WIP Wednesday.....

I haven't been doing much crafting recently. Mostly sorting stuff to give away or throw away in my attempts to downsize for our eventual house move. It really is shocking what you can accumulate in 40 years. The things I have found that I didn't even know we owned...LOL Oh well:) Also isn't it amazing that when you put something at the bottom of the driveway it disappears. Magic. I'm so happy when that happens. Someone has found a use for what I have to let go.

The reason we are moving is to be closer to these two......Megan and her new brother Benjamin. A sweet little boy born in February. 

Despite all this I have done a wee bit of sewing.....

I had originally made a little bird nest of fibers on a CQ block. Then I decided I didn't like the fabrics that I had used so it went in to my "maybe later" pile.

I was sorting out stuff the other day and found the block again and I thought what a shame. So a wee bit of recycling was done and the nest was incorporated into the middle of an EPP block I had made some time ago.

It was an EPP block I made when I was learning how to do the technique. I wasn't too adept in joining the pieces and you can see my stitches. Now I can cover them up with some CQ seam treatments. Bonus!!

So it'll be EPP meets CQ :)

Take care.

English Paper Piecing.....

About seven years ago I joined the Fat Quarter Bargains Club at a local quilt shop called Sew Sisters. Each month 10 fat quarters were mailed to me. It was a great deal but after awhile I had a LOT of fat quarters....LOL I had to quit while I still had room for them all. I have no idea why I joined as I never intended to make a full size quilt. Fabric junkie I guess and it was such an easy way to shop for small amounts of fabric for dolls and crazy quilting.

There were a few sets that I wasn't really in love with though. There was one batch that I decided to use to make hexies. For what I don't know. No real plan. Just to use up the fabric I guess.

Then recently I was looking for something to get me started back into hand sewing again. I found the hexies and I put them together and made a table runner. I've never made anything like this before so it was a learning experience.

I'm not a quilter so I struggled with what to put where. I only had a limited number of hexies and options for pattern and colour. I even asked the husband what he thought. Then along came my son who also offered his opinion. In the end this was the result...all hand sewn. I think I like how it turned out. I'm getting used to it. Blue is not a colour I choose to use very often. The dark blue and the pale green don't really work that well together but hey I used up the fabric and made something. Best of all I'm sewing again.

The fabric is called "Heard it on the Grapevine".

It looks like there were a couple of colour versions of it. I think the one I used is called Summer Breeze. It's by Sue Beevers for Northcott Fabrics.  You'll see on her website that not all of the collection is still available. I much prefer the Autumn Warmth version but then greens, rusts and browns are my favourites.

I'm adding this post to the WIP Wednesday Link-Up at the Needle and Thread Network as I haven't  done that in a while. I hope you pop over and visit.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon.....the finale...23, 24, 25 and 26.

I have had the last three blocks finished now for a few weeks. However, block number 23 North End Crescent was beyond my patience. I gave it a few tries and wasted fabric. The slivers were very tiny. On a larger scale it would be much easier I think.

Here are the last three blocks. You will notice that I changed fabrics as I didn't really have enough selection of the original fat quarters that I used.


24. Brighton Church

25. Sussex Cottage

26. Floating Clouds

I'm truly done with English Paper Piecing for a very long while:)

The big news on the sewing front is that my husband bought me a new sewing machine. I think the swearing was getting to him or something...LOL. I have an old Singer that's about 25 years old and it's doesn't have the finesse it used to have. Specially with light weight fabrics.

The new sewing machine was on sale at Amazon and is very basic just like me. It's a Singer Model 4423 in a very stylish shade of gray. It will do everything I need. I'm quite chuffed.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon ....Block 22

Another block for the Morris Hexathon.

22. Hyde Park

The next block is going to be interesting. It's all curves.

Plus, another little dress I made for my granddaughter's Welliewisher doll. The colour doesn't really show in the pic. It's a lovely cornflower blue:)

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon......Blocks 18, 19, 20, 21

I'm am finally up to date with the Morris Hexathon. Someone asked in a comment last post if these were hand sewn.

Yes. Every teeny tiny stitch.

I love to hand sew. That's what attracted me to the Hexathon. Next I'm going to try my hand at applique as I haven't really done at lot in the past.

It wasn't the best day to take pictures as it's raining buckets...not literally of course:)

18. Parquetry

19. Woodford Green

I was a bit worried about doing curves but in actual fact they were very easy to do.

20. Walthamstow

I didn't notice the thread in the middle until now...oh well

21. Queen Square

I didn't follow the original sample but did my own thing as I really don't have very many colours left to choose from...24 diamonds and 6 triangles.

I'm starting to run out of fabric so the next five blocks will be a challenge to eke out of what is left.

Linking today with....Books and Quilts

 and, Hibiscus Stitches.....

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon....Blocks 14, 16 and 17

Three more to do and I'll be caught up with the Hexathon. Number 19 has curves. I have no idea how they are done but I'm sure I'll find out.

14. Canterbury

16. Hammersmith

17. Folly

Linking up with Books and Quilts for........

and....The Needle and Thread Network.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon - Blocks 11, 12 and 13

Today I thought I'd hook up with Hibiscus Stitches for.......

and.... Needlework Tuesday at Books and Quilts 

Well. I'm almost caught up with the Morris Hexathon Challenge.

Three more hexies completed. I didn't do a great job with my points this time.....specially on number 12. Too many teeny tiny bits. The smallest are about 5/8th of an inch each.

Getting the points right on is so hard.

11. Merton Abbey

12. Hampton Court

13. Oxford Rose

I'm also doing something I haven't done in forty years or more. I'm making doll clothes. Yes I know I make dolls but that's different. These are clothes for a doll called Willa. She is a new doll from the makers of American Girl dolls. She is a WellieWisher and she's adorable. My 6 year old granddaughter LOVES her :)

Source

Because the dolls are fairly new on the market there isn't much selection as far as clothes go. The cost is also horrendous. In my humble opinion anyway. So Grandma is making some outfits for Willa. I'll give you a peek once I get a few made.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon......Blocks 9 and 10

I was behind as I started late but now I have only six more blocks to finish and I will be caught up with the Morris Hexathon. 

It has been an interesting experience. 

As I make each one I'm gaining more insight as to the best technique to get my points to match up. I notice that some quilters put together units and then stitch them together. I found I wasn't as happy with the result. I'm more successful when I add each paper piece unit one at a time. Definitely it's a skill that only comes from lots and lots of practice.

Block 9:  Red Lion

Block 10: Thames Path

Wait til you see block # 12.....some really itty bitty pieces....eeeek!

Today I'm joining up with The Needle & Thread Network. I haven't joined them in a long while but then I've been pretty quiet in the sewing department in the last 12 months.

Come on over and see what my fellow Canadians are up to this week:)

Take care. 

Morris Hexathon....Blocks 6, 7 and 8

I'm at the half way mark as the 16th block template was posted on Saturday.

6. South Kensington

7. Avebury Stones

8. Greenwood

I'm also back on TAST...Take A Stitch Tuesday. I've gotten way behind on that but it won't take me long to get caught up.

Here is stitch #29...the Barb Stitch. I did the beaded barb stitch version. It would make a lovely and very easy to do seam treatment for Crazy Quilting.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon - Block 2, Block 4 and Block 5

Here are a few more blocks for the Morris Hexathon. Slowly catching up.

Block 2 - Crystal Palace

Block 4 - Box Hill

Block 5 - Upton

I think the battery in my camera needs to be recharged:)

Take care.

Morris Hexathon - Block 15 Kelmscott Tile

This was one complicated block. There are 48 tiny diamonds. Each is about 1 5/8 inches long and about 1 inch wide.

Sheesh.

I persevered and finished it.....:)

I have 13 more to do so I can catch up....eeeek.

Take care:)

Adventures in EPP....

I have one more radiation treatment to go!!!!!!


I had seen several mentions lately about a Morris Hexathon. I investigated and found Barbara Brackman's Material Culture blog. 

Barbara is a quilt historian and if you're interested there is quite a lot of interesting reading to be had on her blog. She is the source of the Morris Hexathon. There are to be 26 hexagons and so far 15 templates have been posted.

I'm a total newbie to quilting and English Paper Piecing but I figure you have to start somewhere...right?

Here is the post that introduces the Morris Hexathon.....link. To find the rest of the discussions you can look at the page I created on my menu bar across the top. I called it Morris Hexathon. 

I found 10 fat quarters that are sort of William Morris-ish in my stash. The fabric design is called All About Autumn #2362 by Laurie Godin for Northcott.


Fist off an admission. I should have read the tutorials but as usual I sailed off on my own...sigh. When will I ever learn?

I tried two of the Hexagons...Westminster and Camelot Star.

I totally screwed up on the little end triangles that finish Westminster as you can see. I don't think I should have all that stuff hanging down. It should be much neater. I will unpick those pieces and try again.

Camelot Star looks a bit more like what I think it should turn out to be in the end.

I will now go and read the tutorials ...:)

Take care. 

My First Issue With English Paper Piecing........

I started doing the sewing for the EPP project that I mentioned in my last post and I came across my first problem.

I was doing EPP diamond shapes and when I got to the pointy end I wondered what the heck do I do with the excess fabric.

I Googled and found these instructions.

English Paper Piecing Instructions For Using Diamonds

I'm sure there are other ways of handling the problem but this seemed the easiest.

I'm quite liking the whole EPP process. It could become addictive.

Take care:) 

Sewing Club.....

I've joined Mollie Johanson's latest sewing club called "Around The House". I did one of her sewing clubs about three years ago and I really enjoyed it.

Her projects are small but you get a sweet big return. Right now I need something to do that I can break into small steps and that's portable if need be. This seemed perfect.

It has embroidery and hand sewing which I love to do.

What appeals to me is her cute embroidery patterns and this time I was interested to see that it involved English Paper Piecing which is something I've always wanted to try.

Here's more info about the club on her blog Wild Olive. The club is normally $8 but Mollie is offering an early bird pricing of only $5 :)


Take care:)