Football Hexies

I basted LOTS of hexies while watching football yesterday - each of these stacks has 6 hexies in it. Lots of fussy cutting here! I love basting piles of hexies for later use. I already had a nice amount of 1" hexies basted and now my 3/4" hexie stash is growing.

Today I've spent some time organizing my sewing stuff. We have 3 bedrooms upstairs and one of them is my studio. The other two are for guests, BUT my sewing stuff has flowed over into both guest rooms. One of the beds was even covered with stuff. We also have an office upstairs with 2 long built-in desks - wouldn't that have been nice to have when our girls were growing up?! Of course I'd piled these horizontal surfaces up with sewing stuff, too.

In about an hour and a half I made a big dent in the mess. The piled up bed is now cleared. The desks are now cleared. I'm making one desk the Hexie Love hub. I have several bins here with items I'm planning for future issues. I have my featherweight set up on the other desk. I'm not finished, but it looks so much better up there!

I've also made smoked turkey soup today. It's loaded with turkey, barley, onions, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, and lots of herbs. Smells wonderful! Once it cools I'm going to freeze most of it for later this winter.

Hubby and I are planning a long walk this afternoon - it's turned into a warm day here. And I have a little magazine project to work on…

Thankfulness...

Hubby carved the turkey.

We all filled our plates. (Note hubby's mac and cheese - it was delish!)

The we all sat around and watched football. (And I basted hexies…)

Today the Christmas decorations are coming out.

This morning (imagine drum roll here) I finished my 2014 Hexie BOM quilt top!!!! Yippee! I love it!
I'll be photographing it tomorrow for the blog post on December 1. I've been pinching myself all afternoon - so excited that it is all sewn together!!!!!

Tonight I'll be basting 3/4 inch hexies - that's right - I'm getting a jump start on the new 2015 Hexie BOM! I'm sure most of you realized that I was designing the 2014 blocks as I went. Sometimes I'd be scrounging at the last minute to design and make the block for the next month. BUT, I have already designed ALL the 2015 blocks!!! This will help me so much, as I can get ahead easily. I'll be basting a bunch of these little hexies to stockpile for the year ahead.

Tomorrow I'm hitting a couple of sales, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Then we'll be settling in to watch the Iron Bowl on TV.

Sarah's Hexie Mania!

Look what landing in my inbox yesterday! Sarah learned this from me in Chattanooga in September and has been working on it since. Isn't it fun and colorful!???

Great job, Sarah - love it!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen…. I just finished making the sweet potato casserole and the cornbread dressing. I'm so lazy about Thanksgiving this year that I even bought pre-chopped celery and onions for the dressing. Oh my… Hey, it's all about having a bit of time to sew later! Still trying to finish my 2014 Hexie BOM quilt top… Will I make my goal of finishing it by tomorrow? I'm not so sure. But I will definitely finish it during the weekend.

Hubby's off work today. He's already done the yard work this morning and is now washing windows and cleaning our patio. I can see him polishing the grill as we speak. It should be warm enough here tomorrow to sit outside, so he's getting it spick and span!

He really wants macaroni and cheese added to the Thanksgiving menu and has offered to make it himself. (He doesn't cook, by the way - just grills out) This will be interesting to watch. He's found a recipe and I bought the ingredients. I'm sure he'll do a great job! (And I'll have fun watching!)

Hexie BOM Table Topper!

I was feeling rather down when I went to bed last night. It was one of those days, like we all have occasionally. You know what I mean, I'm sure…

But this morning I found this on the Hexie Love Facebook page! Look what Cathy Mann did with the 2014 BOM patterns! She made this amazing table topper!

Here's what she said about it:

Hot off the press, my finished hexagon BOM table topper. I used 7 of the blocks, ( with the intention of making place mats from the others at a later date), and repeated that cute little bird design on both ends. Each block was made in the shape of a bigger hexagon and quilted with Perle no 8 and big stitching. I used another 200 hexagons for joining the blocks and more again for the back to keep the edge.Each shape is back-stitched with embroidery floss and embellished with beads, and all edges are back-stitched as well.
Thanks so much, Julia, this has been great fun! So looking forward to next year and the new magazine and BOM! ( some fabric accidently followed me home in readiness for it ) 

Cathy, you don't even know how much I needed to see this at this moment! I woke up in a blah mood and you put the biggest smile on my face! Thank you so much!!!!! :)

This morning I'm having a photo shoot for the magazine. It will be me, a camera, and some projects. Then I'll work more on my 2014 Hexie BOM quilt. And I'll make cornbread for my Thanksgiving dressing. This year we're scaling Thanksgiving down a bit. Fewer people. Less food. For the first time in recent memory, we bought a smoked turkey instead of my roasting one. It will still be a wonderful day though!

Half Square Triangles!

I've been stitching half square triangles this weekend: scrappy goodness! These will finish at 3" square.

You know their purpose, don't you? Yes, it's the sashing for the 2014 Hexie BOM quilt! My goal is to have this top done before Thanksgiving - I think I'll make it. Yay!

I hope you're having a happy hexie weekend!

Cotton Boll Show and Tell!

Last night was quilt guild! It did my soul so much good to be around these creative, sweet ladies! I really needed the fellowship last night…

We had a packed house and LOTS of great show and tell.

This was a Birthday Block quilt - the maker had each of us in the birthday group make a few of these blocks for her. Yes, mine are in there somewhere!

I love this modern take of fall leaves. The fabric choices are lovely.

Love this sweet rag Christmas tree quilt!

Oh, this one is special to me! My friend, Ann, lost her son last year. She used the pattern for "An Engineer's Life" in my new book, MORE Quick and Easy Hexie Quilts, to make TWO of these quilts from his shirts for her two grandchildren. What a special way to hold on to memories of their dad…

This little beauty was made in a class in Atlanta with my friend, Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

What a show stopper this red and white quilt was! One hundred blocks! The custom quilting is spectacular!!!

Love this lovely quilt in neutrals…

And stars! I love stars!

I had such good intentions yesterday, but didn't get much done. Today is another day! Nose to the grindstone!

Sleeping on the Job

Here is one of my coworkers, taking a morning nap yesterday. This cold weather makes him excited and hyper. Then he crashes.

In the afternoon after another romp in the cold he crashes again in a sunny spot. What a life… sweet boy!

Last night I finished the appliqué on the December BOM! One of my goals today is to work on more sashing for the quilt. I may not finish the entire quilt by Dec. 1, but I at least want to have the top done by then.

It seems you are all excited about next year's BOM! I am, too! I'm getting lots of questions! I'll try to get all information organized and give more information here SOON!!!

One reader asked why I'm not putting the new BOM in the magazine. I thought about it, but I decided to offer this for free, a gift for my readers. HOWEVER, I'm excited to announce that Paper Pieces will be providing a seasonal wall hanging pattern in EVERY issue of Hexie Love for 2015! How exciting is that!?

Many of you know that I don't make a dime on my blog itself. My husband and I have fronted the money to get Hexie Love going in January. Starting a magazine is expensive! The lifeblood of magazines is advertising. When you're starting from scratch and don't know how many subscribers you'll have, it's difficult to get advertisers on board. So I've accepted the fact that I'll be depending only on subscription income to fund the magazine for now.

I know that this magazine will be a real asset to the quilting world! I'm working hard behind the scenes to make the content interested and inspiring! All that being said, I hope you will keep the magazine going by becoming a subscriber. I'm hoping that after a year under my belt, with (hopefully!) LOTS of subscribers, I'll then be getting lots of advertisers on board! This is a necessity in order to keep the magazine going!

Until then I'm gritting my teeth, working hard, knowing that my investment of time and money will be worthwhile for you! And by the way, I'm enjoying every minute of the process! Hugs to you all...

2015 Hexie Block of the Month????

We'll get to the subject of another year of BOM in a minute….

But first, yesterday I took our older daughter to lunch for her birthday - for me a Greek Chicken Crepe - yum!!! We may or may not have split a Nutella crepe for dessert…. :)

I then stopped off at the grocery store. Look at this sweet Thanksgiving card I spied! It reminds me of Cooper and one of our doxies. Nope, I didn't buy it. But it would make a cute quilt, huh?

Here's the picture I promised of our new blinds in action. We are loving having privacy when needed. Most of time we leave them up though.

Okay, now for the news! I've been debating with myself on whether or not to do another Hexie BOM program for 2015. The magazine (Hexie Love) is keeping me very busy, so will I have time? 

I've decided the answer is YES! YES, there will be a 2015 Hexie BOM! This is my way of giving back to you readers who make my life so fulfilling. I appreciate you all so much!

Here's what you need to know for now:

1. I'll be making my version using English Paper Piecing.

2. My hexies will be 3/4" per side - a bit smaller than the 2014 Hexie BOM. (Of course, yours can be any size.)

3.  Instead of having a seasonal motif each month, I'll be doing a unique geometric design each time. I know you're going to love it! 

4. I'm challenging each and every one of you to use your favorite fabrics for this - you know what I mean…those special fabrics you've been petting and hoarding! Any color scheme will work!

I'll provide more info about the amount of background fabric soon.

So get ready for a great 2015! I'm sew excited - a new BOM AND a new hexie magazine!!!!

Be sure to get your hexie papers for the BOM at Paper Pieces - get your order in soon!  Here I am in their booth at the Houston Quilt Festival. Love these folks! 

Slowly Back in the Groove...

The EAR! It finally popped on Sunday afternoon, so I have not been to an ENT. It clogs up off and on still, but finally I do have some relief. I know it will probably take weeks to feel completely normal again. But I am feeling better and am back at work again - thank goodness!

I've been in the studio! Yay! Lovely strip goodness!

Found this in Cooper's mouth a few days ago - oh well. I can make another one. He been on a real rampage lately. Mostly he steals socks out of the dirty clothes hamper. Cooper!

Over the weekend we installed blinds in our living room. We have four large windows (70" x 70") that we love. But sometimes a bit of privacy from our next door neighbors would be nice. I'll post a picture of the window with blinds soon, but what was interesting was how they were cut for us. We had to buy 72" blinds and have them custom cut at Lowe's. I expected them to cut them with an electric saw. But, no! They have am amazing Levolor machine! The Lowe's employee simply put the blinds in a drawer on the machine - he didn't even open the box! He pushed a few buttons on a screen and voila - the perfect cut! Levolor provides the cutting machines to Lowes - they cost $800,000!

Hexie Love is keeping me busy! It's great fun though! I'm also hard at work on the 2014 BOM quilt. I want to have my quilt top finished to show you on December 1 when I reveal the last block of the year. And I'm working on making some small Christmas gifts.

Today I'm meeting Daughter 1 for lunch - it's her birthday! 27 years old! We're going to a local cafe that serves crepes filled with yummy goodness.

Houston: Part 5- Even More Hexie Quilts

Yes, there were LOTS of hexies in Houston! One of my faithful readers and I agreed that Hexie Hunting should be an Olympic sport  - haha!

The ear saga continues…. I went back to the doctor yesterday. The good news is that my ears are no longer infected. But I'm still in pain and they are still stopped up. The doctor can see a big air bubble on the inside of my eardrum in one ear. He gave me a steroid shop and instructions to drink LOTS of water and take an over the counter medicine.  If the bubble has not popped by Monday he's sending me to an ENT to (most likely) stick a needle through my eardrum to pop the bubble.  Eek! But it will be worth it to relieve the pressure! Hopefully it will clear up on it's own over the weekend!

I did feel like spending a couple of hours in my studio this morning - yay for that!

Houston: Part 4 - More Hexie Quilts

Hope you enjoy seeing more hexie quilts from the Houston International Quilt Festival! And this is not all - I have a few more hexie photos to share.

Today I'm hoping to get my LAST licenses for Hexie Love! I tried to do this the week before my Houston trip only to be told I need to bring a copy of our home deed. Of course I didn't have that with me - but I've got it handy now. The reason they need a copy of our deed is because I'm running the business from our home. I have to take the deed to the Planning Department for the city, then I have to take more paperwork to City Hall. A few more fees to pay…and then I'll be all set! Yay! I never knew it was so complicated to start a business.

My ears are still a mess - I'll probably need another doctor visit to get more meds. But today is too busy. I've gotten a fun quilty luncheon. And a mini photo shoot for Hexie Love. The first issue is coming together very nicely!

Houston: Part 3 - Hexagon Quilts

I was definitely a woman on a mission amongst the 1200 quilts at the Houston show - to find hexagons!

Here are some of the hexie quilts I saw. For most quilts, I take a full shot, then a close up, then a picture of the information. 

I'll try to share the rest of them tomorrow….