Hexie quilt

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's started and put aside a Grandmother's Hexagon Flower quilt. I have one I work on in bits and pieces here and there with 30's prints and a green pindot. Heck, I even bought the hexagon punches that are SO ridiculously hard to find so I can use the same size hexies that I bought papers for a few years ago! (The original seller on eBay doesn't post hexie punches anymore.)

While I was dog/housesitting, I needed another project after I finished Abby's quilt. My machine was there, I had plenty of room to cut...so while at home, I grabbed a stack of girl's summer dress prints I had pulled aside during the reorganization of the stash. Most were about 1/4yd pieces, with a few 1/2yds mixed in. I remember a tutorial I found a few years ago where a lady made half-hexies using a 60 degree triangle ruler. To be perfectly honest, I've had NO luck using the ruler to actually cut triangles and piece them without a huge bubble in the middle :( But since these wouldn't be triangles, I figured it would be okay.

So I cut...

 and I sewed...

I didn't want to think about matching hexies-I wanted brainlessly simple :) If they matched up? Yay!

And it finished like this...

Well, that's part of it. It finished about 52"x68" after the 4" strawberry print border was added. Backing was a teal bedsheet picked up from Walmart at 11:30 at night because I wanted to quilt that sucker THAT NIGHT. I seriously completed this from cutting to binding in under a 24 hour period with tons of interruptions.

This quilt is full of no-nos. The fabric is, I guess it would be considered a pique?, that's likely a poly-cotton blend. The bedsheet backing. The high-loft batting (they seriously had no thinner batts at Walmart that night in a size larger than crib!) This might also be the quilt that my family has fought over the most (go figure.) My sister saw it while in it's flimsy stage, but my mom was first to see it finished-and she claimed it. I honestly thought I'd get to keep this because it's so colorful and loud-definitely didn't think my sister would want it with her calm green/blue/brown decor! But when I took it to her apartment for Paisley's picture, she said one day my mom would have to give someone else a chance to claim a finished quilt. Doesn't help she's been waiting on, um...2? Supposed to be birthday quilts. I need to work on this most recent one I showed her for her actual birthday this year...I just get too sidetracked with ideas and put it aside to work on them :(

Paisley loved it-she hopped on the bed as soon as I laid it out for my sister to see. Too bad her gramma took the pretty away from her...

But Kaden's quite enjoying it. If he sees it on my mom's bed, he hops on. If he's in her room when she goes to bed and covers herself with it, he lays on her feet/legs/back so HE'S on his quilt.

Ok, back to sewing. I have 2 projects going with some Chrysalis precuts, still have the Sugar Pop, the Gypsy Change, found a star quilt I started to quilt together then put away, made 16 patch blocks with the leftovers from Abby's quilt...I need to settle down and work on ONE project at a time. I seriously have 12 or so in rotation right now :/

Here's my sister's quilt that I've stalled out on-and I'm still in the piecing stage! D:

The blocks are so simple, it's ridiculous that it's taking me THIS long to work on them. They finish about 15" square, and I have the fabric for 20 blocks. Then I just have to figure out a setting so I can make those 20 blocks fit a queen-sized bed. I might send hers out to be professionally quilted-depends on my money at the time, I guess. Seeing as her birthday is New Year's Day, I probably should also take the holidays into consideration...I'm going to end up finishing this quilt to the end, aren't I?

catching up :) *more cute pics!*

Project progress first...2 of the 3 embroidered blocks for Abby's quilt have been finished! I forgot how long it can take to embroider sometimes...all the other pieces are cut, backing was purchased. Hope to be quilting it over Labor Day weekend. Her doll will be started sometime this week-a Waldorf style doll with red hair! Her mama isn't happy her 2 kids turned out with ginger hair, but her son's is almost blond now. I hope Abby keeps her fiery red hair ;)

I need to get started on a watercolor I've been delaying for a few days-I want to give it on Tuesday D: Looks like it might be a few days later than that... It's been so hot lately (104-107 degrees!) I just haven't wanted to try and even sketch out the plan, much less start painting! Might take it tomorrow to work on while dogsitting. No internet or wifi=more productive time. 

Now...for the fun news! First, my sister asked for an outfit for Paisley to wear to the Astros game next weekend. It'll be her first Bark in the Park to attend, and my sister is quite excited. I'm going to be house/dogsitting again, so can't go to the game. Since Paisley's a little drama queen, she HAD to have an outfit that stands out...

Painted the number "54" on the back of a doggy tee we got at Hobby Lobby-my sister's favorite jersey to wear to games is her Mark Melancon (Astros pitcher), and since she's not wearing her jersey, she thought Pais should represent! Can't see it, but "PAISLEY" is written above the glittery 54. I need to tack down her skirt a bit more (a little short on the sides, so it rides up :/), but it's shiny lame, tulle underskirt & a sequined waistband. Not sure if this will win anything in the pet contest, but my sister was definitely happy with the shirt!

She's hard to photograph sometimes :)








Now...the *biggest* news! Percy and I have added a new member to our little family-her name is Alani. Found her at a grocery store in a not-really-safe area. She instantly wound herself around my legs and wouldn't let go. I always believe (with strays) that the animal has to WANT to come with me-I gave her several opportunities to choose to leave, but she hasn't :) Going to get her checked out soon-she's probably in heat (which would explain her constant need to rub herself on EVERYTHING), so I'm hoping I didn't get a pregnant kitten! She's sleeping in a carrier at night to keep her out of trouble-doesn't cry at all. Glad she knows it's a "safe place" so she's okay with it for a few hours at a time. Picture time! (sorry, new mamas love to take pics of their babies!)

napping in the carrier

She's already claiming ownership of the fabric

Not going to get much work done, huh?

 

 

 

Hopefully I can get some "in progress" pics soon-my computer's camera card reader isn't working right now, so a little more difficult to get pics to post :/ After reorganizing my sewing room (it was ok for an older, sleepy dog-not quite as safe for an energetic, fearless kitten), I'm going to try and get back to my machine. I have a box filled with potential pillow tops-would it be bad to just quilt & construct them without actually putting a pillow in? Until I more, I just don't really have room (or money) for a ton of pillows :) But they're quick to do, so if I can just get that little bit of sewing in...

picture time! :D also, Pet on Quilt pic!

First, pic of my pretty, completed 30's Plates

Measures ~42x42 inches. Cotton top, fleece backing, cotton binding. Simple machine quilting in the sashings & centers of blocks tacked down.White circle edge & interior colored circle edges are raw, so when washed, (hopefully!) will have a fuzzy appearance.
The fleece backing is a little "sophisticated" for this bright, kid-friendly top, but it just seemed to work. It's dark green & pink floral on white. *makes note to take a pic*


Now, the improv blocks:

 My attempt at a cross-like block. Teal strips measure 1" wide, if I remember correctly. This is from leftovers of the 2nd block...

Destined to be a pillow, I guess :) Irregular widths of end pieces from cutting my Gypsy Change pieces set mosaic-style with 1" wide cut strips of muslin. 1.5" cut teal strips frame before the 2.5" white was added.









Finally...my entry for SewCalGal's Pets on Quilts Show! It's not the greatest pic (I have mentioned I need to work on this picture stuff!), but it's the best I can get of this hyper lil monkey :) We're going to try another photo shoot later, so might have more than 1 pic in the end!

Meet Paisley, my puppy niece. She's my sister's almost-7-month-old Maltipoo(ish). She joined the family when my sister was *just* going to watch a puppy for a friend of a friend who needed to be hospitalized for a heart issue. At the time, she was barely 2 months old-a tiny, squeaky, shy lil thing. She didn't have a name, wasn't going to be part of that friend-of-a-friend's family (the lady was trying to sell her and her siblings for someone else).
She *thrived* under individual attention. The lady had complained that she squeaked and cried all night-the 
poor baby slept in a laundry basket! Even with "catbrother" around, she behaved fabulously. When the week was over & the lady went home...we were devastated to send Squeaky back (she deserved a name of some kind!) Heartbroken, my sister was resigned to the fact it was going to be her and the cat only. Even Bobby (aka "catbrother") seemed sad the lil scamp was gone.
The next morning, our friend called my sister with an offer-the lady would *drastically* cut the asking price for Squeaky if we would take her. She couldn't handle a puppy in her condition (she had two older dogs of her own that didn't want to play with the pup), so she figured Squeaky might have a home. My sister IMMEDIATELY jumped at the offer & picked Squeaky back up that evening!
When we were "what if"ing the night before, after Squeaky left, she asked what I would've named her if we could've kept her. All of our pets had names based on musicians, so I said "Paisley", after Brad Paisley. Just so happened that the puppy slept at night listening to a Brad Paisley CD (oh, what would've been if my sister had chosen Green Day first!) When the puppy arrived back to her forever home, she was renamed Paisley :)

*that was a bit long...sorry about that!*

On Sunday night, I took my 30's Plates to finish hand-sewing the binding. To be honest-it's kind of hard to do ANY work with Pais around! She's hyper, runs all over, climbs on laps, hops on and off of couches and chairs...a regular tiny tornado.I had been able to position myself a certain way on the couch so I could work with only a few interruptions. As I was nearing completion of the 3rd corner, the insistent pup kept trying to climb on the part of the quilt she could touch. As I ended off a thread, I offered her 2 minutes to lay on it if she would let me work-she backed off, watching intently.

So, without the binding finished, I laid the quilt on the couch and let her climb on. She sat, laid down, stretched out...all puppy kinds of things. I was making sure she wasn't going to bite or dig at the quilt...all while trying to take pics too :) She lasted a bit longer than 2 minutes before I had to pull her off for trying to dig (she always does that to the slipcovers), and as I was settling down to start sewing again, she thought she could climb in my lap to "help".

I finished at home :) Percy (my dog), isn't quite as "helpful" as Paisley.


EDITED TO ADD: more pics of Paisley with the quilt...I think she thought it was hers! Silly girl will need something a bit simpler so I don't cry when she inevitably kills it ;)