Fortuneteller

After four years, yes, four years (!) of having Candied Hexagons in the hoop, I'm going out on a limb to say that it will be coming out of the hoop this week. Woohoo!

Quilting the last of the large hexies went quicker than I had imagined as there were a few less that I thought I had to do.

So then it was on to the setting triangles. With only five along each side and another straight line quilting design, I finished up the last of them last night. The pink is an Art Gallery fabric and was a dream to quilt.

Thinking that everything was wrapped up I laid it out on the floor only to discover that I had missed on hexie, so that will get quilted tonight. I'm no fortuneteller, but this one is soon to be bound. It's almost hard to believe!

While I'm in a giddy mood I thought that I'd get in on all of the Senator Bernie Sanders memes from last week's presidential inauguration in Washington that are circulating. You will recall that the photo of him dressed for the weather with his practical jacket and mittens has gone viral with folks placing him in lots and lots of interesting situations.

Needless to say, the quilting ones caught my attention...

so I just had to share a couple. He also made it to the covered bridge in my home town 😄. The guy gets around! He's taking it all in stride and is behind a plan to sell sweatshirts with the image, all profits going to charities like Meals on Wheels. Good on him.....M

Solving the Puzzle

Believe it or not, I think that I now have all of the pieced hexies in Candied Hexagons quilted! I suspect that there might be one that has yet to be quilted lurking in there somewhere but I was keen to finally turn my attention to how the large, unpieced hexies were to be quilted and was looking for a change of scenery. The only rule: a straight line pattern so that I could continue to use my painter's tape to mark it - no marker, chalk or template, please.

In the end, it was quite simple - crisscross the hexie three times from corner to corner and then stitch a zigzag pattern around the edge to create a bit of a star. It's proving to be a nice mix with the various patterns already stitched into the pieced hexies and nicely feeds into my idea of a bowl of hard candies of all different designs.

To ensure that my zigzag is even all the way around I created a rough guide that I lay out at the centre point of each side of a hexie and place a pin(Ithe little white dot) to mark where I change direction and head for the next corner (I am bound and determined not to mark anything!).

I think that there are eight or nine hexies to be quilted like this and I have already finished three, so it's moving along nicely.

Much as I love this print, I am glad that the quilt does not have more of it - SO difficult to see for quilting! Maybe my eyes are just getting old, but it was much tougher than for the lighter prints.

Anyway, soon the next piece of the puzzle will be figuring out how to quilt the setting triangles; I'm hoping that I can develop a version of this pattern, which has me dreaming of actually binding this beauty some time this year! 😉....M

Cool Stitches

As much as it's been lovely to have the sweltering heat of the summer behind us it seems as though we have missed the lovely days of September and jumped ahead to the cooler days of October already. We've had our share of rainy days, too. And the football season has started again. It all spells the perfect weather to get back to the hoop.

Earlier this year I had such high hopes that with the pandemic lock down I would just fly through to the finish line with the hand quilting on Candied Hexagons but this quilt is proving to be a lifer. I do bits and pieces and then say goodbye to it for a good stretch of time.

Oh well, I'm back at it and have knocked a few more hexies off the list. My trusty painter's tape keeps me on the straight and narrow; I love not having to remove the quilting marks.

I'm really looking forward to quilting this hexagon; I think it's one of my favourites. It's good to be back...M

Sunday Stitches

As often as I can on Sundays I like to join the crew over at Kathy's blog as I savour an hour or two of slow stitching.

Lately, my schedule has been packed with little time left for stitching and I am missing my quilting greatly, so this weekend it has been a return to the needle and thread therapy that helps soothe my ruffled edges and helps put things in perspective.

I'm back to the hoop and quilting on Candied Hexagons. With the completion of each new hexie I am one step closer to the finish line. I think that I've got about 16 left to go - woohoo!

That's 16 of the pieced hexies. Scattered in amongst them are a number of large hexies - not pieced, just dramatic large prints. My next decision will be to figure out how to quilt them as they are all different.

I had toyed with concentric circles or a spiral, but I'm not sure that's a great fit. Randomly following the flowers in each print is an option, too. Maybe I just develop a straight line pattern that works with the others in the quilt?

Hope springs eternal that my progress continues and that I will be needing to be make that decision sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I still have some work ahead of me.

Happy Mother's Day to all that are celebrating today. While I no longer have the blessing of sharing time with mom it will be a good day to fill my thoughts of her as I quilt....M

Talking to Myself

For much of this winter I have spent the better part of my Tuesdays, and often Thursdays, helping the gals at the church with the quilts that are up on the frame. That all changed a few weeks ago when social distancing became the norm.

The isolation hasn't been a problem for me as I have been very busy working via my computer and then sewing Huddle as time allows. Lately I've taken a break from the machine work to go back to my hand quilting because (surprise, surprise!) Candied Hexagons is still in the hoop.

It has been a rewarding break, tho I have to say that I am missing all of the chatter that you get when quilters gather round the frame (the things you learn!). And the conversation isn't nearly as interesting when it is just me and the hoop - quilting bees are the best for getting caught up on all the things you want to know, and even a little bit more 😉.

The Official Cookie Tester swings by every now and then to interject some levity.

I feel that I have picked up speed with my stitching and seem to be moving around the quilt at a decent pace, one hexie after another.

And it is lovely to be able to visit with these fabrics again.

My ever helpful green painter's tape continues to be a mainstay. It wouldn't be totally necessary for the quarter inch lines on the edge diamonds, but since I am a 'stabber' rather than a 'running stitcher' I find that it helps keep me on the straight and narrow and going at a decent pace.

Today is rainy, dark and miserable outdoors but there's an apple pie in the oven and pork tenderloin marinating for dinner so that means a free afternoon to return to hoop. Yay! Think this will be a COVID-19 finish?....M

Slowing Things Down

I'm relishing the fact that I'm off deadline now that the Holly Bazaar is behind me and have picked up my needle in the hoop again.

It does the soul good to just work through that meditative process. A few stitches here and a few stitches there and before you know it, another Candied Hexagon is quilted.

I am resisting the temptation to do a count to see how many more hexies are yet to be stitched....M

Comforts

Its a miserable day today - rainy, breezy, damp and chilly - making it one of those days to sit inside, happily distracted by creature comforts, including needle and thread. There will be lots of time to sit and quilt on Candied Hexagons and watch a little football.

I'm happy to report that I've been able to stick with my quilting since I got back to it and feel that ever so slowly the finish line is appearing on the horizon.

Sometimes I've had the company of the Official Cookie Tester sitting next to me in his chair and other times we've had a little guest who quite likes that seat as well. Both are great company.

This is one of the first blocks that I made for this quilt and I quite like the way the print created a secondary pattern. There was only a small bit of fabric so some piecing was required to make it work - can you see it?

There's something about this purple print that I just love.

Every now and then I get a glimpse of the backing as I stitch and its fun to see the quilting coming through on it too.

This will be a perfect day to enjoy comfort foods as well, including fresh apple crisp. I have to say though that I was mightily distracted at one point when it was coming together because once it was in the oven I discovered that there was an apple still sitting on the counter that should have been included in the mix. Ah well, that just means that there's lots of crumble on this one (my favourite part!)....M

A Return to the Hoop

Candied Hexagons has been in my hoop for - wait for it - going on three years now (yikes!). Work in the hoop tends to be done in the cooler months so that I'm not boiling under it in the heat, but I don't think that I picked the needle up even once this past winter. This week seemed like a good time to change that.

It was such a treat. There really is something wonderful about the rhythmic feel of running needle and thread through layers of fabric and batting. Getting to revisit all of these lovely fabrics was a bonus.

I thought at one point that maybe this one would never be finished, but over the last several days I've quilted three hexie blocks and am well on my way to finishing off a fourth, so there is hope that it will see the top of a bed some day.

I didn't lay it out on the floor but it looks like I have at least half of it finished and with the pace that I kept this week it feels very doable. Things will be busy now with Holly Bazaar prep but I'm determined to keep at it.

Speaking of which, yesterday we started our annual apple pie making at the church (we made 110 of them), the proceeds of which go to the bazaar. In chatting with another quilter about how long I have let this one languish in the hoop I was advised not to fret - she had one in the hoop in her living room for 20 years. I have to say, I felt much better after that!....M

Hot Stuff

It may only be the middle of June but this weekend has been hot, hot, hot! If we don't get a storm later today I'll be very surprised. Ah well, it is the beginning of summer and great to have days like this (especially since Newfoundland received six feet of SNOW this weekend. What the...???).

In a way, I'm counting my blessings but also thinking that if this weather continues my hand quilting days may be over for a while -  it's just too hot to quilt much in this weather, even with air conditioning.

I did spend a little time stitching more stars into my Candied Hexagons though and continue to be amazed at the metamorphosis that occurs on a quilt after the quilting is added. That added dimension and pattern takes a block that you like and turns it into a block that you love.

I've been making slow and steady progress on it lately and hate to lose the momentum. Maybe if I quilted later in the evening, after things have cooled down a bit, I wouldn't have to give up on my hand stitching totally until the fall....M

Call Me A Little Old Fashioned

It's unseasonaly chilly here today which is frustrating because I'm wanting to get out into the gardens. The up side is that it makes for great quilting weather.

Candied Hexagons has been sitting in the study all winter, and, with the exception of one or two brief acquaintances, not seeing much quilting action. So much so that I often wonder if I should start calling my hobby 'piecing' rather than 'quilting' because lately that's where the bulk of my energies go.

Picking up my needle was like greeting an old friend and I spent a couple of wonderfully relaxing hours watching stitches change the texture of this flimsie.

I love the old fashioned look of this quilt with its muted and warm colours. It's not modern or bright but more reminiscent of something that my grandmothers would have made.

As is the Oatmeal Cake that I made earlier this week. Yummy as it was fresh out of the oven, a day or two later it became even moister and denser. I haven't made an Oatmeal Cake in ages and this one didn't disappoint. Comfort food and again, a dessert reminiscent of an earlier time. Guess this week I was channeling days gone by.

There was a break in the quilting action to prepare dinner but seeing my progress from this afternoon has me anxious to get back to my stitches this evening....M