Tuesday, April 27, 2010

AND THE WINNER IS.....

RaisinCookies!!!! who said, "Okay, the jewel box quilt is PERFECT. I bought a bunch of rainbow fabrics off eBay recently, and I think this is the project for it."


Whooo-Hoooo!!!!


I will shoot you an email, RaisinCookies to get a mailing address from you and so forth!


The winner's number was randomly generated using Excel and a highly complex formula I won't begin to try to understand by the very highly esteemed and degreed and all around number know-it-all, my husband, Cabe 
and here are his credentials:

FSA, MAAA
Senior Vice President & Principal
xxx xxx, Inc.


AND THE COMMENTS ARE CLOSED....

APRIL 27th at 7:00 a.m.,
116 comments.


Stay tuned for the drawing....

Thursday, April 22, 2010

It's a give-away!!

How about this:

Go check out the Fat Quarterly blog  and leave a comment here about your favorite quilt inspiration.
There's Brionni's Jewel Box, Katy's Fat Geese, Aneela's Bedtime Story Quilt, and oh! I spy a hexy quilt by Tacha.  And more sneak peaks are added every day!

On the launch day, I'll chose a winner by some random process as of yet not pondered, and said winner will receive...


        Your very own subcription to Fat Quarterly!!   AND---a Fat Quarter Stack of my Hope Valley range!!  I think I have 10 different prints.


Let me humbly add that I usually don't have a bunch of comments to sift thru (ahem) so if you're reading this...you're chances are pretty awesome!



Oh!  The Launch Date is April 27th!


(this added later)
Wow!  Keep 'em coming!
Loving the FQ love!

Remember that I'll need to be able to contact you should you be the winner of a year's subscription to Fat Quarterly
and your fat quarter stack of Hope Valley.  So if you're blogger name isn't linked to your profile info with email, please contact me here or at
thfabrics@gmail.com.
Thanks!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

All things hexy

My latest projects have had a common theme.
that cute little six sided block, called the hexagon.

It started innocently enough...I spied a cute button on Katy's website and had to have it for mine. see that  button over there on the right?  About three buttons down.  I love grabbing people's buttons.  Yes!
I'll quilt-along!  I'll join your club!  I'll read Bronte and --well maybe not the Bronte group.  Sorry.  You gotta start saying no sometimes.
Anyway, Texas Freckles has a great little motivating group to encourage us all to do english paper pieced hexes.  I had started, before the quilt along, my own hex project.  Then I  stopped, then I lost my hex project all together, and even started a half-hex as I thought that would be quicker and easier---but it wasn't.  And that's all I'm going to say about half-hexes.  I bravely posted that quilt on flickr and I'm glad I finished it.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.


So since I was trying all sorts of hexagon piecing, I thought it would be cheeky to try the Amy Butler Sexy Hexy as well.    I read Nichole's blog about a very bad experience with the pattern (free on Amy's website).  And the directions are daunting and entirely off-putting.  So my advice--in my humble, novice opinion, I must add, is this:

Disregard the 11 pages of instructions almost entirely.  

there.  I said it.  I hope I don't get struck down by lightening now.

  But I can't make since of cutting 4 of this and 10 of this and so on if I can't see how it's coming together.  So I took the C band, the D band and the middle hex pattern piece, cut out one block at a time and looked thru the sewing instructions.
You sew C to D then all those pieces together--it should look like a hexagon at this point, and applique the middle hexagon.

I had to cut out one block at a time so I could understand the color ranges within the block and with each other.
I laid it out in a flower shape when I had finished 7 blocks and filled in 4 half hexes at the edges.  I thought I could cut the hexagon pattern in half for this job, but it needs extra for a seam allowance.  So note that.
I think I'm going to leave the zig zag edge on one side.  I like it.
So then I sewed the hexagons together and that was my first experience with Y seams.  See the puckers.
I had to rip it out and I learned that if you sew from the center, after the quarter of an inch seam allowance, it lies flat.  
Now I have to figure out my backing and quilt it and I think I'll have that little block out  of my wheel house for a while.  Except, of course, for the hex charm quilt along.  I want one of those cute progress bars like Texas Freckles has on the margin, too...

And speaking of cute buttons you gotta have on your blog, check out the Fat Quarterly button!
Hmmm, I think I stole that one from Katy, Imagingermonkey as well.  

You know Fat Quarterly is an eZine chock full of quilty goodness and inspiration and it's very first issue is Tuesday!  April 27th!!

I hope there's a question/answer section.  I got a lot of questions for those experts.  I cannot wait.  And maybe, just maybe--I'll listen to their advice.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Feelin' Stitchy

Well I've gone and done it.  Reached for a few new projects with no hope of finishing all the other works in progress anytime this month   this spring....   soon.  How did I manage to get so sidetracked by this little blanket stitch?It started innocently enough.  I could manage that stitch much better than a hidden applique stitch for the center of my giant hexy quilt.   I've done seven centers now (still have whatever half-hexes are left to fill it out), 





then I found a pair of holey  jeans (intentionally fashionable holey, but I decided I'm a little long in the tooth to pull that off), made a patch, decorated my $4.00 target pants all hippy-dippy and I'm making slow and steady progress on a broderie-perse applique throw for my mother.


I picked up the blanket stitch from a great little book, Sublime Stitching, which is not only eye candy, but loaded with great tutorials and patterns.    I look at this book and I think  "I WANT!"

Oh and that nifty tool box with "EMB. thread" scrawled across the side of it, complete with embroidery floss wound around toilet paper holders, circa 1974?  I found that in this old house we bought.  It's such a treasure, I haven't had to buy my own embroidery supplies yet.   That's one of my favorite things about  that old house, come to think of it.

You know, the cutest fabric roll came in the mail today.  They called it a "cupcake" because it was smaller than a jellyroll.  Strips of Freshcut from Heather Bailey.  Think I'm going to abandon this hand sewing thing for a while and maybe start a new quilt top...
or maybe I'll just make cupcakes...that sounds good too.

Friday, April 9, 2010

A little more of Canton....

Waiting room for dollsTreasures in a Ball jarOh boy, we almost brought this guy home..."the Judge" was his nameThese old quilts, embroidery, needle point, tatted lace, old tablecloths were loaded to the brim in these bins.
Hop over to my flickr page to see what I couldn't live without.  Actually, now I'm wishing I'd snagged that log cabin on the wall....

Monday, April 5, 2010

Shopping the Canton Flea Market

Ro has a list for a scavenger hunt: 3 commemorative state plates, a vase made out of an animal, a pop gun....
kept her busy.

Iron beds. They just need a little love...and sanding....
Ms. C tried a fried Snickers bar---I think she regretted it soon afterwards.A collection of microphones


Our Louisiana friends at the traditional Thursday night Mexican Dinner Get Together. There's a bunch of us, huh?
Oh, and I found vintage quilts and linens and embroidered pieces....bins and bins of them!
Some found their way home with me. More on that later.