Hexies coming together

I just set my hexies on my bed and aren't they looking pretty.  I've decided that this quilt is going to hang on the wall behind this bed so I can enjoy it everyday.  I had no idea how time consuming these little things were going to be when I started this project so I don't want it to end up folded up in a pile and besides if it is for the wall it won't have to be so big!  I'm definitely planning an appliqued medallion center surrounded by these hexagons and perhaps something extra in the borders. 

Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post.  I didn't know about "refreshing" a page so that info helped and I think I have solved a few other problems on my own.  This blogging can be frustrating but I am learning lots, both about computers and quilting!

Off to make more hexies!

A blog win and a plea for "Follower" help

What a great way to brighten up a dreary day.  Yesterday these fun things arrived in the mail thanks to a generous giveaway from Kelly at Pinkadots Quilts.  I have a link to her blog on my sidebar so you can go check out the fun things she is working on.  I love her fun use of bright fabrics.  Thanks Kelly, I can't wait to figure out what to do with the Christmas charm packs and the little pumpkin will now go up on the wall in my kitchen!
 On a totally different note, I have been having trouble with my "Followers"  on my sidebar.  Sometimes they are there sometimes not.  Yesterday I spent some time searching Google and blogger for a solution and thought that I had it all figured out but then today I went in and they were gone again.  I am usually able to retrieve them by clearing history and I think perhaps yesterday's fix (which I can't explain cause I didn't really understand) did solve some of the problems but I would love to hear from anyone who reads my blog.  Mainly can you see my followers in my sidebar or is this disappearance now just happening on my computer?  For a while you could only see followers if you came direct, not from someone else's blog but that hopefully is OK now. I know that this is a problem that others are experiencing as I sometimes can't see the followers and the button doesn't work on other blogs.  Thanks to everyone who responds, I will be so grateful as this is really driving me nuts!  Thank goodness for my hexie distraction and a big thank you again to Kelly for the delightful giveaway.

The frenzy continues

I've been a bit slack on my posting lately because I have been in a bit of a hexie frenzy.  My papers arrived last week and I have been working steadily on this pile of hexagons.  I did try printing out some of the hexagons on card stock and cutting them out but frankly that was rather time consuming and no fun at all, so I was thrilled when the papers I ordered arrived.  The company was very quick to reship them to the correct address and their prompt and considerate customer service means that I will be happy to order from them in the future.  So nice when a company does everything they can to fix a mistake rather than argue about it!
 My biggest problem with these little beauties is that they are so addictive I haven't done any other sewing in the past week, but they will be super travel companions when I go out of town later this week.  I'm still not positive how I am going to use them but I think that a medallion with some applique may be involved.  Such fun!!!

Birds of a Feather

Since I don't have much to show for the last few days work I thought I would instead show you what is currently hanging over my fireplace.  This is from the book "Birds of a Feather" by Blackbird designs.  When I took down my quilt to hang in our guild's recent show I looked for something else to take its place.  Since this looks sorta autumnish to me and more important, fit the area, it will hang here til the Christmas decorations go up.  I love having this space to highlight some of my quilts,  it is amazing how just changing the quilt and a few accessories really changes the room.  Don't know why the color is so off in the photo, it is much brighter in person and the wall behind it is yellow not beige.
Sadly I have run out of my precut hexagon papers and the company that I ordered them from shipped them to my billing address rather than my shipping address.  They have promised to reship the order to the correct address but I am starting to have hexie withdrawal.  Hope they get here soon and in the meantime I have a quilt to bind and applique to keep me busy.

My new addiction

For years I have heard mutterings among quilters about the thrill of hexagons but I have never been too tempted.  Frankly, the typical Grandmother's Flower Garden never spoke to me and English Paper Piecing just seemed like it would be too much work.  But then I started seeing all the wonderful things being done with hexagons in some of the Australian blogs that I read and I became intrigued.  I have loved Australian quilts for years and have many magazines but blogland really opened up a whole new world of inspiration.  I had some of the paper hexagons sitting around ,you know those things you buy thinking someday maybe I'll try this.  And after checking out several different tutorials I made my first one with some scraps that were already cut in the right size.  Wow, what fun!!  A new addiction is born.  As you can see I found a perfect little basket sitting around the house and have already filled it with cut fabric and I ordered more of those little papers. My DH says that I am so obsessed with the "papers" that it sounds like I'm addicted to something else, but no its just these little hexagon beauties.

So thanks to all you bloggers using hexagons in beautiful ways, especially those in Australia, you have a fan and convert.

I'm all over the place

 If you have read my blog in the past you will know that I have lots of projects on the go at once.  This really works for me as I always have something different to work on and I rarely get bored.  Almost everything gets done eventually and I am thrilled that the center of my Captain Russell inspired quilt is now done.  Just ready for a trimming and then I will sew it together.  I'm not doing the borders, partly due to a lack of interest and mostly because of size, so this one is almost a completed top.

And here is my Christmas top finished.  The photo is crap, cause I am a lousy photographer and cause it was just to big for DH to hold, but hopefully you get the idea.

Sadly I didn't have enough of the backing fabric that I had planned to use so while thinking about that I practiced some piecing with the leftover scraps.  One of my next projects calls for lots of  little 4 1/2 in star blocks so I used the time to test my pattern.  I decided not to use the method called for and wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into.  Perhaps they will go into the back or maybe a new little project.

And here is what I did today.  Sorry, again another crappy photo but not everything is glued or pinned in place so I could only lay it flat.  This is from the book "Pennies from Heaven" and I added some silk applique to the wool.  I belong to a small group "Wooly Women" which was formed after a Sue Spargo workshop, where we work on embellishing our wool projects. Since I finished the project from the workshop, I needed to get something to work on for our next meeting.  I hope to embellish this with lots of embroidery and beading so it should be a fun project.  So what will I work on tomorrow?

A little more piecing

This week I have had a bit of pain in my hip which meant staying close to home and continuing on my Christmas piecing project.  Due a variety of family circumstances I haven't really been able to decorate or get in the festive spirit the past few years.  Hopefully this year the stars will align and I will actually be able to put up a tree and decorate the whole house.  We are in a new home and I am really liking how this looks in our living room.  It has been a long time since I've done such a variety of pieced blocks and it has been lots of fun trying to improve my piecing skills. Most of this quilt is on a 2 in. grid so nothing was too difficult to match though I am by no means perfect.  I'm hoping to start a more difficult pattern soon and think that this helped get me in the groove.  Now a few more joining seams and on to the dreaded borders.  Have I mentioned before that I HATE doing borders.  Here is about where I usually stop, at the almost complete stage - I know what it will look like and for me, the fun part of piecing is over.  But I love the fabric that I am using on the final border so hopefully that will encourage me to continue and I'll be able to show a finished top soon!