Orphan Block Top: DONE!

Yesterday I spent only about 30 minutes to finish this lovely. Yes, I'm no longer calling it ugly. (And thank you to all who sent me such nice comments about this quilt.) It's just funky enough to love. I really need to write a tutorial on making an orphan block quilt because I figured out lots of tricks and hints along the way.

You can see I added another strip of the black and white fabric. The quilt looks a bit crooked in the photo, but that's just the photo angle. It turned out pretty straight.

So now I have yet another quilt top that needs quilting. I really need to set aside a block of time to do some layering and basting so that the quilting can be accomplished in little bits of time, since little bits of time seems to be all I have in between hexies and the magazine.

I also finished stitching together the motif for the August BOM. This morning I'll be doing the appliqué. And the rest of the day will be devoted to the transition of Hexie Love.

The weatherman says it will feel like 105 degrees F! So I'll be working inside the cool house for sure.
If you're not a part of the Hexie Love Open Studio group of Facebook - go join! So many are sharing their BOM's there - lots of hexie beauty! And there have also been some competed BOM quilts from last years' patterns. Fun stuff!

Hexie Morning!

Here's what I'm working on this morning! This is the August BOM. I like to sew these designs in little units...3 of this, 2 of that. Now it will be so fast to stitch these parts and pieces together.

It's been an exciting week around here - a PGA golf tournament was held over the last several days here in our little neck of the woods. Thousands of golf fans have been here watching...very exciting stuff. Hubby is a huge golf fan, so he was amongst the throngs a couple of days. But it was simply too hot for me.

Today the temp will be 98, which means a heat index well over 100. Yuck! Good day to stay inside and stitch, don't you think?

The Ophan Block Top...continued

I allowed myself a bit of studio time this morning to play with the orphan blocks. You can see I added some black and white striped fabric. And yes, I have more orphan blocks to go. I like the current width of the quilt, but I plan to add more to the bottom. This thing is almost done!  And it's so ugly, that I think it's pretty cool, and pretty in it's own ugly way.  I will always think of my Birthday Block friends when I use this quilt.

Gail Garber!

Last night was our guild meeting - and we had Gail Garber from New Mexico as our speaker. Her program was wonderful! In addition to being a quilter, she loves to hike and she is a HUGE supporter of wild bird rescue. Which totally relates to her quilting focus of free-form flying geese.

Her quilted geese fly in circles, arcs, and every way possible. The quilts she shared were amazing! It was a fun evening.

You know, when we moved to Auburn I was not expecting much from the guild here. Boy, was I wrong! It's definitely a more laid back guild, but I like that. They bring in very good speakers and teachers. Next year, Sue Spargo will be here! Yes, in little bitty Auburn! I've taken a two day class from her already, but I know I'll take Sue's classes again when she comes. Maybe this will give me a push to get out my Sue Spargo projects and finish some of them...  I think I have about 5 of them...

So what else is going on around here? A friend is coming by this morning. I've decided it's time to stop hoarding  collecting so much junk stuff that's is piling up in my studio. So she's going to be the new owner of garbage bags FULL of old, colorful t-shirts. I'd been saving them to eventually make t-shirt yarn and braid a rug. Yeah. I've finally come to the conclusion that it's not going to happen in my lifetime. And so they will be re-homed. I'm rather proud of myself.

I have other stuff I need to to re-home - this is one of my goals this year.

Hexie to Baste...

I pulled out my little container of 3/4" hexies this morning. Time to get to basting again - need to get on top of the August BOM! This is at the top of my list for today!

I did successfully cook another huge batch of chicken breasts yesterday. I guarded it with my life (from Cooper!) and made two chicken casseroles. Yum!

I'm very close to finishing the transition of Hexie Love from Joomag to my new system. A few more days and I'll be ready to go. Yay!

We're in for another HOT, SWELTERING day here. And if that's not bad enough, when you walk outside you can see the mosquitos swarming around you. And so, I plan to stay inside as much as possible. A very good day to make hexies!

Chicken Casserole, Take 2

In between computer work and hexies, I cooked a PILE of chicken breast yesterday. I like to cook chicken in the crock pot with some water, salt, and pepper. The chicken turns out tender and juicy this way, and I can make lots of recipes with it. It's easy to package in freezer bags and stick it in the freezer for another time, too. So anyway, I cooked about 3 pounds of chicken breasts.

While it was hot, I shredded it and divided it into two large casserole dishes. I left it on the counter to cool a bit (planning to make two large chicken casseroles.

I went outside for a few minutes and came back to find this. COOPER! Did he have a guilty look on his face? No! He was joyful, as if to say, "Look! I ate it all for you! It was so good! Aren't you proud of me?" He kept looking back and forth from me to the counter. "I couldn't reach some of it - can you help?" Uh, no! You've had more than plenty.

So I went back to the grocery store and bought more chicken. This morning I'll cook chicken AGAIN and make sure I keep Cooper away from it!

I did get a lot of quilty stuff done though. And today I will again!

We have a friend staying with us for a couple of nights. I grew up with her and now she lives with her husband in China. Alway fun to have her and hear stories of her life in China.

Better go get the chicken cooking....

Hexies on the Sofa

This is a typical sight in our house...a quilt tossed on a sofa. This was the very first hexie quilt I made and it gets used on a daily basis. Even during a hot Alabama summer, we have quilts at the ready to cover up dachshunds in our laps - they insist on being under a quilt! If you don't have one over you lap, they'll try to go up under your shirt. So, despite the fact that it is miserably hot here, we are always covered up with a quilt. Good thing I'm a quilter!

Yesterday ended up being a computer day, all day. And that's okay! I'm getting closer to having Hexie Love transitioned to a new and improved system. It's going to make it SO MUCH EASIER to purchase and view the magazine!!!! Yay, Yay, YAY!!!!

I got lots of questions about my necktie hexies yesterday:

How big are they? 2 inches

Will you use silk thread to stitch them together? Not sure yet.

How do you take the ties apart? Just rip open that back seam!

More details to come in a future issue of Hexie Love! This project is scheduled for the Nov/Dec issue!