Hearts Hearts Hearts

I was busy with other things in early February, and if I'm being honest, was quite unmotivated to sew very much. I was looking for my sewing mojo. So, I did not make anything heart shaped for Valentine's Day, even though a part of me wanted to. So I did what any quilter would do when I found my mojo, I started on a heart quilt.

I think it was this little guy that got my mojo back for me. I won this amazing hand made Tomte Stitching Station from Moss and Lotus for the December Tomte Sew Along. When I saw it, I immediately felt better and more like sewing. How's that for magic?

 I had a wonderful bundle of fat quarters that I bought from Fort Worth Fabrics that I just knew would be perfect for hearts. I used Allison's at Cluck Cluck Sew pattern for the hearts. You can find it at her blog.

 See how pretty they are? This bundle of fabrics really makes my heart sing...lol.

I think this one is my favorite print in the bunch. The color is just so vibrant. And I love the touch of gold.

I currently have it up on the design wall . The rows are all together, and I am trying to make decisions about the vertical sashing strips. This cutie will be done soon, though and then to quilt!

 One bonus of this quilt is the leftover triangles from the bottom of the hearts. I decided that the fabric is way too pretty to waste any of it, so I sewed them right up as leaders and enders with the hearts.

  And now I am going to have this little wall hanging for my efforts. Isn't she pretty? I will be back soon, with completed projects to show to you. Have a great rest of your week.

My Penny Sampler Quilt Club-February Blocks

I have just finished my February blocks for the Penny Sampler Quilt Club. I am making the Dutch Version of the quilt. The other version available is the Nordic version. Here we go:

 The first task was to select the fabrics for this unique courthouse steps block. I laid out my background fabric and set all the step fabrics in order on top of it to make sure what I saw in my head was what I really wanted.

After taking a picture and looking at it, I decided to move the larger white polka dots down one position. I was going for a kind of ombre look with this. That made me happy, so I was ready to sew.

I put this little sweetie in the center. This is Lola Dutch, by Sarah Jane. I found her in my scraps that were left from a skirt I made for Miss N for Christmas. The perfect touch.

 And this is the end result. I am very happy with it. My husband says it looks like stacked wedding cakes. :)

It is quite a large block, one of the largest in the quilt. I love that it just shouts "Look at me!"

 Nest up was the double diamonds block. I chose this solid red to really make the blue pop, and I think it worked.

                  Here is one of the four diamonds in the block.

And here are all four of the diamonds together. This quilt is really a balancing act of colors. Some soft, some not. Choices are based on the position each block has in the finished quilt.

My last set of blocks is thirteen small pinwheel blocks that will go into a sashing strip later on. This is the first one, and I am showing you the back, because it is paper pieced. I don't like all the bulk in the center where the seams meet. So I decided to try piecing one the old fashioned way and trimming it to size.

 With a block like this, I like to press my seams open to achieve maximum flatness in the center.

See how much flatter the whole block is? I was much happier with this option so I made all the rest using this technique.

And here they all are lined up and waiting. And now, February is done and I can sew some other things while I wait for March.
Enjoy your day.

A Bit of Crochet

I have been working on the latest blanket pattern from Lucy at Attic 24. It is the Dahlia blanket. What attracted me to it was the beautiful colors and the interesting pattern.

This is part one which is 15 color stripes. Lucy has them in a "planned random" order in her pattern and I am following that. I like the randomness of it, but it is not totally random.

You can see here, we are beginning to repeat some of the colors, but not in the same order as the first rows. This really keeps it from being too predictable. And the colors are so amazing and bright. Perfect for a winter project.

And this is as of Sunday. I am just plodding along and taking my time. It is big enough now to cover my lap as I crochet and I just love that stage. The crochet along has finished with handing out each part, but you can always find all the instructions on Lucy's blog. I print each week's instructions as I am ready for them. I just printed week 3 of 7 including the edging. More hooky fun coming my way. I will show you when I get much more done, but if you want some beautiful shots, go visit Lucy.

Have a lovely day all.

A Hexie Finish

In June of 2018, I joined a sew along using EPP hexagons. I had never don English Paper Piecing before, and had never wanted to. When I finished my Kingfisher quilt, I missed sewing those cute hexies. So I decided to start making more hexies to use in a future project. I kept them grouped in a box by color. When the box was pretty full, I decided I needed to quit making them and start using them. I used a few here and there in applique projects, but finally started sewing them to each other.

I pulled out this dotted fabric to use as borders/sashing and made some more hexies. Then, I began making hexie flowers. I just made them randomly, and began joining them together with the dotted fabric. Once I had a few together, I decided that a table runner was a good idea. It wasn't too big, but it was big enough.

 I would make a few and them join them together, just trying to find pleasing arrangements as I went along. I have seen many Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts, so I knew it really didn't matter if some colors were too close together.

I decided to leave the edges of the runner irregular and I began quilting it, dividing each hexagon into 6 pie slice pieces. It took me three days to get this small runner quilted like that, but I am very happy I chose this way to quilt it.

 I knew there was no way I would be able to bind the edges of this thing, so I opted to cut it close to the edges and zigzag over the edges. It won't get washed as much as a quilt might, so I think it  will be fine.

And here it is, in all its glory. It sits on the glass coffee table in the living room. And yes, there is usually stuff sitting on top of it, but I wanted to show you the whole thing. So that is one more project checked off my list for 2020. I am just rolling along here.
Have a great weekend.