teal and grey hexie love

one thing about going away is that i get more handwork done than usual, since i rarely take my sewing machine with me. i'm still working on the project i started during this last trip, but it occurred to me that i never got around to blogging about the project i did on the LAST trip!

i posted an in progress picture last november.....




wanna see what they turned into?



a long long time ago, before Christmas last winter, i participated in a swap between the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild and the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. since i'm a member of both guilds, i said that they should just put me in wherever they needed to even out the numbers, and i ended up sewing potholders for Heather, one of my fellow exec members at VMQG. this was handy, cause Heather's not super active on teh internetz, making her harder to stalk for inspiration, but since i've been to her house plenty of times for meetings, i knew what her kitchen looks like!




i knew that Heather likes greys and teals, hexies and polka dots, and i decided to combine all of those for her potholders.


no flash

i also knew that she loves 60s style, so i decided to incorporate that into the coasters by adding an embroidered mod girl to one of the potholders. i'm not super happy with how it turned out - i used more strands than i normally would, because i thought it would read better on the grey background, but i think it ended up looking a bit sloppy because of that. it might be just in my head though, because i HATE using more than two strands of embroidery floss!



the embroidery really didn't photograph that well, but Heather's pic portrays it a bit better.



it was funny, because as i was sewing the hexies together, i was frustrated because they didn't feel as modern and streamlined as i'd pictured them. once i had them all sewn together and the sides trimmed straight, it changed the look so much!


no flash

on both potholders, i machine quilted (since i had taken my machine out for that trip, i refused to be without it for as long as i was out there!) straight lines through the solid portions, and echoed the some of the hexies in the pieced portions.



i improv pieced the backs of the potholders using strips of the fabrics that i used for the hexies, and i loved how the quilting looked.




since i was late sending out the potholders, i decided to make something else to go along with them. coasters!!



look familiar? yes, these were the first hexie coasters! you saw the xmas ones that i wrote the tutorial for and gave away, and then the third set that i gave away in my birthday giveaway, finally i'm blogging the originals!



i pieced the fabric that i used for the backs, just to add little pops of colour.




i have to tell you guys, it was SO HARD to mail these off to Heather! i was so glad that they were going to someone who i was sure would like them, and also that i mailed them before Holly's potholders were lost.... i don't know that i'd have trusted them to the post office if i'd known that they'd lost hers! and i love that we use the coasters whenever Heather hosts our VMQG executive meetings!





i'm going to link this up with a few different linkies, now that i'm back, am slowly getting caught up, and have INTERNET again! i missed out on Sew modern Mondays at Canoe Ridge Creations, damn being on the west coast!

but i am linking up with SewHappyGeek's Manic Monday!


i'm also going to link up with Fabric Tuesdays over at Quilt Story , because this is a recent post, if not a recent project..... (because really, since when do i blog ANYTHING right after i make it? i'm not that organized folks!)

Grey Grey Grey.

i've been obsessed with grey lately, which is killing me, really, because i can't use the term "shades of grey" without thinking of craptastic mommy porn.


it's funny because i've never been a big fan of grey, i actually refused to use kona medium grey for ages because i felt like it was sooo overdone within modern quilting.


but then i worked with grey fabric for Lysa's scrappy circle bee blocks, and then again for Cynthia's heart bee blocks, and i fell in love.


in the late spring i picked up a bunch of grey prints to use for my map quilt. i ended up not using them, but it was a great start to my grey stash. meanwhile, i went out and got a bunch of grey solids, which i did use for my map, and also used for the Age Not Attitude tote, for a pouch, for my Barb Mortell class, and for at least two other projects that i haven't gotten around to blogging yet. it's gotten to the point that everytime i go to the fabric store, i get made fun of for my constant grey search.


i've been dreaming about grey linen, which i haven't been able to find in the shade that i'm picturing... and i've been obsessing over the sad fact that i'd used every single scrap of Sherbet Pips in my strip quilts, and hadn't left myself any of the grey with white square/dots for my stash. i was seriously considering ripping some out of the baby strip quilt that i haven't quilted yet, i wanted some so bad! luckily, i found some on etsy, so now i'm just waiting impatiently for it to arrive.


random note - i think different spellings of grey signify different colours. is that weird? when i see the spelling "gray", i picture a warm gray, with a bit of a brown undertone, and when i see the spelling "grey", i picture a cool grey, sometimes with a bit of a silverish or blue undertone. can you guess which shade i prefer? i've never been a big brown fan!


so, given my new-found love of grey, i was super excited when i opened up my package for Cheryl's Unscripted Bee Block and found grey! Cheryl sent out bundles of fabric and a large paper hexagon and asked us to piece together the scraps to make a block the size of the template. she left it up to us how we wanted to sew the block, and i got it in my head to try something i'd been thinking of for ages, a hexagon made up of triangular log cabins. i folded her template up and made myself a pattern for the triangles, and they actually went together much easier than i'd expected.



as usual, i ran out of fabric. it's happened pretty much every month! apparently i use up more fabric with my propensity for complicated blocks. i messaged Cheryl and got her go-ahead to add my own fabric, since i had some grey in my stash already. of course, i still needed to go shopping for more....



within the package Cheryl sent, there were a few different shades of grey (and gray!). i really loved the stripes, but i was having a hard time pulling the warm shades in with all the other cooler greys. luckily i found this herringbone fabric when i went shopping, along with a few others, and that really fit them together. this block made me appreciate the warmer grays more, though i'm still loyal to the grey-grey that i love!



for my signature block, i wanted to echo the hexagons that will make up the front of the quilt, so i started with a hexie and added strips around it. i embroidered my name, again using the FriXion pen to write my name first. the white marks will wash out, but they're still annoying.


in addition to all of the bee blocks that i've been working on, i really wanted to sew up a few blocks for the VMQG july challenge, because i was too busy to do some of the challenges in may and june. and since the challenge was to make improv blocks with grey and black solids, it wasn't particularly a hardship!



i just used scraps for these, because as usual, i couldn't find my yardage of black kona (there's a black pit in my house that eats it, i think), so they ended up with more grey than black, but i think that's cool. the inspiration quilt has a good variety of darker and lighter blocks, so it works.




i have yet more bee blocks to post, but i'll do those another day. i told you i had a backlog of things to post!



in other news, cross your fingers for me that i'll get into the classes i want for QuiltCon!

due to a giant clusterf*ck (aka some sort of system error), their website refused my registration at least 4 or 5 times, but told me that it was my credit card's fault, and by the time i finally got off the phone with my bank and realized that the problem was the site, not my credit card, i was practically hysterical. (i was also super sleep deprived because i got up HELLA EARLY to register, and i'd been up late stressing about registering, so i was a bit over-emotional!) through my tears i discovered that two of the three workshops i wanted were waitlisted - though they'd still been available when i tried to register at 7:03am.

i e-mailed quiltcon, there were some tweets back and forth, and then i got an e-mail that they're looking into it, but of course, we just had the long weekend, so i won't hear anything more until tomorrow at the latest. i saw other folks tweeting about problems as well, so i'm not sure what they're gonna do!

it would really suck to have registered for a class, and then be told that they're removing you because of a system glitch, but it also really sucks to not get the classes you wanted, even though they were available when you tried to register! i'm hoping that they'll put the people who got the system errors at the top of the waitlists or something, that seems like the fairest option.

are you going to Quiltcon? did you get the workshops you were hoping for?

Hexie Coaster Tutorial

(are you looking for my birthday giveaway? you still have time to enter!)


i promised you a tutorial!



here, it is, finally! wanna make some coasters?

they're easy, they're quick and they're cute, perfect for last minute hostess gifts! or maybe you're one of those always prepared people? whip some up for next christmas, while you're still in a festive mood - imagine that, having presents for next year before 2011 even ends!


you'll need:
- your main fabric
- accent fabric for the centre hexies
- fabric for the backs of the coasters, either a single piece or scraps to piece together
- cotton batting
- 505 spray adhesive
- thread to match the main fabric (optional)
- thread to match the accent fabric
- sewing machine with a walking foot



Step One:
- Print out the hexie templates available HERE and HERE. (right click on the original sized template to save it) You'll only need one coaster template, no matter how many coasters you make, but you need one hexie template for each coaster. i think 6 is a good set, but if you're a small family, you might only make two or three. or if things tend to get lost at your house, you might want to make more!
- Cut them out so that they're ready to use. note that the seam allowance is included on the coaster piece, but not on the applique piece - but don't worry, if you follow the directions, you'll be fine!
- Pin the coaster template onto your main fabric and cut out as many coasters as you'd like to make.


if you're using a directional or geometric print, you'll need to cut them carefully to ensure that they're all straight.


but if it's an all over print, feel free to fold your fabric and cut multiple layers at once.

Step 2:
- Pin the small hexie templates onto your accent fabric, spacing them out so you'll have enough seam allowance for each one.



Step 3:
- Cut out your hexies, leaving at least 1/4" around each template.


depending on your fabric, you might want to leave more than 1/4" for seam allowance. for these, i weas using a linen that is a bit looser weave than regular cotton, so i left a bit larger seam allowance. better safe than sorry, right?

Step 4:
- thread a hand sewing needle with any colour of thread, because you're only basting here, and knot the end of your thread. (it's the perfect time to use up the ends of bobbins!)
- baste the seam allowance to the back of each hexie. i leave the pins in from cutting them out, and start on an edge where i can fold the allowance over without having to remove the pins until i've basted at least 2 sides.


you don't need to do a ton of basting stitches, usually just the corners will suffice.


once you've basted all of the sides, make a small knot, clip the thread, and move onto the next one!

Step 4:
- press the crap out of them, and set them aside. if you're worried about scorching your fabric, use a press cloth, but make sure that you press them well.


i should note that this is just how i make hexies. if you google "english paper piecing tutorial", there are TONS of them out there, including videos.

Step 5:
- Grab your 505 spray (or some other brand, but honestly, i haven't found any others that compare), a piece of newspaper or something else to protect your table, your cut out main fabric pieces, and your scraps of cotton batting.



Step 6:
- Spray a portion of the batting, and smooth one of the coaster pieces onto it. Move on to the next piece, protecting the one you just glued down with another piece of newsprint or scrap paper as you spray. Continue spray basting until all of the pieces are adhered.



Step 7:
- Cut out the pieces that you spray basted onto the batting.



Step 8:
- Take the basted hexies that you set aside after step 4. carefully remove your basting stitches and slip the paper template out.




because you pressed the hell out of it, the folds should stay when you remove the paper template.

Step 9:
- Line a hexie up on the front of each batting and main fabric piece. you can eyeball it, but i use a quilting ruler to make sure that it's an equal difference from each edge.


once you're happy with the positioning, pin the hexie in place.

Step 10:
- Thread your sewing machine with thread to match the applique hexie. using a moderate stitch length, stitch the hexie onto the main fabric/batting piece. stitch close to the edge of the applique hexie, and backstitch a few stitches at the beginning and end. if you'd prefer to not backstitch, just pull your threads to the backside and knot them off, but i hate doing that unless i really really have to! repeat until all of the hexies have been appliqued onto all of the coasters.


i found it easiest to adjust the needle position on my machine so that the edge of the hexie lined up with an edge of the walking foot.

Step 11:
- Using the same template pattern that you used for the main fabric, cut out a back piece for each coaster. you can use a single piece of fabric for your backing, or you can stitch together strips of coordinating fabrics and cut your pieces out of that.



Step 12:
- Place a back piece face down on the appliqued front and pin around the edges.


see the yellow pin? pay attention that that!

Step 13:
- If you'd like, set up your machine with thread that matches your main fabric. since my backs were also red, i just stuck with the colour i used for the appliques. start stitching at least 1/4" away from a corner (start where the yellow pin is on the photo above!), and stop a similar distance from the other corner, leaving a space to turn the coaster right side out. use a seam allowance of aproximately 1/4", but it's not the end of the world if it's not exact. i lined mine up with the edge of the walking foot.



Step 14:
- Once all of the fronts and backs are sewn together, clip the corners of each coaster. we're doing this to reduce bulk within the seam allowance once the coaster is turned, but be careful that you don't cut your stitching.



Step 15:
- Turn your coasters right side out. i use a pair of scissors with rounded tips to push the corners out.


to stop myself from pushing the tip through the fabric, i only push from the front, where there's batting to help cushion it.

Step 16:
- Finger press the coaster flat, and turn in the edges of the opening you left. pin the opening closed, and add a pin to each edge to keep the coasters flat and even.



Step 17:
- Using the thread that matches your applique and that contrasts with your main fabric, sew all the way around each coaster. try to sew close to the edge, to make sure that you catch the seam allowances of the opening and stitch it shut.


once again, i've adjusted the needle position on my machine so that the edge of the coaster lines up with the edge of the walking foot.

Step 18:
- After you've stitched the edge of the coaster, move to the middle of the coaster and stitch around the appliqued hexie, about 1/4" away from the hexie.



Step 19:
- Now we're going to fill in the remaining two lines of quilting. you might want to test this on one coaster, maybe even machine baste a few lines, because i really just spaced out my lines of quilting based on needle position. if you're really worried, you could use chalk to mark your quilting lines, but then you'll have to wash it out.


i did one line based on the outside line of stitching, and then centred the last line between the one i just did and the line that echos the applique.


(that sounds confusing to say, but i think it's pretty straightforward when you look at the photo.)

Step 20:
- Pour yourself a drink, cause you're DONE! Didn't i tell you that they're easy-peasy?



whew! did you follow all of that? it's been a while since i've written a tutorial, and technical writing is definately not my forte - which i'm a-ok with, cause technical writing is always a bit boring, don't you think?



let me know if you have ANY questions, and if you make a set of coasters, show me! i wanna see!

WIP Wednesday and Stress, Stress, Stress

i started to write a post, and it turned into a whole long page of ranting, and i thought, you guys don't want to read that, i don't even want to read it!


so short form (well, as short as i can get) - the grandma that i originally went out to visit in the hospital was doing well, but the day she was released, my other grandma fainted for the second time in 5 days, so we took her to the hospital. she shouldn't really be on her own at the moment, but the hospital sent her home after one night because they needed the bed and because my uncle was supposed to stay with her, but then he decided that she was fine and went back to work, so i've come back out here to stay with her for a few weeks. i'm the oldest in my family, and the oldest grandchild on both sides, so care often falls to me, and given my health stuff and my disability status, everything thinks i'm free to handle it, whether it's true or not!

my dad and i were supposed to come out together, but he was stuck way up north in a mining camp where the satellite phone costs $12.50 a minute for over a week, so i had to wait for him. the roads were terrible, it was storming, the friend he was with had to be taken by ambulance to the closest hospital, 10 or 15 hours away (very very remote!), andf it was generally a giant pain in the ass. they finally made it home on friday, thank goodness, and after a few days of scrambling to get things done, we left home and headed out east.

in addition to all of the above, i'd also had a plumbing nightmare which no one in the building seemed to know what to do about, and the guy who lives above me refused to stop using his kitchen pipes because it wasn't "his problem", so one day he ran his dishwasher and flooded my kitchen purposely. so then i had to empty out my entire kitchen before i left, including furniture, and find room elsewhere in my apartment for my refrigerator, because my kitchen floor has to all be pulled up, "biowashed", whatever that means, and relaid while i'm away.

ao basically, i've been super stressed for weeks now, and i'm massively behind on a million things. i had my Trim the Tree Swap ornaments finished before the deadline, but didn't manage to mail them until they were a week late. (but they're mailed now!! yay!!) i have the potholder swap between VMQG and FVMQG to start and finish asap, and i'm behind on my blocks for the Unscripted bee, as well as lots of other little projects (like Habitat, which is totally late). i haven't caught up on blogs in ages, and i have tons of e-mails and messages to respond to. i tried to switch over to the e-mail client on my laptop, since i have it with me here, but for some reason it'll receive e-mails but can't send them, but i'm going to ignore that issue for the night!




but would you like to see something i've been working on? since this is supposed to be WIP Wednesday, not Whining Wednesday?

hexies!!




i started working on these at the beginning of our trip, and by the time i arrived tonight, i had 35 done. slow, yes, but i slept a lot on the way out here too! i printed out a few sheets of hexagon templates before i left, (from the first link on this page) and have been puttering away. i'm not sure if i have too many or too few, but i'll start laying them out tomorrow and i'll figure that out then. for now, i'm just admiring the little pile i here beside me, with their cfrisp little folds and corners. aren't they pretty?


i'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, and hopefully tommorrow the neightbours wifi will be strong enough to let me check out some of the others!

just a bit of a mish-mash.

i've been working on some rather random stuff lately, but i don't have finished shots of anything yet, so i thought i'd post some teasers...

it might seem like i haven't been doing any needlework, what with the quilt mania goin on around here lately, but that's just because i've been working on one particular project that has taken me soooooo much longer than anticipated!

i'm doing a cross stitch design using waste canvas -


and i also stitched up a cute little sheet to donate to a silent auction for a friend's immigration costs -



back to the quilty stuff, today i finished a project in shades that are SOOO not my usual palette!


and i spent some time making hexagons... so fun!



the other night i did a puzzle with a bunch of friends at one of my favourite places in the world, rhizome cafe. it was supposed to be board game night, but i <3 puzzles more! i've had this puzzle for a while, and it is so PERFECTLY me, but i hadn't actually put it together before. it was totally fun, though it would've been easier with more light - i thought about bringing a lamp, but that felt kind of cheeky!

you know that you're a huge crafty geek when you say things like "no, i need a puzzle piece with a red machine formed glass button, that one's not glass, and it's hand carved" or, "does anyone see more of the molded plastic 40s floral buttons?"!!!


i've been doing some machine embroidery projects as well, and fighting with my machine a lot! i've decided that i need to upgrade to a machine with a larger stitch size capability (5"x7"!! so exciting!!), and i'm torn between sticking with brother, most likely getting the PE-780D or switching over to janome/elna and getting the Elna 8300.

i'm irritated as hell with brother, because this machine has been so frustrating, and honestly, my previous non-embroidery machine was a brother as well, and it had some issues. mostly the problem is that i sew random crap, and put my machines through a lot of stress. since brothers are usually plastic interiors, they don't hold up well to rigorous sewing. in addition, i'm not super fond of the brother dealers in my area - one's in vancouver, and has always been rather snotty, and is a pain in the ass to take machines in to, as they have no designated parking and they're on a super busy street, and the other is about half an hour away from me, and some days they're extremely friendly, but other days they're not, and half the time they don't seem to have any idea what i'm talking about anyway. plus, all of the brother machines come with disney/pixar designs, and i HATE disney, for a multitude of reasons. i don't spend money on any item that will support disney, so why would i spend a large amount of money on something affiliated with the company?

the elna looks fabulous, and i went in today to a dealer who i've gone to in the past for servicing and repair. he's incredibly knowledgeable, almost to the point of information overload! i really like the idea of having a separate embroidery machine, because then i don't have to worry about ruining the embroidery functionality by sewing other projects out of heavy stuff. it has a lot of features that i really like, include the ease of portability compared to the brothers, the estimated time remaining to complete the design, a fancier lcd screen than i have now, etc. and it's metal interior, so it's going to hold up for longer. and i like elna, i've always had good experiences with them, and they have a great reputation. i feel like they're a better company than brother....



the problem is that i've already bought the basic brother design software, and it doesn't work with any other formats. however, it isn't that great of software anyway, and i would need to spend about $1000 to upgrade to the software that does what i actually want to do. i could get the janome digitizer MB, which is pricey as well, but actually does the stuff i want, and does lots of other fun stuff too.

so i'm waffling. but i'm leaving towards the elna.... another perspective is that every single time i go in to tom's sewing machines (the elna dealer) with problems or questions, someone is always available to help me, whether it's tom himself or one of the women who work there. and almost every time i've gone into the Laura's (the brother dealer) with an issue, they've been too busy to help me and have asked me to come back, or there's no one there who knows enough to help.

i'm super excited to have the capability to do larger designs though!! one of the very first things i'm going to make is this lace witch hat from urban threads. and then the lace top hat...


and speaking of witches, and therefore halloween, craftcritique.com is doing a halloween blog carnival! so awesome. i have multiple halloween projects that i need to get a move on to post!

in addition to the projects i was already planning on, i spent hours today googling xmas ideas for a guild project, and lots of them could be adapted to be for halloween instead... remember my halloween wreaths a few years ago? i think i need to make a couple of new ones...