Houston International Quilt festival

Another  taste of the Houston International Quilt festival

Houston International Quilt festival

enjoy

have fun sewing

Kim

1,500 Quilts to Houston

check this out  about the Houston quilts

1,500 Quilts to Houston

  wow is all I can say

have fun sewing

Kim

New Addition to our Family

Day 11 of sitting with my foot elevated

I’ve got a little side-tracked over the past few days.
Foot is coming along well but I have only got a few flowers done

This is why I have been side-tracked

She is our new addition to the family

My DS 22 brought home a new puppy

she is a long haired miniature Dachshund

the cutest thing you have ever seen

Born  1 August so she is 13 weeks old

Weighs  1.7 kilos and is 20 cm long

she is so tiny  and so cute & the sweetest nature

He called her Sugar

so I have been having lots of Sugar cuddles

watching him

run after her

trying to teach her

cleaning up after her

“

Playing in the sun on the grass

Playing with Dad

I didn’t do it the cats did”..

so you can see why I have been side-tracked

Have fun sewing

Kim

A Bunch of Flowers

Day 6

of sitting with foot elevated

Today I  received a lovely surprise

A beautiful potted cyclamen flower from my beautiful daughter and son in law

and

also some beautiful flowers from  my In-laws

so inspired I  made my own bunch of flowers today

PC is of course helping with the auditioning of the fabrics for my flowers

so I did a pussy cat one

and

a few others 

Made me a bunch of flowers

sewing themed of course

have fun sewing

Kim

Win a Accuquilt Go Baby

Would you like to win a Accuquilt Go Baby

then check out

Flamingotoes

 a great site

Have fun sewing

Kim

Hexagon Challenges & Decisions

Day 5

Sitting with my foot up

I am feeling very  excited about this project.

As I rummaged through my stash of fabrics I  had forgot about just how many  fat quarters of fabric I had with sewing themes on them. 

Now that I have cut my hexagons and  I even fussy cut a few…. .the go cutter makes this process so easy….

ahhh I do love my Accuquilt GO

I need to decided about a design that will also suit my situation of sitting.

Design Brief…. make something fun to show my love of sewing using my sewing themed fabrics.

Limitations: Must be able to complete sitting  and with  hand stitching, with limited access to my gadgets & supplies in my sewing room. ( I do not want to risk sending DH into my girl cave to many times)

What can you do with a hexagon??????

After  doing some researching on the net…(yes laptop is close at hand), I found several designs.

1. Tiled Hexagon arrangement – where hexagons are just stitched in rows  to create a pattern.
• this design is very achievable with fabrics I have, I can just mix them up & sew, row after row. and would give a scrappy look.
2. A Charm hexagon quilt – where every hexagon is a different fabric  stitched in rows.
• this design I could achieve with the amount of different fabrics I have  however, I will only using one hexagon of fabric and I want to display more of each fabric in the quilt
3. A grandmothers flower garden- where the hexagons are arranged into a flower shape then join together to create a second pattern. The flowers can be 2 rows big or 3 rows  or 4 rows  depending on final design.
• this design shape is still my favourite but I think I will add a Kimzeee twist to it.

And the Winner is......

A  flower design  with  Kimzeee twist, it is to be.

Fabrics have been sorted into  light & dark backgrounds

Most of my hexagons I have cut at least 6 hexagons of each fabric and i can cut more  if needed.

so let the party & fun  begin

I need to mark my hexagons seam allowance….

Oh dear

I need some  more gadgets from my sewing room….

 Lucky son is home today I can send him to fetch…

 this could be fun

 as I  describe what he is looking for & where I left it last.

1. 2 Marking pen – Pilot Frixion Pen, disappears with heat, a purple & a pink ( lucky they are my favourite colours)
2. 1/4” clear plastic ruler – this is so handy
3. sandpaper board-  this has fine sandpaper glued to a board that is perfect for marking as it grips the fabric

ok he found them … 

with a few yelling matches back & forward …

” try here or try here” ….

from me in the front of the house & him at the back of the house.

All gadgets found

Marking all the 1/4" seam allowances in before I stitch

with my Frixion pen.

  now comes the fun bits 

arranging fabrics to create a flower shape

I am creating the  flowers by using  a light coloured center & dark petals or a dark center and light petals.

I lay them out on my board to decide arrangement

PC is keeping me company

join together the hexagons,

using a  small running stitch, 

from intersection of each corner to corner,

joining each piece to center piece until you have a completed flower

Flower 1

Flower 2

Flower 3

Ok that's enough  fun for today

Have fun sewing

Kim

Hexagon Sewing Theme Quilt Project

4 days ago I had a foot operation,  3 days on pain pills & sitting  with foot elevated has lead  me to a new project, so I don't go completely nutty over the next 2 weeks, with  sitting & healing,  I needed a new project !!!!!!!

Now what can I do ?

I  have nothing prepared for hand stitching, every project I have is machine stitching.
I have my Accuquilt Go cutter… now can I use this sitting in a chair with my foot elevated….????
I think I can if I just get DH to bring out my portable sewing table I got when I was 12.
This is very Dangerous sending DH into my girl cave, he might see all the stuff I really have…

Now what Accuquilt cutting die do I want…..???

&

What fabric do I want to use?????

I have been collecting fabric with a sewing theme for the past 6 years & I would love to do something with them.

Oh NOOOOOOOOOO

I have to send DH into my stash cupboard to get my container of sewing theme fabrics…

 

Do I dare send him to my stash cupboard…..
There is no other way  to get it…. 
He returns with my very full container of fabrics…. with a smile…..pheeeeeeeeew


ok  Go cutter organised, fabric selected…
Now what pattern can I do or want to do….

When I first started quilting and patchwork in my 20’s I made hundreds of 2” hexagons, cutting each shape individually, cutting all the paper templates & then stitching them into flower shapes   but  somewhere along the line when we moved houses they were thrown out as rubbish..grrrrrrrr and I haven't made one since.

But I did buy the hexagon die when I purchased my Accuquilt go cutter.
Looking at my stash of themed sewing fabrics  I think the  largest hexagon in the Accuquilt dies  would be perfect  for my project as it would show off the different fabrics designs.

I have used a black sharpie to outline die

Ok now can I cut these out sitting with my foot elevated..???

First I need to make strips wide enough to go over the 5”hexagon shape

Now normally I would cut  the strips using a rotary cutter & mat but that isn't possible in this position so I roughly measure  the fabric across shape and did the old fashion rip along the grain line.

While this is using  more fabric  this is all about achieving the end results and I have stacks of fabric

now this strip, allows me to fold it over 3 times, but I can cut up to 6 layers at once

I then placed my well used protective mat over fabric & position the die to go threw the cutter.

Winding the handle until it is all threw the Go cutter..easy sitting in the chair

Removing the cutting matt of fabric  you can see the hexagon shape cut out.

Removing the outside excess fabric and stash in plastic bag for other projects…

and

I have 3 perfect hexagons, cut in 10 seconds that  it took me to roll it threw the machine

and best of all, my  foot is elevated  & healing. 

Now too roll, cut, roll, cut, the day away

I have sorted the hexagons  into  lights (creams, beiges and white) backgrounds

  and dark backgrounds.

that's enough for one day

am feeling a little tired

but excited about this project.

stay tuned to see what I create with these hexagons over the next two weeks

have fun sewing

Kim

a little foot surgery..now what to do....

Well what a week its been!!!!!!
I am currently recovering from foot surgery.
Which means for the next 2 weeks I have to hop on one leg to get anywhere and keep my foot elevated as much as possible so  my surgery heals.

I have had a heal spur removed & a planta fascia release done after a year of pain & trying everything  not to have surgery, but alas they didnt work so under the knife I went.
Hopefully ill be walking pain free in 2 weeks, or so.

So what to do over the next 2 weeks that lets me sit with my foot elevated.

I cant use sewing machine...

so will have to find some hand sewing to do.

have fun sewing

Kim

Looks whats happening at our place

The king parrots and lorikeets having a feed

and look who's watching

they sat here still for over an hour  

just watching

enjoying the weekend

have fun sewing

Kim