Friday, September 30, 2011

Trouble with Tribbles

Remember the tribbles in Star Trek?  They were these irresistible cute, furry critters that purred like kittens.  They multiplied like bunnies and ate the grain that the Starship Enterprise was storing for a trade deal.  Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock... I digress.  My point is that hexies are like tribbles.  They are not furry and don't purr but they are cute, they multiple like bunnies, and you just can't get enough of them!  Here is the progress on my tribble project.  Decided to applique them onto ash cotton (thanks for the advice Kathy) and although it is tedious, it's coming along.  There are three more panels to complete, borders, quilting, etc.






Had to stop working on it for a while to complete my project for the LAMQG anniversary scrap swap.  Made it with tribbles (of course!) and will post it after the meeting.  It's pretty cute and I hope she likes it!  I'm back onto this project and pulled a stack of fabrics last night so that I can get busy and complete this project.  I think some of these will work.





I've exceeded my fabric budget for the year and this will help me clear some of my stash out to make room for some of the new and exciting lines coming out this Fall and next Spring.  Have seen some amazing prints and can't wait to get my hands on some of them.  So... back to my tribbles.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Hexies




My favorite blog these days is Material Obsession.  It is creative, insightful and filled with wonderment and joy.  The quilts created by Kathy and the ladies are remarkable - so colorful and beautiful.  Lately they have been working with hexies.  I have seen them in old quilts, and some of the ladies in my guild work on them - but never anything as wild and colorful as theirs.

Inspired, I decided to experiment so I made my own templates from plastic and printer paper.  I've made hundreds of hexies from old fat quarters and scraps - some I even fussy cut.  Then I stitch them together instinctively, without any plan on what to do with them.  Here are a few.  I have 3 sizes going - I'm lovin' the big ole Amy Butler one in the middle! 

Still have no idea what to do with them.  See those grey ones on the bottom?  Thought a light grey background would balance the color, so I came up with the bright idea to make grey connectors.  Maybe use different shades of grey in the connectors.  Bad idea... so these 2 guys will probably get wrapped in color.  I'll sort it out.

Lately I've been working on a quilt for a challenge which is mostly solid greys and browns.  I'm a girl who loves color, so I make hexies in between to satisfy my color cravings.  I'm addicted to these things and sometimes I'm up 'til 2 in the morning wrapping and hand stitching.  I get this deja vu and for whatever reason it relaxes me.

I'm binding my challenge quilt today, so this weekend I get to play with hexies - yipee!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011


I love this mini quilt which is now hanging in my studio.  It was my first attempt at making a Lone Star.  It was supposed to be the center medallion of a larger quilt, but the diamonds started to pucker badly.  After ripping stitches out over and over again, I gave up.  I started to toss it and start over (I don't throw anything out, so I was pretty frustrated) but didn't - I spent way too many hours cutting and sewing this puppy!

I machine quilted it, outlining the diamonds and echo stitching the outside of the star.  The more I quilted, the more attached I became to this little guy.  The quilting flattened out some of the puckering and covered up a lot of the holes made from ripping out so many seams. 

The prints are all Westminster and the grey is Kona Ash.  I learned that with diamonds, you must cut accurately and mark all points before sewing - no eyeballing...  Lone Stars are one of my favorite blocks and I will tackle another one... some day.

Friday, September 9, 2011


I'm a member of the LAMQG and we are participating in the Jay McCarroll Habitat challenge.  I spread the fabrics on top of a current project (with lots of hand quilting to be done) and spent the day staring at them.  What kind of quilted project can I make out of these prints???  We can only add solids and/or more prints from the line.  My favorite is the one on top - pixels...  hmmm.  I'm getting a bold, edgy, hip, urban vibe from the line.  OK - that's enough thinking about it.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

This is my first post and oddly, I'm a little nervous...

This quilt of Frida Kahlo is called "Adelante de su tiempo".  That translates to "ahead of her time".  My sister suggested  I name it in spanish, so I did.  My sis has a lot of good ideas, and I try to follow them as much as I possible. 


The quilt is made from a dress that I purchased in Cancun quite a few years ago.  It was a really cool sundress but it got buried after the trip and I when I found it years later, there was a little hole on her face.  I couldn't throw it out, so I cut her face out and appliqued it to a piece of Kona cotton.  Then I cut the petals from some Kaffe jellyroll strips (which I always keep on hand!) and appliqued a flower over the hole.  Added two more flowers and cut strips into 21/2 squares and pieced them around the edges.  I hand quilted it with perle cotton and it looks great!