Curved Hexie Stitch Along - Part 6

We're only cutting the hexie paper into 2 pieces this week, using S1 on the ruler.

At first glance this looks simple, but those points are a bit tricky. So I made a video to help you with this. Be sure to watch it - it will help you! Find the video HERE.

Make six of these!

And sew them in place as shown above! It's growing! And it is a riot of color, is it not?

My husband asked, "Why is there a swirl on the left side and not on the right?" He's like me - he likes symmetry. I told him it was because I'm trying to teach the variety of things you can do with ruler. Sometimes I might design some symmetry into this quilt, but sometimes, we're just learning and playing!

Stay safe!

A Starry Start!

I've been working on my first star for the Edyta Sitar quilt. I'm averaged two diamond units per day, sewing them together as I go. Today I finished the first one. I'm rather proud of my matching seams. This is way out of my comfort zone - much more challenging and much smaller pieces than I'm used to piecing. But it's good to step out of my comfort zone!

And here you can see my hand in the picture to get an idea of the scale. I think I have to make 15 of these. Now on to the stars that will fill in the points of the star. I've decided to do one completer block at a time.

Tomorrow is the next step in the Curved Hexie Stitch Along....

Stay safe!

Cutting Fabric

While my sewing machine has been in for its spa treatment, I've been doing lots of cutting.

Here is the first quilt I want to start. This is Cheddar Bowties -a Bonnie Hunter freebie - leaders and enders from years ago. But I love the version above - made by Kelli from Jo's Country Junction. Kelli is Jo's daughter. You can read more about this quilt HERE.

I've been cutting some of my new cheddar fabric - ready to go!

And I've been cutting my scraps for this one, too. I haven't made one single block yet, but maybe tomorrow?

And here is another quilt I want to begin. This is Star Upon Stars - the front cover quilt for Edyta Sitar's book, Patches of Stars. I've been collecting civil war reproductions for it.

Oh my. I had to cut 1" wide strips! Wow! These will finish at only 1/2"! That is very tiny indeed! Especially for me.

I got my sewing machine back yesterday, so today I started sewing the strips together in units and cutting them again. Only one more of these units to go and I'll be ready to piece a diamond.

And so it goes - ready for September! I only have a bit more big stitch hand quilting on my Christmas  row quilt. So it will be in the FINISHED pile very soon.

Stay safe.

Curved Hexie Stitch Along- Part 5

This week we're going to use P1 and P2 at opposite points of the hexie paper.

Make 6 of these.

Stitch them together into a flower as shown above. I used a simple center in the middle - cool effect, huh?

And here's where it will go! Easy peasy! 

Do you think you know what comes next? I don't think you do....

Have fun with this and stay safe!

Still Hand Quilting...and Sorry to Canadians...

I'm still doing the big stitch quilting on my Christmas row quilt - since my sewing machine is in the shop for a week, I'm glad I have this at the ready. I do have a spare machine, but I haven't felt the need to get it out.

I also plan to do some fabric cutting today... maybe start cutting a new quilt.

The Pandemic seems to have slowed a bit in our area for now, BUT the university just started back up, so we'll see if it stays that way. I sure hope so! For now we are still being extremely careful.

Which brings me to Canada....
I have been sending rulers to Canada as those orders came in, But I got one sent back yesterday with a bright red warning that it needed Customs paperwork. Uh oh. To do that, I'd have to go  INSIDE the Post Office and wait in line. I just can't do that at this time. I have refunded that person.

And for now, I need to stop sending rulers to Canada. So I will only accept US orders. So sorry. I've gotten emails from the UK and Germany and other countries. I know you all want a Curved Hexagon Ruler! And eventually I'll be able to send them to you.

I've thought about finding a US distributor who will happy send rulers out of the country...maybe I'll look into that.  I'll keep you posted on that!

Stay safe!

Another Christmas Quilt Finished...and a Shopping Trip

I finished this panel kit! At first I found it challenging to stitch the chenille in place, but it got easier as I went on.

As suggested, I washed it with a tennis ball and that fluffed up the chenille very nicely.

This will look wonderful hanging in our dining room during the holiday season.

Yesterday I actually went to a quilt shop!!! I've been so careful not to go anywhere. But I've had a case of the Covid Crazies lately. I've been a bit blue - so tired of all this 'stay-at-home' stuff and missing my friends. And my mom's death has not helped.

So yesterday Hubby got me out of the house. My Bernina needed its checkup - it was overdue. So we headed to Montgomery and dropped if off at Sew Bernina. And while I was there, of course I had a look around.

I was on the hunt for cheddar fabric for a future quilt. I'm not sure if all of the above are really cheddar or if they are just yellow, but they will do. More about the upcoming quilt soon.

I also bought this pattern. I would have never purchased it on its own, but they had a sample quilt in the store. It was so pretty! I couldn't resist.

Here's a small detail. I sort of love this - it will be put on the back burner for now because I already have THREE quilts I want to start in September!

Stay safe!

Curved Hexie Stitch Along - Part 4

We're making curved hexies with THREE pieces this week! Aren't these cute!

There is a story behind the fussy cut fly...
We were getting a fly or two in the house earlier this summer. I made fly traps (see link HERE) for our back patio and they have caught literally hundreds of flies! This has been the summer of fly traps.

The fly fabric is an older Tula Pink line.

To make this hexie, mark S2 on two opposite sides of the hexie paper. Make 6 of these. I also made a hexie with one fabric for the center of the flower.

Sew the hexies together as show above. I only had enough scraps to fussy cut 3 flies so I fussy cut another motif on another section of the same fabric to make the other 3 hexies.

Stitch the flower to one side of the center unit as shown.

About removing papers....you may remove any paper piece that is completely surrounded by other stitched pieces if you like. I plan to keep all my paper in place for now though.

Have fun with this!

UFO Progress

I'm so glad I have devoted the summer to UFO's. I had so many projects going when I was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. And my sewing came to a grinding halt. Even when I felt physically well enough to sew, I didn't want to. At times I was afraid I would never want to quilt again. But here I am, back in the saddle, getting into the swing again.

All these UFO's have been a reminder of the huge time frame that the cancer took from me. Conquering all these quilts and finally finishing them is like crossing the finish line of the cancer journey.

I'm almost done with the Merry Christmas panel. I made the binding and stitched it on yesterday. Today I will finish the binding on the machine. I never do this - I like to hand stitch my binding down. But this is black on black and it will never show. Next I need to stitch black chenille around the perimeter of the quilt beside the binding. And then it will be ready to wash and fluff. I hope to finish this today!

I'm also making headway on the big stitch quilting on my Christmas row quilt. Just over two rows to go! Then on to quilt the sashings and borders.

Once these are complete, I'll allow myself to start a new quilt. Yippee! I love starting new projects. Yes, I still have more UFO's, but I'll work my way through them as I go along.

Stay tuned...tomorrow is the next part of our Curved Hexie Stitch Along!

Stay safe.

Curved Hexie Show and Tell

Show and Tell Day!!!!!

Look at this amazing center hexie!!!! Creative!

You might want to click this one to see the center better - an embroidered butterfly. So cute!

And a fussy cut koala - wonderful colors here!

Okay, these fabric just make me smile! Lovely!

And another colorful beauty!

Y'all are doing so well! I love your fabric choices!

I'm still getting inquiries: How do I get a ruler? Where do I get this? How do I order?????

It's all under the tab at the top of the blog - Curved Hexie Stitch Along. But I'll repeat it here:

Either send $20 to cover a ruler and shipping/handling to me via PayPal (juliacwood@mac.com) 

OR

send me a check for $20 to Julia Wood, 980 Titleist Way, Auburn, AL 36830

Missing Mom And Christmas in August

Last week was hard. Though Mom was very old (90), her mind was sharp. I knew she wouldn't last forever, but it still took me by surprise. She was in the hospital for a couple of days before she died.

The good part, my family and I here in Auburn were able to FaceTime with her hours before she passed (thanks to my brother). She was able to 'meet' her great granddaughter and visit with me, our daughters, and all our husbands. We all are so thankful for that!

I'm trying to get back in the swing of sewing - here are some UFO's I'm working on.

This is my Christmas row quilt - I'm working on some big stitch quilting.

I purchased this panel kit in Houston last Fall. I had the panel quilted first.

Now I'm in the process of free motion stitching chenille all around the quilt. I still need to go around the snowflakes and many of the leaves and flowers, but I have made progress! Once I have it done and the binding on, it will need to be washed and dried to fluff up the chenille.

And ta dah! I finished binding my Santa Swell quilt!

This is the fabric as used as backing. What a fun Christmas quilt! And there are enough blocks leftover to make a table runner.

I may not finished all these projects in August, but I'll give it a good try.

Stay safe.

Curved Hexie Stitch Along - Part 3

Thanks for all the love last week!!!!

Okay, here we go again. For Part 3 I used the same two fabrics I used in Part 2. Of course, it's your quilt, so do your own thing. Using the same fabrics does create a lovely scallop detail though.

Use S2 to mark six 2" hexagon papers.

Did you notice something in the top picture? A friend alerted me to her use of Sew Tites magnetic pins for holding these pieces together while stitching (instead of blue tape). And bonus points because they match my fabrics - haha!

I ordered some last week and tried them - yes, they are wonderful for pieces like this. I would recommend them. However when I have a hexagon cut into LOTS of pieces (stay tuned...) I still use blue tape of the back instead. Thanks, Beth, for the tip!

Stitch the curved hexies in place as show above - see the scallop????

I finally decided on a center hexagon. I stitched this together Saturday on the drive to my Mother's burial.

To make this curved hexie, I marked P1 on all 6 points of a hexagon. Yes, LOTS of pieces, but very doable! I love this little image of a hand holding a needle. The purple fabric is something I pulled from my stash that blended well with the Tula Pink fabrics I'm using. The solid green is from the fabric with the hand/needle. These pieces were small enough to cut from between the motifs in the fabric.

TaDah! I just finished stitching this yesterday - I'm really staying only a week ahead of you all.

I've already seen some very creative center hexies - some fussy cut, one was embroidered, and one was intricately pieced. So do your own thing for the center if you like. Later this week I'll share some photos of your work that I've seen.

Have fun with this! Stay safe and keep stitching!

A Little Break...

Soon after I posted this morning, I found out my mother passed away. She died of natural causes at age 90. You think you are prepared, but you never really are.

I'm taking a blog break, but I'll be back next Monday with Part 3 of our Curved Hexie Stitch Along.

Stay safe.

Curved Hexie Stitch Along - Part 2

Everyone is doing so well! I love seeing your fabric choices - so creative!  This is not too hard, is it? We will never have to make more than 6 curved hexagons per week. Slow paced fun.

Above is the curved hexie for Part 2.  I'm still keeping it simple still, but we'll get a bit more complex as we go along.

Mark your 2" hexie paper (6 of them!) using P4.

And stitch them to the the quilt center as shown above. Don't remove any papers yet -

I didn't make a video this week - you may always refer to the video in Part 1 if you need assistance.

Have you noticed I still haven't made a center hexie? Haha! I'll get to it eventually!

Don't you LOVE 2 inch hexies? The quilt grows fast!

Have fun with this and stay safe!