I'm bringing Hexy back...

Well, it's been too long! Did you miss me? My last post was almost 6 weeks ago! I have to say... I've been a very Hexy boy since the last time :) I always say, if I'm not blogging, I'm sewing, sew that's a good thing :) If you follow me on Instagram, you definitely know what's going on. It's like my little microblogging tool :)

Sew anyway, I thought it appropriate for this post to mention that I started a Google+ community quite awhile back called "I'm Hexy and I Know It!" We've got quite a few members and so far it's been a blast seeing all the awesome Hexiness :) Come join in the fun!

Now, wanna see some pictures from the last 6 weeks?

I hope that was a yes, 'cause here goes:

 I've been getting very hexy on the train... These are 1 inchers (sides as always) using scraps from the bin :) Yay! Scrapbusting!

 These are 2 inchers and it has 20 double ring flowers with an inner border, 4 x 5 rows of flowers. It's gotta be a queen size. I have 4 rows of 5 sewn together, now I just have to sew the 4 rows together. They are just too big to take on the train now, sew I will have to finish this quilt top in another setting.

 Here is the back of the 1 inchers.... I'm just randomly picking from my stack of flowers... no rhyme or reason except to keep similar fabrics from touching each other.

Here is me busy working on it :)

 Oh, and here is where I am headed to everyday :)

 I just got this one loaded on the machine. I hope to have it quilted this weekend sew I can take it to my quilting club for show and tell on November 2nd.

Here is the top on the design wall, which I may have posted before. It has the appliqued peacock in the lower right hand corner.

Well, that's all I have for you today! Wait, I wanted to say that I did pick a winner for the giveaway for the Grandma's Lawn Chair blog hop. It was Paul B. He already received the pattern and the fabric. I threw in some die cut hexies too. He was quite happy. I was surprised that the random number generator landed on him because we had already met in cyberspace. He's a hexaholic too :) and a member of the "I'm Hexy and I Know It!" community :)

Until next time,

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Quilting, Sewing, Gettin' My Hexy On...

Well, another month has passed. I decided another blog post is way overdue, so this is just basically a catch up post for what I have been doing since the last post.

 This one is still on the frame right now. This is the backing. I see this fabric all the time at Joann's and I finally decided I had to have it for this quilt. I am not showing the quilt top yet, as it was a pattern test for a bloggy friend, and I think she might do a blog hop, so I didn't want to spoil it.

 The pattern called for fat quarters and I had leftovers, so I made the binding scrappy.

The colors are very vibrant, and I did not wash them first so I hope the new dye catchers I bought do what they are supposed to do!

I finished a baby quilt for my office mate. He had his first. It's a boy! I didn't have this information when I made it :)

I quilted it with a loopy ruffly looking pattern.

 And, of course, I still been getting my Hexy on.... on the train commute in the mornings. There are about 50 flowers in that pile!

Last weekend I went to a thrift shop for which I had seen an ad in the paper saying fill a paper bag all you want for $5. When I showed up I found out I was a week early. I then proceded across the street to another thrift store and hit a gold mine for fabric! Boxes upon boxes of quilting fabric, most from the mid 1990s. There was Moda, Michael Miller, Timeless Treasures to name a few. Most were 2-3 yard cuts. They were all marked as $2 per yard!!! But.... that day was 50% off everything in the store! Thats' right! I paid $34 for what I bet is 40 to 50 yards of great fabric! Jealous???

Oh, and I went to the Kenny Chesney concert last Saturday. We were in the Sandbar! Jealous???

Hope all is well on the quilting front!

Until next time,

Mike.

It's finished! Christmas in New Jersey (part 3)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway from my last post. I was also thinking of having another on Monday since it is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Anyway, here's the finish:

 The top

 The back

This is the first quilt I finished on the new long arm :)

I learned a few things too. Make sure you have plenty of extra batting and backing fabric on the sides. If you don't, then you get too close to the clips and it makes it difficult. Also, if you have extra, it makes it so you can have an area to test on. 

Also, I used the King Tut beige colored cotton thread that came with the machine. I don't usually use cotton thread, except hand quilting thread which I use to sew hexagons together. I'm also faithful to Gutermann brand thread. 

Does anyone have any experiences with long arm quilting and cotton vs. polyester, or what are good brands (and value)? I did notice that the bobbin and needle area get loaded with lint buildup. That is definitely a downside to cotton.

Well, I have to get back to finishing the twin sister quilt to this one.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway. I will probably have another one Monday. I am thinking of giving away some leftover Christmas fabrics, including the fabulous Robert Kaufman boot fabric that everyone keeps asking about!

I am linking up at Richard and Tanya Quilts, Link a Finish Friday.

Until next time,

Mike.

I'm here. I'm alive. I'm having a giveaway! Christmas in New Jersey (part 2)

I know it's been almost 2 months since my last post "Christmas in New Jersey." You can probably figure out why. We were bombarded by Aunt Hurricane Sandy. Well, we got power back about 2 weeks ago and we got internet last week! We were very happy about that! I thought maybe it is time to start sharing again :) I've been working on the twin sister Christmas quilt with the boot fabric. I have finished the top:

I've also been working on the back:

It's mostly fabrics that were given to me and I was only trying to just sew a bunch of fat quarters together to make it. The twin sister boot Christmas quilt is a gift for some very good friends of mine. The backing fabrics were some leftover scraps from a mutual friend that lives in Massachusetts. She likes to sew, but doesn't quilt. So, I thought it was appropriate to put her fabrics on the back and give it to our friends.

On another note, I have not been honest with everyone. I have been hiding a very important piece of information. In September I went to a quilt show in Pennsylvania. I bought a long arm quilting machine :) It was supposed to arrive during the hurricane. It's now arriving on Sunday (after Thanksgiving). I'm stoked. I love quilting on my home machine, but as you all know, I work too much and have very little time to sew. So, now I have a great time saver (and muscle saver), especially since most of my projects are larger quilts. I will still be creating my own quilting designs (I did not get the automatic/computerized thing). I already have these 2 Christmas quilts in the "almost ready to quilt" stage, so they will be my firsts.

I've decided to have a giveaway too. I was waiting until I had 200 followers, but I figured "why not just go ahead?" I'm alive, still here, the sewing machine has power now :) I am giving away a couple of bundles of fat quarters, 10 in all. They are not your fancy "quilting quality" fabrics. They are just some that I picked up at Joann's (my LQS). I hope you like them. I don't have sponsors, so I paid for them with my hard earned money :)

I took the ribbons off so you could see the prints. I will put them back on before I send them.

So, what do you have to do to try to win them, you ask?

Sign up for "following by email" in the upper right hand corner of my blog. That's it. If you are already signed up, you're entered.

If you want to leave a comment, that's up to you. I love them. In fact, if you leave a comment telling me what your favorite color/type of print fabric is, I might throw something else in the package :) For example, "I like green and I like medium to large prints" or "I like blue and anything solid or with a small print." You don't have to leave a comment. It will just possibly add to the prize.

Also, I am excluding my close friends and family that already follow me through email. But all you quilt bloggers out there. Don't fret. We may be online friends, but you are still in the game :)

The giveaway is open internationally. (Thank you to all I have won that was shipped that way.) You also have 2 weeks: it ends Friday December 7th (east coast time) at midnight.

I'm linking up at Richard and Tanya Quilts link a finish Friday. Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend!

Mike.