Hello Minnie My Old Friend

This time of year there's always a lot on my plate, to the point that I seem to start losing time in one-week chunks, and this year is no exception, which is why I love to have some hand quilting to help calm things down a bit. Minnie to the rescue!

She has been in the hoop for some time now but I don't honestly know that I've picked up a needle all year, until recently. It's so good to be back.

Reacquainting myself with all of the different diamond hexies in this quilt and their colour combinations is so much fun. It's becomes a bit of a game to see how many I can quilt in one sitting. She is by no means close to being finished so that means many more hours of enjoyment for me.

Another project that has been keeping me busy is Miss P. Spoiler alert: she's all together now. Miracle of miracles! I will give it a good press and have something to show you pretty soon, hopefully in the my next post....M

Minnie & Me

Minnie is still sitting by my side when we watch TV but only lately have I picked up my needle again. With all the rush to get a few QFS flimsies ready I didn't have the energy left for hand quilting, but this past week or so I have picked up my needle again.

It's such a treat! I love revisiting every flower and diamond.

I remember being determined to incorporate the tiny white floral into this block. It was a very small scrap from Jane and is just the prettiest wee print. I do remember it being a bit tough to work with (I think it's a polished cotton, so a little heavier and a tighter weave) but it was well worth the effort.

And you can't argue with the end result....M

Sunday is for Visiting

I have many wonderful memories of Sundays when we were growing up. It was a quieter day - the one day of the week that the shops weren't open - and we often went visiting or would have company in to catch up on life and have some fun. As I quilt Minnie and come across fabrics that I had forgotten about, I feel that I'm enjoying a visit with so many dear friends - all those precious bits that came together in my hexies.

Tiny remnants take me back to exactly where they came from or what they represent, like the soft blue-grey floral hexies that run across the top of this diamond. I was thrilled when Jane gave me a 1.5" strip of it to include in my quilt. Ah, the joy of someone else's stash!

Or this red and white diamond that I stitched on Canada Day several years ago.

I'm loving the texture that is beginning to appear. It makes me want to quilt all day long just to see the next large diamond emerge....M 

Minnie's Time Has Come

Not 15 minutes after resolutely vowing to keep my head down and stick with the border pieces for Halo until they were all finished, I walked by the bag that Minnie has been sitting in for ages (well over a year) - beautifully basted and ready to be hand quilted. She's been stuck in limbo because I was struggling with how to quilt her. On a whim, I pulled it out of the bag to take another look. 

Within minutes of it tumbling to the floor I'd decided on a plan. So she's in the frame and I am thrilled.

These hexies finish of at about an inch across so I'm running most of my stitching right down their centres to get a good long run. It's going to generate a very nice double diamond pattern around the large four-diamond hexies, in the end.

Happiness like this calls for a brand new roll of painter's tape to help with my markings 😉, and what a difference it makes. When I quilted Candied Hexagons, the roll that I was using must have been old because there was very little oomph left to it, making it tough to follow a clean line at times.

Love the way these two intersecting lines produce a sweet little diamond. 

I am stitching very close to the little blossoms at the centre of each small diamond to give them a little more profile. It's a nice contrast to the linear quilting patterns that surround them.

After having trouble landing on a hand stitching project this winter my problem is now happily resolved....M

A Milestone For Minnie

I almost cannot believe that I am typing these words, but Minnie is now a flimsy! After heaven knows how many years, the last little hexies have been stitched into place and it's time to sit back, enjoy it and start planning how to quilt it. This one will be going into my hoop, for sure.

The bulk of it has been finished up for a while now with the exception of the four corners so I picked it up while watching the latest installment of the January 6 Inquiry. The extra setting triangles that I had stitched came in very handy.

I just found a colour combo that worked with the hexies around it, stitched the piece in place and then ripped out the extra bits. Worked like a charm.

A few hexies that were near and dear to my heart were left on the cutting room floor, but it is what it is. The edges will be trimmed straight but I will wait until it's quilted to do that.

The back is almost as interesting as the front - it's a frothy collection of hexies that reminds me of a flamenco dancer's dress.

This has been such a fantastic hand stitching project - despite working on it for so long I never felt rushed with it or pressured to finish it. I picked it up when it suited, took it along on many, many road trips and genuinely enjoyed it every step of the way. 

Though I'll miss not having it to turn to when I'm looking for something to do with my hands fear not, there are couple of contenders waiting in the wings! Now to think about a backing....M

A Pleasant Surprise

Part of the reason that it's taken so long for me to start sewing the larger diamond blocks for Minnie together is that I found the prospect a little daunting. I knew that I had to have my wits about me to get it started, but now that I have, I am very pleasantly surprised at how well it is coming along.

The diamonds are being joined in diagonal rows and they are all now assembled except for the last two, each of which needed another large diamond sewn together before the blocks could be joined. 

I tried using existing setting triangles as the starting point for the blocks that I needed to make but found that I had really picked through my hexies and in many cases don't have any more of the fabrics that I was looking for, so I used bits and pieces for one and am sewing the second one from scratch. I'll start sewing the outer border on them today as I send out prayers to the Ukrainians as they suffer through this totally unwarranted and brutal war waged by Russia. They are proving to be strong and resilient and will need all of the support that we can give in the coming weeks and months.

And a quick reminder that if you'd like to get in on the Quilt Design Book giveaway you have until end of day tomorrow, February 28, to leave me a comment....M

Minnie's Time Has Come

To say that my hand stitching time has been sporadic this year is being kind - I've barely lifted a needle, aimlessly looking for something to catch/keep my attention, often sitting in to the machine instead. It's not for a lack of options, because there are a few projects on the go - I just wasn't interested in working on anything quite yet so my evenings were more often than not spent watching shows that The Official Cookie Tester had taped, hands doing not much more than holding my tea. But over the weekend that all changed; Minnie is back in the house!

I laid out all of the large diamonds and setting triangles and started planning. It's going to be lovely.

My guess of how many large diamonds I needed is pretty close - I've got two more to make and then the corner pieces. I'm going to assemble several rows and then fill in the missing spots later.

There's lots of extra parts (setting triangles) because I hadn't really calculated how many I might need, so I just kept stitching. I'm hoping that I can add to one or two to give me the large diamonds that I need and then cut a few back for the required corner bits.

It's quite exciting to finally be at the point of assembling all of the bits and pieces into a flimsy!....M

Spring Stitches

We've been blessed with several days of unseasonably warm temperatures so it's been a joy getting the yard raked up this week. It's always nice to get a jump on cleaning things up early in the season.

After several hours of it yesterday I could easily have headed for a nap, but it was so beautiful outdoors that I picked up Minnie and took her outside instead.

Talk about S-L-O-W stitching! But rather than feeling that I needed to race through things I just stitched at a very pokey speed - so relaxing.

There's a pile of components still to be assembled into setting triangles before the last rounds of hexies are added; I'll continue with them today.

It's a little chiller today so I suspect that I will be stitching from the comfort of a chair indoors, but that's okay too - it's a pretty view....M

Things Are Getting a Little Steamy...

I continue to hand stitch little hexies like mad in the hopes that one day this year Minnie will become a flimsy. Many of the units that I had sewn together earlier lean to the lighter colours so I've tried to work in more medium to dark prints to balance things out. And, my hexie box is like the gift that keeps on giving - I still haven't had to cut more hexies!

Because I am not doing EPP my units end up looking like a bit of an ungodly mess when they are all together. The upside - I don't have to baste the hexies to paper or spend time removing them, I can simply sit in and stitch.

It doesn't take long to go from this...

to this. My secret? A good hot iron and a little steam, working from the back of the piece. I know that using steam is frowned upon but it works like a charm giving me nice crisp edges, and I don't have any issues with distortion. I like to iron them into a pattern where the centre hexies sit flat on the back side. This is what it looks like on the shorter units.

The longer units are a bit easier to press.

Here's a front view of the same unit.

I keep thinking that I'm nearing the end but all of these smaller units still need to be made into larger setting triangles and then bordered with another round of hexies, so I think my cutter and I will become fast friends one of these days....M

Remember Minnie?

My Little Trees are piling up nicely but today it was time to cut more background pieces and I just didn't feel like it (sometimes you just want to sit down and stitch) so I cast my eye to the corner where my long lost friend Minnie sits.

When last I touched her the plan was to lay out all of the large diamonds and setting triangles to see where things stood and maybe get an idea of the colours needed for the remaining setting triangles. 

But there were a few units already together so instead I chose the low hanging fruit and started there, sitting down to watch The Players golf tourney and do a little stitching. I've made a little more progress, but in digging into the hexies that are already cut (and there are lots of them!) I think it's soon going to be time to cut a few more because many of the colours that are cut tend to the darker side. Guess I can't avoid the cutter forever...

To keep my strength up, periodically I would head into the kitchen to enjoy a morsel or two of a Beavertail (fried bread dough treats with different toppings) 😏. Anne had dropped by earlier in the day with two in hand for the Official Cookie Tester and I. Hadn't had one in years! I know that because of the time change it was supposed to be Pi Day, but close enough....M

I Think I'm Getting Close

Periodically I've been picking up a little hand stitching while sitting out on the deck and it's finally starting to pay off. I've just been stuffing finished segments for Minnie into my little black bag but when it overflowed I took it as a sign to press them and see where things stood. I couldn't believe how much came out of that little bag!

There are now several quite long setting triangles for the sides...

and I've just finished up the last round of one of the shorter setting triangles that will run across the top and bottom of the quilt.

Because I believe that I'm close to being able to lay everything out, I've been attempting to incorporate fabrics that I really love or maybe have been under represented in the quilt so far without having to head to the cutting board. 

I've got two more prepped and ready to finish up - this one with the purple polka dot border...

and this one with the blue. With any luck at all they will be finished this week and then I will give myself the luxury of seeing how everything looks together and what might be missing. Fun!...M