finally caved....

into the world of hexies...all it took was a project that wowed me and a way to conquer the short, chunky fingers handicap.  barbara brackman posted a photo of a beautiful antique quilt, the 1861 healy quilt, and right away went to inklingo, printed out hexie patterns, cut up a bunch of papers and pulled some fabrics.  my first attempt was hexies that were really too large for this small quilt project so back to the drawing board, tried smaller ones and they worked out perfect.  am only going to make it large enough to get the full pattern effect.  past hexie efforts were abandoned due to difficulties maneuvering the tiny pieces, but found that was probably cutting my fabric units too small, resulting in war with papers and enough fold over fabric.  now finding that fabric pieces cut a tad larger are working up easier and actually fun! ok, so now i get it!  sunday's project was to fill my busy box with papers and fabrics for the immediate future and maybe beyond.   here is my first "flower" if you will, and am pretty pleased with the process AND the outcome.

 

first of many that'll get done whenever.... so another UFO to add to the list for 2016, a list that is already groaning from sheer volume.  mega-fun ahead indeed!

let's celebrate!

to all my daughter sisters out there, it's a day of celebration and remembrance of our patriot ancestors who died securing freedom from tyranny!   my own revolutionary ancestor, one of several, capt. joel whitney of machias, maine, fought in several battles, most notable the battle of the margaretta, which is also known as the lexington of sea battle.  he was the husband of mary weston, who was the sister of hannah weston.  hannah remembered for ferrying much-needed ammunition to soldiers and for collecting lead items to melt down for ammunition.  these, plus vets from civil war, WWI, war of 1812 and WWII all make me proud to be recognized as the daughter and descendant of so many brave who sacrificed much.   and how to celebrate????

bounty from the sea, of course!  again our favorite lobsterman has provided us with a delicious repast at a fair price--culls but no matter, it's all good.  the tourists come and buy whole cooked lobsters by the ton but end up throwing away lots of good meat in the body; they don't know how or don't want to be bothered to work for it, but we extract every tender morsel.  ***  managed to spend the best of the day outside in the warm sun and breezy air, very good indeed! 

seeing red, er claret

thanks to a recent pile of CW nickels received in swap, was able to find lots of pretty claret reds for this week's star blocks.  this is a really pretty color, i think, and the blocks are some of my faves.  the nickel squares require using 2-3 to get all the necessary pieces for one star but i think ms brackman would approve, and i see that this makes them more interesting.  with limited stash at hand, am working a la pioneer quilter having to make do and improvise--the spirit of the swap's mantra perhaps.  ***  it's another weekend here in lobsterville, filled with busyness of late fairs and winter prep.  woodpiles are growing and pumpkins abound.  not quite peak foliage here near the coast but far western maine is.  and report of snow in VT are ominous, even tho early.  the pine trees are loaded with cones, which is one sign of a harsh winter ahead.  from here on in, any day without snow is a good day.  snowbound quilting days ahead i do believe....

next step....

took only a little bit of time, hour or so, to unsew the other hearts and get them pinned on to the new setting....next is to baste down and then applique....after might tea dye the whole thing to give it a primitive feel as the white is very stark....

hoping that whoever sent me the little hearts likes how they have been used....thanks again!  ***  rainy day today and cool of course.  otherwise it's been a gorgeous fall week that will resume again in a day or two.   hoping the boxes will be unpacked before mittens and full winter gear are needed....

sweet caro-liiinnnne...ba.ba.ba..

today was the day to make the caroline block and it's pictured here next to betty and see that yes, those fabrics DO go well together in the block AND will be good for the others too...the light background fabric in "caroline" is one of very few new FQs that have added to the pile....

also today pulled out this little heart project for a bit of revising....had several of the hearts appliqued and some squares trimmed down, but when put together found they were too small so decided to get more of the original squares and make a bit larger wallhanging.  here you see some of those that didn't get trimmed now put together with new blocks waiting for me to unsew the trimmed ones and re-applique. 

also found 12 plaid hearts from the same stash, so put together a 12-block background and these will get appliqued at some point.  lastly, found some claret reds that will use for this week's star blocks.  pretty good amount of sewing fun on this beautiful mid-fall day in the high 60s...we'll take all these we can get!

scraptastic tuesday

while waiting for the next "stars" fabric of the week to post, had some foursie fun and more little HSTs for the small quilt currently in the works.

the other rows of the little HSTs are someplace here in a bag and will dive in and resurrect to put them all together at some point....not yet decided on total number of rows.  and plans for the foursies?  none at present, but will file them away for something at some point.  and last but not least, another FWS block called "betty"....just tonight another was posted and that's a project for tomorrow or friday?

i'll add this to the FWS page....and over 4000 sew-along participants?   awesome!   not too late to join in....these blocks work up fast--i chose paper piecing method--and will be a nice finished quilt.  *** so nice to have some sewing time, which is not nearly enough in the current situation but at least it's some....praying that will change soon....

getting it done....

so here is midnight/peacock garden so far...needs a final press before borders are added....so difficult to have fun sewing with absolutely no room to iron/baste etc, a situation i hope is remedied soon.  it is starting to affect my enjoyment and mojo.  these are really lovely oriental fabrics.  tried to fussy cut some of the prints to get a bit of movement, which seems to have worked nicely.   after borders and baste, have to do the next FWS block (farmer's wife sewalong)....and have also started a NEW project, a small version of a lovely antique quilt. not much done as of this writing but expect it to be a long-term project. ***  very chilly this AM at 38 degrees about 5:30 am...frost definitely on the pumpkin and no doubt many gardens are now history.  hard to believe summer is really over once again....it happened seemingly overnight.  pretty tired so will sign off to avoid venturing into morose territory.....tomorrow is another whole day to spend!

decorum prevails...

otherwise i could show you a photo of miss phoebe's mended bottom, rather her case with the mended bottom.  afraid the ravages of time had gotten the best of phoebe featherweight's original case, so an immediate fix was in order.  first thing today scooted off to joann's with my coupon for some black duct tape to insure miss phoebe doesn't fall flat on her little feet.  all is well now and miss phoebe is once again safe in her traveling abode.  ***  and sewing plans?  ready to put together the applique and patchwork blocks for midnight garden, which may rename to "peacock garden" as the colors and patterns evoke same.  also have to tweak my "bonnie" block for the sew along and expect by this evening, another block will be posted.  other than that, it's a finestkind fall sunday here in lobsterville.  off to spend this delicious day!

oh my stars!

yesterday got caught up on my stars; they are (top to bottom) my version of lace, lancaster blue and black.  haven't yet made the cretonne ones as my choices of fabric are limited and know i have plenty in my boxed stash for these. 

my pile of these is getting higher and have a few ideas of how will use them, but will wait until sew-along is over.  cannot recall now exactly why i chose to make 3 every week for the 49 weeks, but will continue along.  ***  skipped over to busy thimble the other day to pick up the new jo mortons that are finally here.  they favor pinks/browns but as you can see from my choices, two cheddars sneaked in.  these will work nicely with my farmer's wife sew-along fabrics or just in the stash generally.   gotta start saving as another line due out in december....

and as a 180, anna maria horner has a new line out called "true colors" which are bright mod fabrics....

hardly ever buy fat quarter packs but these are good basic brights; will probably hold off until all my stash is together and see exactly what is what.  it'll be just like christmas unpacking all those boxes of my yummy fabric!  now off to spend the day....

last call?

on Tuesday stopped at a favorite veg stand to stock up on what was available.  purposely passed by winter squashes and apples in favor of those that will soon be gone for another year like little cukes, corn, beans and summer squash.  this means on the menu is a double batch of corn fritters, zucchini bread (muffin size), clam chowder with new potatoes, bruschetta, sauteed cabbage and carrots among others.  while fall is beautiful, it is bittersweet as the garden bounty fades away.  sarah and her helpers who work the magic cannot be praised enough for adding such deliciousness to the table again this summer.  the stand closes columbus day but plan to make one more gathering visit for whatever is available and maybe some peach habanero jam....delish!  ***  and to make this quilty, today is stars day and also 2 blocks for the farmer's wife sew-along...cool and windy and definitely fall-like the rest of the week!