I Spy a Finish!

 I was able to work on my I Spy quilt. The top was finished for quite some time but it needed to be sandwiched, quilted and the binding added. I found some time these past few weeks to get this done!

The photo shoot was quite fun as my husband and I were babysitting our grandson while his parents and aunt visited our youngest to celebrate her 30th birthday! We took the quilt on our morning walk to the park and let him 'spy' the many things

 on the quilt. There are over 100 things to 'spy'. 

He loved it and had so much fun!

Spying flags!

Spying watermelon!

Spying the mouse!

Spying stars!

He was very proud of himself!

I straight lined quilted around the houses and trees. I also quilted straight lines across the banner of the raw-edged appliquéd letters. In the center of each house I FMQ a heart. 

I found the backing fabric at JoAnn's on clearance. It was the perfect color of blue and it says 'The Adventure Begins'.

The quilt finished size is approx. 65" x 75" Linking to Meadow Mist Designs Monthly Link Up and April 2020 Scrappy House Challenge.

In the meantime, I started on a hexie project. I found the modern hexie movement on Instagram @modernhandcraft. I have had this mini charm pack in my stash waiting for inspiration for something to do with it. A modern hexie pillow would be a great solution!

I read about these cute 1" Happy Hexies by Mollie Johanson of Wild Olive on The Night Quilter's blog post. She gave the link to these printable hexagons. 

After finishing 30 hexies, I laid them out on a piece of linen from my stash. 

Following the Modern Hexie method, here is my finished pillow. In plenty of time for winter snow!

A fun little project!

Did you jump on the bandwagon?

I mean the EPP hexagon bandwagon? 

I searched back on my blog to try to find out when I jumped on started my hexagon quilt with no luck. 

The earliest picture I found dates back to May 5, 2011 and there were quite a few made then. However, I didn't have any plan in mind on how or what I would do with them. I had no clue what I was getting myself into how long this process would take.

The next post was on February 8, 2012 where I had made my hexagons into flowers. I remember that my original plan was not to do flowers but somewhere along the path I decided to make them into simple flowers. 

Then on March 17, 2013, it seems as if I had a plan to alternate scrappy colored flowers with white flowers with a colored center. 

 Notice that I only had one post per year in 2011 & 2012. I really didn't work on hexagons on a regular basis...just when I needed a portable project. 

 By July 31, 2013, I had quite a bit done but still much more to do. 

With the pattern I choose, I needed a LOT of filler pieces but by 

February 17, 2014, I was on my way to putting the pieces together! 

I could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel and I was determined to work harder on getting it done.

By April 18, 2014, I had the top pieced but it needed a border...so I started making more white hexagons.

Then I decided I wanted the top and bottom of the quilt to be straight rather than the zagged edge you get with hexagons. 

I needed to make half hexagons to fill in. 

I am so happy to show you my finished quilt!

After many, many hours of hand piecing work, it is finished!!!

The binding was done using this method that I found on Pinterest. 

It does require you to make more hexagons to fit the outline of your top but it is worth it! I love how it turned out!

The back is a floral print from my stash. The binding hexagons are all from the same fabric from my stash.

I machine straight lined quilted around the scrappy flowers and around the centers of the white flowers. I FMQ petals in the scrappy flowers. 

(the only machine work on this quilt) 

Pocketful of Posies!

I am so stinking happy with this quilt! 

I am proud that I persevered and did not give up in the process...

and it was a long process! 

Me Bad...but some exciting news!

Once again, I have been away from my blog way too long! My time just seems to slip away.  I am happy to say that I do have my Art Journal completed for March and April is done except for the journaling. I have had it done for a while but just didn't have time to post. 

I did have a bit of trouble stamping in white. My white marker worked better so I hand printed my entries. 

For April, I made an Easter egg tree. Pretty simple but I like it. 

So you ask what is the exciting news? I have completed the flimsy of my hexagon quilt! YES! This is the first 100% hand sewn quilt that I have made. There are countless hours invested in this quilt. 

I will be adding one row of border hexagons all around the quilt...so I guess technically it is not a finished flimsy. It measures 37" x 52" now. 

The hexagons are 3/4" and each flower is made from different fabric scraps...no 2 are alike! I'm still trying to decide how to finish it...leave the uneven edges or straighten them? Please chime in and give me your advice. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

I'm linking to SEWjo Saturday!

Just when you think...

...that life is going to slow down...it keeps throwing punches! With my full time teaching assignment coming to an end just before Christmas, I thought...after the Christmas and New Year's Holidays, I will be able to do 'my thing'...meaning of coarse, spending time quilting and getting back to blogging. 

Well, things didn't work out quite that simple.  Just before Christmas, we got news that my MIL wasn't doing well and needed to have surgery. To complicate things...she lives on the family farm in a remote area of Norway. She was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital and then transferred to a bigger hospital due to her situation. She ended up with 2 surgeries and after a good time in the hospital, was transferred to a nursing facility near the family farm. News did not sound good as she was very weak and on many medications.  To further complicate things, my DH and I have been planning a trip to Hawaii for about a year and we were to leave at the end of January. So, a decision was made that we would make a extended weekend trip to Norway to see her. 

We made our travel arrangements and the very next day, we got a call that our DD1 was hurt and that we needed to go to the ER. We spent the rest of the day in the ER with her waiting on the physician, tests, and results before she came home with us to be 'watched.' The next day she was not doing better so a call to the ER resulted in a return trip, more tests and a referral to an ophthalmologist. Then a second opinion and being fitted for a temporary correction device until her brain can heal. Yes, it was scary and she is doing better but complete healing could take a year. Thanks to our great friends that took her for a second opinion and helping out, we were able to go to Norway to spend time with my MIL.

Winter in Norway isn't the best time to travel. We arrived on time in Stavanger and my SIL picked us up from the airport. We headed directly north to the family farm only to find the ferries stopped due to bad weather. We turned around and spent the night at my SIL's place. We set off north again Saturday morning to once again find the ferries stopped. The ferries didn't start running again until late Sunday afternoon...too late to go north. My SIL was able to take off work on Monday and we headed north, stopped at the family farm and then headed to the nursing facility. We finally were able to get to visit with my MIL! It was good to see for ourselves her condition. Although she is very weak and can not get out of bed without help or walk, we are hoping she can regain enough strength to move to less than 100% managed care. It was a marathon day as we all needed to get back to Stavanger that night. It was well past midnight when we got back to the city for an early 6am start to the airport to fly home. On a positive note, we had time to visit with our nephew's and their families. 

Arriving home, we had 3 days before we left for Hawaii! Packing once again and off to the airport for 2 weeks in beautiful Maui! More on Maui later. 

When I got home, (to cold and snow) and finally picked up the mail (my battery was dead after so long in the cold without being started)...it was a glorious mail day! Not just one but TWO surprises from Annie! Annie is a fellow quilter, blogger and just so talented. I can't remember exactly when I started following Annie's blog (http://freezeframe03.blogspot.com/) but it has been a while! At the beginning of 2013, while reading Annie's blog, I was introduced to the 365 day calendar journal challenge. Annie's pages are fantastic but some of my favorite pieces Annie creates are her postcards. 

Here is the one Annie made for me!

Isn't it just lovely! The details are amazing and the quality of Annie's work is impeccable. I did mention 2 surprises! Annie also does fantastic envelope art. She has this fantastic stamp...the Sissy stamp...that she creates with. 

Absolutely gorgeous!

A mail day that put a smile on my face!

Well, all the travel and watching the Olympics when I can, allowed me to get quite a bit done on my hexie quilt (shown above). I hope to show you more soon. Thanks for sticking with me on this very long post.

Hexagons

It has been awhile since I reported on my hexagon progress. This is my ongoing, take-along project without a deadline.

Little by little I have been slowly working on hexagons. At first I didn't know what I would do with my hexagons. About 1 1/2 years ago, I decided on a layout and have been making white hexagon flowers. 

I finally have 10 rows of scrappy hexagon flowers and 9 rows of white hexagon flowers. I still need to make a few more of each so that the rows have 8 flowers across. I also need a bunch of filler hexagons. 

 This past week, I started to sew the rows together! The first 2 rows are finished. 

I'm not sure how I will finish the edges but that will be a decision for much later. Another trip in the car this weekend...maybe I will be able to get a few more rows done!

I'm linking up to

here.

Sunday's Summary ~ Almost a finish!

Last week I participated in the Blog Hop so I didn't post my Sunday Summary...but I was quilting! 

I am almost finished with the triangle quilt that I posted about here. Yesterday being International Quilting Day, I spent time sewing on the binding and hand stitching it. I am a little over 1/2 way done with the hand stitching.

This is an art interpretation quilt that I still can't say too much about yet. I am so excited about this as it is my first such quilt. 

In honor of International Quilting Day, I watched several episodes of The Quilting Show which were free to non-members this weekend. So I hooked my iPad up to the television and while I hand stitched the binding, I watched

#509 Machine Quilting Magic with Joanie Zeier Poole

#1111 Pleasure of Painting Fabrics with Cindy Walter

Of coarse, I had to stop a few times to take some notes on some tips and techniques. 

I also watched episode #103 Visualizing Color with Joan Wolfrom.

I'm hoping to have time to view a few more episodes.

I also took time to make this banner for my niece and nephew to match the quilt I made for their 1st baby due next month. 

Their nursery theme is airplanes...colors are red white and blue...for baby boy on the way. This was hung to decorate at her shower at work. 

I also played a little with my ongoing hexagon project. I often make hexagons when I don't have a knitting or other hand stitch project to take along to my knitting club on Monday evenings. 

Seems I've been working on these off and on for a long time and this is what I have so far (one more row of scrappy colored flowers finished.) I have been working on the Kona snow flowers lately. I can see from the size that this will continue to be an ongoing project for some time...and all the connecting hexis still need to be done. 

Did you do something special to celebrate International Quilting Day? 

FnsI Results!

Another Friday night enjoying sewing with all of you. ♡ 

I actually had most of Friday to sew. Lucky me! 

Remember this quilt? 

My day started with sandwiching it. I had previously pieced the backing but hadn't gotten around to sandwiching it. Sew now it is ready for quilting.

In the late afternoon, I spent some time hand quilting this mini quilt. I can only show a peek as it is a surprise gift to someone.

I have a few more cups to hand quilt and it will be ready to bind!

After dinner, I decided to work on another mini quilt that I have been wanting to try. A book shelf...

All the books are sitting on the shelf but I need to add the titles to the books. I did rummage thru my selvages and choose the ones I want to use.  There was some picking out going on last night...not my favorite thing to do. 

I used this tutorial for this project. 

What did you do on FNSI? You can find out what others have done here.

I also have added a few more flowers to my hexi garden this week.

And some beautiful tulips to brighten the day!

Have a wonderful day!