Scrappy Days Are Here Again... and a Ton of Stuff!!!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks. I also still haven't announced the winners of my last two giveaways (here and here). They were contacted the next day and both have already received their respective prizes.

Barbara from Cat Patches won the fat quarter bundles:

Gabriele from Gabriele's Boutique won the Holly Jolly Christmas fabric assortment:

This also brings me to an important point. Gabriele was NOT a no reply blogger, but her email on her profile was out of date and kept bouncing back to me. I was able still to click through to her blog and find her Facebook page where I left a message on her wall. Sometimes it's really easy to find the person even if you do not have their email. I wanted her to get her prize and I wanted her to know that her email was bad! She did not realize it and was probably missing out on giveaways that she had previously won.

As a segue, I also wanted to point out that if you link Google+ to your blogger profile, it will make you automatically a no reply blogger!!!!! But... and most people don't realize this, your name in your profile and in the comment (if the blogger receives the no reply email) is linked to your Google+ page where the person having a giveaway can obviously contact you. It's just not by email.

Anyway, on with the show. First off, happy holidays to everyone!

I just wanted to let you know what I have been up to. Here we go:

Work in progress: I have been sewing these 320 hexagons on the train while I commute back and forth to work everyday. It's finally coming together, but I have quite a bit of whip stitching left to do. I did it in blocks and now I am just sewing the blocks together. Oh my, the people I get asking questions all the time!

90% of the fabric comes from my very first giveaway win from about a year ago. I haven't decided what to do with the charms yet. I have been working on it since about June of 2011, and I sew on it some everyday pretty much (every work day). And, if you can believe this, I have not blogged about these hexies at all. I know you all got tired of hearing about hexies the last time!!!

Work in Progress: I have started my first rag quilt. It is all owls mostly. They had a great sale on flannels at Joann's. I still have tons left over too. I am going to alternate the prints so they form diagonals (matching) across the quilt. I am coordinating the solids as shown in the picture. The solids will be on the back. 

Finished: This table runner is finished. I made a nice simple nine patch block with HSTs. I used scraps and leftover fabrics from my stash. This was the first one I had ever made :)

This is the back.

Here it is loaded an ready on the machine. I haven't decided yet if it was worth the trouble to load it on the long arm since I know I could have done it FMQ on my home machine. I did enjoy using the machine for the third time though.

Work in progress: This one is my first truly scrappy quilt. I literally hit the bucket to find anything that would make a 5.5 inch square. It's mostly random, but I still tried to make sure there were no similar squares too close to each other. It is really going together fast!!!

Well, if you made it this far, I wanted to let you all know that I have a new sponsor. I'm not doing a giveaway yet, but if you would like to stop by and see Nicole at 1 Choice 4 Quilting her button is at the end of this post and at the top of the right side bar. The store has an awesome selection and I am pleased with their shipping rates. $2.95 for orders under $10. $4.95 for orders $10-50 and anything over $50 ships free!!!

Also, my Facebook page has been really hopping since the last two giveaways. If you haven't liked The Amateur Quilter yet you should. I always try to share any useful or interesting blog posts I read as well as any giveaways I come across.

This week I am going to link up at Richard and Tanya Quilts Link a Finish Friday and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!

Enjoy your holidays!

Until next time!

Mike.

I'm Too Hexy for This Quilt, Too Hexy for This Quilt, So Hexy IT HURTS!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted (other than sharing some giveaways), but I want you all to know that I have been busy! I am still working on the flowery hexagon quilt. I have posted many previous times about this, but I thought I should share some progress:

Background fabric is on the design wall, and it doesn't fit a queen size so part of it is on the floor.

 The flower shapes are just pinned on temporarily. I'm trying to decide how close together they will be (and where).

 Right now, this is what I am still doing: taking out the basting threads and paper then ironing and starching those puppies!

 I just finished my last flower today, sewing the hexies together, that is (on the commuter train to work).

And, needless to say, my block of the months for Quilt Story and Craftsy have taken a backseat. I still haven't finished May for either one and it's almost July :(

I have a deadline for the flowery hexie quilt of August 1st (birthday), so this is basically all I have been working on.

I do have a question though. Can anyone suggest a good quilting design to go over the flower shapes? Also, something to go into the spaces between them? I'm pretty good at stippling, but I have not toyed too much with other designs. I would appreciate any suggestions in the comments.

Hope you are having a wonderful week! It's supposed to be a scorcher today and tomorrow here in the Northeast.

I'm linking up at WIP Wednesdays (Freshly Pieced).



Until next time,

Mike.

 

WIP Wednesdays, Block of the Month and Do you think I'm Hexy?

I've been working on the block of the month over at Quilt Story. They are doing a nice simple monthly plan in which this month was HSTs (half square triangles). Last month was 9 patch. I am doing 2 of each BOM so that I have a larger quilt at the end of the series. It started in March. Below is a picture of my March and April blocks.

I really got some good use of my Bloc-Loc. I got this tool at the Quilt Show in New Jersey last month. It was expensive, but I think I already got my monies' worth. It's great the way it grabs the piece making it easy to square off. I also used the draw a line technique that I learned in the Craftsy Block of Month for February 2012. Basically you add 1 inch to the size of the finished block (including the seam allowance) and then draw a diagonal line on the back of one square, put the two squares together and sew 1/4 inch on either side of the line. Then, you cut on the line and voila! You have 2 squares. I then square it off with the Bloc Loc to the finished size (3 1/2 inches in this case). It makes them perfectly every time (not wonky looking) and it gets rid of the tiny dog ears on the corners. It's important also to note, that if you press the seams open before you square them off, the tool will not grab the seam! Learned that the hard way ;)

In the background on my cutting mat you can see strips of fabric. This is for a quilt I am working on for my Aunt L. I will talk more about that on another WIP Wednesday. In the meantime, I've been whipping up some hexagons on the train. There were some German tourists on the train at World Trade Center and they were standing over me when the gentleman said "a stitch in time saves nine." Turns out his English was not very good, but he just wanted to try out some of the English cliches he had learned in Germany. His wife said I was doing "patchverk." :) It's an obsession to some degree. So, "Do you think I'm hexy?"

I'm linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays.



Until next time,

Mike.



BTW, I am still deciding how to celebrate turning 50 (in blog followers!) I'm thinking giveaway, but I need to ponder what to give away :)

Trilogy: Free Motion Stitching, WIP Wednesdays and The Hexamaniac.

If you've been following me, you might know that I have been participating in the Craftsy Block of the Month (BOM). I posted about making Hexagons for April. Well, I finally finished the second block.

The one on the bottom was the second block. I used a starry night for the sky and a dark green leafy pattern (from my curtains) for the grass.

I had never appliqued before, so I decided to just wing it. I took my shapes (some of which were sewn together already in strips) and sprayed the backs with 505 adhesive sewing spray. Then, I positioned them on the background. I decided to do a straight stitch with white thread right up next to the edges:

At first I was doing this with a foot attached and the feed dogs going. But, it was a ton of stop and go, so I remembered Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project having us stitch in lines or follow a pattern using free motion. I decided to try this and let me tell you, it was so much easier and faster! They stitched on rather nicely and in no time! It just sew happens that the Quilt Along Wednesdays last week was a review of stippling and these techniques. I'm happy that I thought of something I learned and applied it to this block!

Now, to the last part of my story. Once I started sewing all those Hexies (by hand) on Craftsy I realized that I could do this anywhere. I don't even have to be home. So, I took my zippy pouch that I won and loaded it with fabric squares and all the necessary accoutrement and took it on the train with me to work. It became addictive. Then, during my lunch break (after eating) I went outside in this lovely weather here in NYC (Battery Park) and paper pieced some hexies :) I just picked out some fabric. I have no idea what these will be for. But, I knew I had just started another work in progress!

I also want to mention that I have linked up at the New Bloggers linky party. Go there and visit some of the newer bloggers and comment on their posts and follow them too! They need them! When they reach milestones, they usually have giveaways!!!

Anyway, until next time,

Mike.

I am linking up at WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and the Free Motion Quilting Project.

 

        

WIP Wednesdays... Pucker Up!!!

Hate to share my misfortunes, but I just finished quilting my Mother's quilt and when I was done all I could say was "Mother Pucker!!!" I need to write this post so that I can learn from my mistakes. It helps me to "ingrain in the membrane" and work it all out.

Ok, I haven't binded/bound it yet, but here are the pics (laid on a King size bed, but the quilt is Queen):

Puckering below (if you can see it) and some stitches ripped out :(

Binding below. And a kitty that likes to play with it :)

I need to figure out what caused all the puckering. I have some ideas:

1. Trying to baste (spray) on a design wall that is not suited for a quilt of this size.
2. Not spraying it thoroughly because of the size and the design wall limitations.
3. Not checking underneath while free motion quilting to make sure there were no problems (especially since I was breaking thread between every loopy flower design).
4. The quilt was so big and my sewing table so small, there was a ton of adjusting and a ton of overhang causing the baste to lose its hold.
5. Quit trying to rush things and looking for instant gratification.

I could go on and on I am sure. But, I think next time I will just be extra careful to check the back more often. I might even pin some of the outer areas (this is where most of the problems occurred). A nice solution would be to just buy a long arm :) Would probably make a Queen much easier to deal with! I know I was flattening and spreading, but I just did not feel the puckers with my gloves on! And, it happened in about 15 places!!!!!

Anyway, thought I would share. My mind is fluttering with tons of other ideas for fixing or for what went wrong, but feel free to share your thoughts!

I'm linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!



I also wanted to mention that I have linked up at the "new bloggers" link party. If I reach 50 followers, I'm having a giveaway!

Until next time,

Mike.

Work in Progress Wednesdays

In the last week I worked on 2 things. The Quilt Story Block of the Month and my Mom's quilt.

This is the Block of the Month. I blogged about it on Sunday. 

This is my Mom's quilt. I blogged about it here and here.

I do not have a picture yet, but I finally got all 42 blocks sewn together. I am now working on the border. It's a huge quilt for me and a lot to handle. Also, some of the seams are very bulky where the points come together. I decided they needed steaming. (I blogged about this.)

I am linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays.

Anyway, until next time.

Mike.