Progress & A Finish!

Howdy!

My house is quite again (my wonderful in-laws were visiting this week taking up my attention), so can now update you on progress.  I finished my class project!  It originally had a border, but the back piece was too small.  So, I just cut the border off and moved on.  I really like how it came out :)  (Please excuse the crappy picture. It was taken in a hurry while MIL and FIL were still here.  Also, Ducky just had to part of the picture no matter how much I coaxed).  I can't wait to show all the ladies!

I was running out of hexies in a couple colors, so unfortunately I am back to basting :/  But!  I am using the "flowers" I have done to start "squaring up" the freeform beginning.  That way I really have the beginning of a quilt - and, the pile was getting a little large for my box lol  Pictures of that soon :)

I am also looking forward to doing my Quilts for Kids (Q4K) project and starting my City Sampler Quilt at The Scrappy Quilter this week.  It should be a week full of quilting goodness :)

Project Update

Howdy!

I finished basting all the new hexies as anticipated.  I now have 112 more little hexies for my Baby Hexie Quilt.  I will be getting back to piecing today once I finish quilting my class project, which will be a pillow :)

Here's a shot of the pinwheel.  I did mark out the stippling, but changed it in a few places while quilting to make it flow more.

Here is a shot of the back with just the pinwheel done.  You can see the pattern and stitches a little better.  Not perfect, but not too bad for my first time, if I don't say so myself ;)

And here is the first background triangle.  I had marked these for stippling as well, but changed my mind.  Instead of remarking, I used a Zentangle approach to do echoing triangles.

And a shot of the back.  I have two more background triangles done now (both much more consistent).  I plan to finish the quilting today, so that I can show it off tomorrow at the shop when I go for Quilting for Kids (a charity project in San Antonio making quilts for cancer patients that are children.  It starts at 10a if you are interested in joining :)).  After that I'm going to finish the pillow and focus on the Baby Hexie Quilt as much as possible.  I HAVE to have it done my October!

Hexie Baby Quilt Addition & Tip

Howdy!

From you the title I'm sure you have deduced that I am crazy.  I'm ok with that, because when I was at The Scrappy Quilter for my hand quilting class Thursday I spotted a couple of ADORABLE fabrics on clearance that I just knew needed to be part of the baby quilt.  We now know that the baby is a boy, so I wanted to add a dash of blue to the otherwise neutral quilt and the polka dots with the cream background just really matched too well to pass up :)

So, now I have twelve total fabrics going into the quilt.  Here they are all together.

You might have noticed that the new hexies look a little larger in the raw than the old ones.  That is because they are.  After basted hundreds of hexies with the 1/4" sew allowance and being careful not to let them fray while I am piecing, I swore to myself that I would not give myself such little wiggle room again.  I decided to cut these new hexies with a 1/2" seam allowance.  I don't care that it uses a little more fabric, it is SO much easier to baste - and I'm sure it will be easier to piece.  Do what you will, but I recommend larger than a 1/4" seam allowance.  It will help keep you just a little bit saner, which in my case, I'll take all the help I can get lol

At this point I have all the new hexies cut and all of 56 of the polka dots basted.  I should have all the blues basted today and I'll get back to piecing :)

Loads of Fun at The Scrappy Quilter

Howdy!

Yesterday I took my first quilting class at my local quilt shop, The Scrappy Quilter (that I found for the first time the day before).  But let me back up and start by talking a little about the shop.  It's a little over a year old and is absolutely adorable and well organized.  They have fabric styles for everyone from beautiful Civil War reproductions to modern designer fabrics.  They even stock some up-and-coming designers.  But what really made them stand out to me was the service.  Everyone was truly, sincerely happy that I was there and wanted to make me feel at home.  They were joyfully informative and kind.  Not one person, staff or customer, acted like I didn't belong there (something I commonly get since I'm on the younger end of the crafty demographic).  They answered my questions truthfully - if they didn't know the answer they grabbed another quilter :)  Lisa, Michelle, and Alice (and Joyce the next day) took the time to get start getting to know me, AND they remembered me and details about me when I came back for the class.

I took a hand quilting class with Joyce and LOVED IT.  I wanted to take it to learn and meet some people in the area with like interests.  It turned out to be a one-on-one session, but I was ok with that.  Joyce was amazing and delightful.  She was very patient, thorough, and sweeter than wild honey.  I learned so much and will definitely take another class with her given the opportunity.  I have really taken to hand quilting.  Here's a close-up teaser of the project we started in class.

I highly recommend The Scrappy Quilter if you're in the San Antonio area, even if it's just for a visit.  You can find them in the Lone Oak Plaza in Schertz.  Their physical address is 1208 FM 78, Suite J
Schertz, TX  78154.  You can call them at (210)281-8667.  Feel free to visit their website or check them out on Facebook.

The day I found The Scrappy Quilter, I visited several other sewing/quilt shops.  No one spoke to me at the others, and if they did it was in such a way that I didn't feel welcome at all.  I can truly say that I have found my quilting home.  I'm already in love with the shop and the ladies.  I will be back there on Tuesday for Quilting for Kids and I'm seriously thinking about doing the City Sampler Quilt with them, too.  I really hope that you visit them.

Have you found your quilting home, yet?  I would love to hear about it :)