecing before with the Josephs Coat quilt along, but as pretty as that quilt was, the prep work was awful for me. All that gluing and I kept getting stuck with all those applique pins.  Whine whine whine! I know...but this one is different. No pins. No glue and no accuracy when cutting these babies out.

Here's how I started...

I chose a Moda Layer Cake, Boutique which has 42 10 inch pieces of fabric in it. I am using 1" hexagon pieces to do the English Paper Piecing. You can purchase your own HERE, or you can print  your own as well. I am too lazy to print and cut those all out. :) I also used their hexagon cutting guide. Its the one at the bottom of the page. Using this chart I knew my squares for piecing had to be 2.5". Using a layer cake makes this easy. I take about 5-7 pieces, keeping them all lined up and cut at 2.5", 5", and 7.5". Then I rotate my cutting mat and repeat. If they are not perfect 2.5" squares, its ok, just as long as they are close. Do this for all layers and you have 672 squares. 

Now, for the actual sewing...I followed THIS wonderful tutorial but made a few of my own changes. I did not cut my fabric into hexagon shapes. I left mine 2.5" square. Why waste time trimming? The other thing I did different, was I did not use a pin to keep the paper in place and I back stitched twice on each corner. I found that this held them down better for me, but it's not required. The best part of this method is that you can leave your basting stitches in your work because it is all in the back and you are NOT sewing through the paper, so no clipping of any threads!!  What a time saver! The only time you might have to is if you use hexagons bigger than 2" because you have to make an extra stitch on the sides.

I haven't decided officially on how many rows my flowers will be. Right now I am just doing the center with one row, but I think I will add one more row of colour and then white to surround the flowers. We shall see. Once I finally decide, I will figure out just how many of these little guys I am going to have to hand sew together and begin a count down. :)

**Edited to add a photo of the back of my hexies per request. Hopefully this will make more sense with the visual. :)

They really are quite simple and addicting. Wanna give it a go with me? Hee Hee!! :)

Much Love!!!