Hooked on Hexies!

I've always wanted to make hexagons but didn't because it involved sewing by hand. I wanted to sew by hand but believed that my hand sewing was rather awful and so stayed away from it.

Last week Judy asked me if I would make a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt as part of a project for the store. Yes I did hesitate but said I would. Judy gave me a lesson one Friday afternoon and now I can't stop making them! I love it! :)

We're using paper templates for the hexagons. I will let you know about the store project once we announce it but till then... here are my practice blocks. I didn't think my very first blocks would look good but don't they? So this will have to be a quilt too.

Now I sew on the train to work! Good fun.

Beginner's Quilt Along on Quilting Gallery!

Quilting Gallery and Pat Sloan are hosting a Beginner's Quilt Along starting June 7th. They haven't revealed the blocks yet but they do say that it's truly a beginner's quilt along... so if you are a beginner this might be a good thing to do.

I think ... even if you're not a beginner it would still be interesting. You learn a lot of new things from an experienced teacher and Pat Sloan is fantastic for sure! I will be checking in on this quilt along... and maybe even try to do it! (fingers crossed... I suddenly have 3 projects I need to get done by mid July!) I have not worked with triangles or laid out a quilt on point... so that would be interesting.

They're also going to have prizes so that's an incentive right? Judging from the giveaway they have going now ... the prizes seem like good ones!

Check out the Quilting Gallery Learning Center for all the details and join the fun!

Pieced the top!

Went in to the store today and pieced the top. This is the size the class is doing. It's 45" x 63" - a nice lap size quilt. I'm going to make it into a twin for my niece. She loves blue and I hope this is blue enough for her. I think I might add a border with blue fabric - something from the squares - so it looks a little more blue than it is now. What do you think?

45"X63" Lap Quilt

I love these fabrics. They are so bright and happy.
As I was piecing the top I felt so good just having the fabric on me... You know how you need to have the quilt top and quilt on your lap when you're sewing... isn't that such a great feeling. I had forgotten about that since I haven't sewn in 9 months.
Sigh... the simple pleasures of life! :)

And I love the Kona Snow for the back.

I want me one of these! So great to be working on a design wall. I can't thank Judy enough for letting me sew in the store. It's AMAZING!!!

Squaring Blocks

I didn't think squaring blocks would take so much precision. I must admit I never really gave it much thought before. This is good though... much happier with the results but I still have a ways to go before I piece!

So Jeannie does it this way. First you measure the block and see what its turned out to be. Our blocks were supposed to be 9 1/2 inches but mine were a little less. The trouble was that the needle of the sewing machine I'm using at the store is a little off centre and needs to be fixed so all my blocks are slightly smaller than they should be.

Oh! I just remembered... I love working with the quarter inch foot! What a great little foot it is!

Ok... getting back... so we figured that the block could measure 9 1/4 inches. Now Jeannie worked out that half of 9 1/4 is 4  5/8th of an inch... I have no clue about 5/8ths and 3/8ths... but there is a sheet somewhere that will tell me all this. For now I know that if you have .625 it's a 5/8 and you can count these lines off on your ruler. So she marked the spot on the ruler for me and I used it as a guide. I've got to figure this out though.

Then, we used the centre square and folded it so that it was half and marked it with a pin. These flower head pins work very well for them 'coz they're flat and you can place your ruler over it and cut.

 

Got my mark there

So I had to measure each side and cut and square the block. It's a little tedious but it's worth it. I also find that fabric here seems to stretch a little more than what I used to buy at home so I need to be a little more careful with it.

Squared Block

I bought some fabric to make a pillow case for my nephew. He's 7 and he likes skulls 'coz he thinks they're cool. So here's what I'll be using for his pillow case. :) This is going to be fun!

Linking up to W.i.P at Freshly Pieced.

Sewing Saturday

Isn't it great when you can sew all day? Went into the store this Saturday and sewed for 5 hours! Was in heaven! I finished my blocks for the class. I need to now square them up. This is going to be a sweet quilt. The prints are just so happy and cheerful.

 

Love working on the Janome and can't wait for my machine to come home! This is the store machine that Judy is letting me use  for class. Really enjoying it.

 

I have all these three and a half inch squares left over! I feel half-square triangles calling out.

 

Looking forward to class on Tuesday. Going to be piecing blocks! 

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story.