it's a monday, what a monday

With Monday comes "monday" things. Like doing your payroll and a meeting and schedules and things that generally go under the category of "un-fun". I am particularly tired after my Thanksgiving vacation (and literally going straight to work right after coming home. Do not pass go, do not take a shower, do not take a nap).

But the week holds promise! Crafty promise, stitchy promise.

As far as hexagons go, I counted that I currently have 1,312 hexagons basted. Of those, around 300 are attached, and I think I still have around 180 hexie scraps waiting to be basted! I think that officially makes me the dorkiest person in the world? And I'm definitely adding to it, yessiree.

At the moment, I'm waiting on some fabric love: one of the last pieces of the Far Far Away I line (the dandelions in mint), a FQ of Erin Michaels' lush (painter's palette in villa) and some kei megumi sakakibara (I don't remember the name for this one, but there are horsies involved.) I'm also waiting on some selvedge. I saw a selvedge scarf by Josie of Ric Rac, and I wanted one of my own immediately! I used to have quite a bit of selvedge - I took it off of nearly every piece in my stash - but I used it on a purse, and some of it was tossed. Mine might be a little scrappier, but I think it'll do. :)

In Christmas news, I'm nearly done with my shopping. I've got presents for boyfriend, my dad and mom, my nieces, my sister-in-law, my older brother, a buddy, and the Secret Santa gifts for work. Now I just need a few more presents for the nieces, my boyfriend, and other three brothers and I'm good!

I'm off to finish my Monday things; have a great day!

Home, Home from the Holidays

I'm glad to be back home. Back to my messy apartment, back to the fabric which arrived the day I left (d'oh!), back to work which I kind of maybe missed (a little). Although I'm going to miss mashed potatoes with celery, all kinds of sweets and the totally cool weather.

Having spent two days away from my machine, my intranets and my t.v., I attempted to baste some more of the (ridiculous amount) of hexagons I've got working.

I think I got about twenty done. In the entire two days I spent away. And I attempted to do none in the car, which I am kicking myself for (because now I'm at work and all I want to DO is baste me some hexagons!) Especially since I finally got my cute, cosmo trefle charm pack (of sorts) and can't wait to see what those adorable fabrics look like basted! My Santorini charm pack came in too - and I couldn't help but order some more goodies as well ... some beautiful prints I've been waiting to order for a long, long time. :)

Anywho, that's me checking in from the holidays. Now if I can just get done with this shift (and home to rest, I am SO RIDICULOUSLY TIRED), I think I'll be alright.

Great Weekend!

My best friend came down from college with her fiance, and we went to watch Harry Potter 7.1. It, was, as my little brother would say, "beast" (meaning good, I think, or epic) and I intend to see it again and then buy all the movies and watch them all in the same day. Maybe.

I showed her how to bind a quilt - while she worked on it, I made the binding for her and wrapped it up. She's really new to quilting, and prefers to work by hand. The colors she chose for her mini-quilt/table runner were a deep violet, turquoise, orange, and green. I wouldn't have picked them - in my brain, that combo screams NO NO NO NO - but it was actually really beautiful when she was done! I'm jealous - I'M supposed to be the artsy one in this duo :).

We took a day to go to the Texas Renaissance festival, too. 'Twas wonderful! I really enjoyed all of the sights, all of the little shops, everything. It made me want to be in costume, and I think I'd actually learn how to MAKE one so that the next year I go, I'm dressed and ready to impress!

Got in some new fabric for my hexagon quilt - Momo's Odyssea and Chez Moi's Hunky dory - all cut and ready to be basted. I've got 191 more hexies to baste, and that's not including the two charm packs I ordered Friday - Lila Tueller's Santorini (I work at a Greek restaraunt, how could I not? Also, those little olive prints: adorable!) and Keiki's "Tweet Tweet". I've kind of wanted that one for a while, I like the bold blues and browns and reds. I also managed to snag myself some little Cosmo Trefle prints in a mini charm pack - there's some Red Riding Hood, Pinnochio, Frog Prince, Emperor's New Clothes, Cinderella, and more, I think twelve prints in all. VERY EXCITED about those - I've wanted them for awhile, but had no reason to order an entire fat quarter of each.

Well, I'm off to work and such. And wait and wait for packages to arrive....

Fridays = MEH.

I don't particularly like Fridays. They're busier than Mondays for me and they are a day away from my real "off day", so it takes FOREVER to pass by. And today is going to be busy enough.

Get up early to take my brother his french class dessert? That's the plan, Stan! Do I have deliveries coming in? Yes! Change the specials for the weekend? Why, sure! Take a delivery to a customer? No problem! Scheduling? Yes! Take the boss' ornery and defiant puppy on lots of walkies, knowing he's going to guilt me into playing more? Okay! Clean everything? Al-RIGHT! Yeaaaahhh, baby!

But I am off tomorrow. And the next day. And we are seeing Harry Potter and going to Renfest (my first time!) so everything will, hopefully, be hunky-dory.

Speaking of Hunky Dory, I ordered a charm pack of that and one of Momo's Odyssea (which I have always admired) to add to my hexagon quilt. It's coming along nicely - I sewed together about eleven more rows, and I set up about six or seven more rows to piece together when I get done with these.

Also put together a tenative design for my Heather Ross - Far Far Away quilt. I know I wanted to do 8 point stars, and I've decided that I want them wonky. The wonkier, the better. I'm going to have the main design be the center of each star, and every point on the star is going to be a color basic - dots, stripes, all monochromatic. I cut the selvedge from the prints that had it (with the exception of the double gauze fabrics, because I don't want them to fray before I'm ready to sew...) and I plan on putting it either on the binding or as a block on the quilt back, I'm not sure... we'll see.

Another problem I thought of was the "Pussycat and the Owl" prints. I decided to have only the pussycat and the owl be the center of the star, and to cut out my little moons and have them be part of their own little stars to compliment the larger ones. I just have to figure out the measurements now, and I think I'm set!

Hexagons upon Hexagons upon Hexagons

I started a hexagon quilt a few months ago. I'd seen them on the internet in my wanderings and wondered, "What's the big deal?"

Then I tried making a few. And I figured out what the deal was: they're awesome, easy-to-make, and have provided my fidgety hands with something to do whilst watching a movie or waiting for a friend during an appointment.

I'm currently working on the charm quilt I saw on Texas Freckles blog. So far, I think I've got over 1200 hexagons (the quilt I was working on required 1,173 one inch hexagons) and 252 of those are sewn together. At the moment, I've taken a break from basting them together (which I don't enjoy nearly as much as attaching them) and am working on getting some more pieced. My goal is to get another large piece of fifteen or twenty rows sewn together before I begin basting again.

I like this quilt because it's allowed me to take a piece of every fabric I have - some that I've had in my stash for years, and haven't looked at in a long time - and utilize it in a way that I can appreciate. When I was a kid, I remember there being a quilt on my bed my grandmother had pieced. It was comprised of rows upon rows of tiny squares, of alternating colors, and I would spend the time I spent before falling asleep admiring all the pieces of it. I wanted to make a quilt like that, so someone would look at it as a whole and then spend time admiring all the pieces - and it's been pretty successful so far. Anytime I've brought it to work to show my employees my progress, they all pick out their favorite fabrics! Or they look for little patterns, like three birds in a row, or polka dots. It definitely gives you a good feeling to see.

As of yesterday, my quilt was comprised of fabrics I had from my stash, some Heather Ross (Far Far Away I and II, Mendocino, some West Hill Matryoshkas), Repro fabrics, some Japanese imports, City Weekend, Oz, Botany, It's a Hoot, Happy Daisy, Spirit, Fandango, Punctuation, Spring Roses, Eden, Origins, Dream On, Boutique, Verna, and some random pieces of recent lines (Tufted Tweets, Katie Jump Rope, and Innocent Crush, among others).

I'm still divided about whether or not to quilt this by hand or by machine. If I do it by hand, I'll most likely get my mother to do it - she's an experience hand quilter with perfect stitching, where I tend to stick to my machine. If I end up doing it myself, I'll quilt it by machine.

I can't wait to get off work so I can get to stitching!!

FINALLY!!

I did it. I went crazy. I spent way too much.

But I finally got my greedy, grubby hands on some fabric love I've been wanting for a while: Heather Ross' FAR FAR AWAY.

So far, I've bought at least a fat quarter of every piece of her current line, FFA2, and at least a far quarter of all of the unicorns, the princesses, and the frogs from her last line. I even managed to snag a piece of the orange wildflowers (and intend to capture the purple and mint). I'm debating on buying the snails still - I don't think I need them, although they are cute. If I did buy them, I think it would be only to satisfy my need to collect every piece of the line, when I think I only really -want- the more dynamic pieces included in my quilt.

I love the linen fabrics - they're going to be fun to sew with, as they're my first "linen/cotton blend" fabrics I've purchased. And the double gauze - I had never imagined it would be so soft! I'm reading up on how to properly quilt them, and I think I may save the sewing of this stash for a day when I have a better machine.

My plan for these babies? I'm going to make a huge, queen size quilt for my bed! I know what you're thinking: "Katie, you're 23. You are a big kid. You do not need to make yourself a fairy tale quilt." Oh, but I do. It's not just for me! It's for prosperity; I've never made a quilt I didn't intend to one day pass on. I've made baby quilts for others, for a specific child, but nothing made for my home is meant for just one person. I still have quilts my grandmothers made for us, some never finished, but treasured all the same. If I ever have a daughter, she would hopefully inherit my love for all things fantastic.

The plan is to attach each piece of the main print (I'm still debating what size to cut them) to some Kona solids that match the main color of it (i.e. plum, aqua, etc) and turn those babies into 8 point stars. It'll be a hell of a lot of piecing, but I think it'll make for one fantastic quilt. The only things that I didn't take into major consideration are the moons from the pussycat and owl prints - they're going to make those prints too big, so I think they're going to be pieced where the sashing (white) will be meeting between four blocks, as a stopper. I can't see not using them; they're way too cute for that!

I can't wait to get started on this project!!!