Handwork

I have some bee blocks that were caught up on today.  But most of September was filled with small bits of time in which I could do some handwork.



I'm finally joining all those hexagons I made over the summer last year.



It's like visiting fun old friends.



Some of which are super tricky - not sure I would recommend making hexagons with double gauze.



I was at least wise enough to keep all of them off the edges. I think that would have made things too difficult when I sash up the blocks.



Gee - it totally seemed like I had more than four done!

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Bee Fun

We're starting to get a routine going - hurray! It even includes exercising for myself. I'm starting to jiggle where I shouldn't. Next week Becket starts his school, so it will only get better.

For now, I wanted to make sure I finished up August's bee blocks.

Terri has us in the mood for fall with her string blocks.

And Erica had perfect timing when she asked for quilt as you go blocks. Her fabrics were so wonderful and I had been wanting to try out Penny's QAYG blocks for some time. It went quite well, but after only one block I had huge dust bunnies inside my machine.

Heather is hosting a second round quilt along for these blocks and as always, put a fun and funky twist on the whole thing. She mentioned backing each with muslin for some free motion fun. I think I'll try that if I go free motion or not, just to help keep down the crazy dust bunnies. I hate it when my machine goes cruuunch-gronck-schkkkkah.

And look at my pretty - PURPLE - flower. I can't believe I made a purple one, but it had to be done and I actually like it. That's one of the best things about quilting with friends. They make you step outside you favorite colors or blocks and try something fun!


Here's a little note for any of you out there that are pediatricians. Saying "This isn't anything to worry about, Mom. We'll just have the specialist check it out as a precaution." DOES NOT HELP. Moms will still spend all the days until said visit worrying, and perhaps an entire day before with a horrible head ache and on the verge of vomiting.

Thankfully it really was nothing, and the specialist said 'totally normal' after about two seconds.

Have your kit at the Ready!

Well, it has been an interesting week. Seems more like early spring around here with the strange weather. Luckily the travel hexagon kit has been loaded and at the ready for every time we have to dash down to the basement!

A micro burst or something came through - literally pushed over a large willow and spruce in the neighbor yards.

One of our 4x4 fence posts was sheared off at the cement base by the WIND. It's barely holding on at the bottom there!

And this one burst ended at our sunroom. My window is now...art? Poor Becket was freaked out and screaming "I don't want to die!" Amazingly in all that, none of out homes were majorly damaged and no people were injured at all.

Finally, today looks like a stable weather pattern. And I got 45 more hexagons done in the basement. So all is good!

Airplane Hexagon Production

So, the important info. How many did I make?
(and I'm remodeling the blog, so ignore the crazy if you clock over from reader)

I made just over 90 - with about 75% of those on the flight there. I got lots of interest from others on the way to the bathroom and the flight attendants. They loved the cuteness.

I didn't have any trouble at all carrying these on - both long flights and the inter island flight mid week.

I used a latch-lid container. Nice and slim but room for all my stuff.

Here is my little set-up. I took on a TON of needles and pins both. No scissors, but they are allowed under a certain size.

This was my best idea. I hot glued several craft magnets to one edge. They held perfectly. When working, it was much easier to place my pin or in-work needle on the magnets than inserting into the travel case. Also I wasn't worried about them flying around with all the bumps from air and people.

I used this needle threader with the little cutter on it. One less thing being able to leave scissors at home. And after threading large tapestry needles with yarn and embroidery floss for so long, I seriously can not thread a sharp needle. It is so annoying!

This little Clover thing worked very well with, no surprise, the gold-eye sharp Clover needles. A few other types I tried didn't work at all. Even one that was labeled as "large eye". I would thread up about 7 needles at once and line them up in my case. That way I wouldn't have to stop so often.

This fun little pile is a sample of some goodies I found in my post-vacation mail!

Kauai Sunrise

{As Mark photoshops our vacation, I'll probably be posting some Hawaii faves for a while.}

Hanalei Valley Rainbow (double!)

Hexagons! A beginning

I make Hexagons and you should, too! It's a little project that travels very nicely.

If you use freezer paper pieces, the hotel iron comes in handy!

See how great this is? When your child is getting ready for his game, in the cold rain, you can park the van nearby to watch....

And have all you need to work on these little guys right in your lap!

I liked freezer paper since you didn't need pins to hold your scrap in place and it has some body. Regular paper was my least favorite. Too easy to warp your shape I think.

But my favorite was the card stock - I felt like my hexagons were the most neat with the firmer edge. But see how lame my cutting skills are up there!? Even with a nice template download, and using my rotary tool and ruler, I had the worst time with slipping! {This is standard with my cutting in general. I have tried all kinds of things to help. Maybe I should join in on Becket's preschool class to get some tips!}

Anyway, since I like the card stock best, cut terribly, and need UNIFORM hexagons - these pre cuts from Paper Pieces are what I'll use from now on.

I mentioned how freezer paper holds fabric in place nicely - well I tried just holding the fabric in place with the card stock. It was frustrating every time it slipped! Not enough fabric on an edge, or a rumple in the top....I had to pin. But I didn't want to pin through the card stock and bend the shape. A little hole punch is perfect here.

Ignore the random thread! I'm too lazy to go take another one.

This is how I like to baste down my edges. It's a small stitch through just the fabric at the corner, then take one more back stitch in the same spot before moving onto the next corner. I knot at the start, but not at the end.

Here at Sunshine's Creations is a great tutorial that I followed for this part. Huge plus for this method seems to be the ability to just leave those threads in when you're done, instead of pulling them.

I did a few with some Heather Ross poplin cuteness. I found that the poplin tended to kind of bow out and wouldn't stay flat with my finger pressing and just tacking the corners. So I did a few like Camille, actually sewing the corners and mid way on the edges through the paper.

Besides needing to pull all those threads at the end, I didn't enjoy the process as well. I don't know why.

That's as far as I've gotten. Once I decide how I would like to stitch these guys together, I'm interested in finding out if any of the different paper types result in nicer looking joined hexagons. I'll keep you updated as I learn more on my new mini hobby!

Mother's Day

It was another all Lacrosse, all the time weekend. But the boys love it. What's better than chasing each other around with big sticks?!

During Kenton's games on Sunday, Caleb walked Becket over to a side grassy area (I was busy with my mother's day crafting in the stands)

They had lots of fun!

Between the two games, Kenton's team presented all their moms and grandmas there with a yellow rose.

I worked on some more Hexes during the games. My new, super cute mother's day gnome is guarding them.

And I'll give some more details and info tomorrow, but I wanted to point you over to paperpieces.com today. They sell all sizes of pre cut hexagons as well as other shapes you may be interested in. I noticed that they have free shipping through the 15th and didn't want you to miss it - I'm liking them, and have ordered 4 sizes now. Yep, addicted.

Random Extremes and Obsessions

I've gathered information and lots of supplies! I think I'm ready to make some hexagons. This weekend I'm going to South Bend for Kenton's lacrosse tournament. Two nights at the hotel and lots of sitting during games - I should be able to get started.


I have a whole pile of 2.5" squares left over from last summer's nine-patch along with Amanda Jean. Since I have all those squares already cut I thought 1" hexes would be the perfect thing to try out first.

I printed out templates on three different materials - printer paper, card stock, and freezer paper. Links here and here. I found so many different views on what works best, thought I should just try them all.


But I also just ordered a bunch of 3/4" to make that lovely pillow - I'll give those a try and save all that tiny fiddling. Besides, they were on sale at Cotton & Chocolate, with less than a dollar for shipping!


A trip to Target yielded my first Liberty of London purchase. Couldn't pass up the XLs marked clearance. Thought they would make some cute hexagons.


I'm a total slacker and haven't made any April blocks yet for two of my bees. I set the little packages aside when they arrived and have been mired in daily crazy since then. I promise to get on those!

I feel like all I ever do is taxi the boys to Lacrosse practices and other stuff. For fun I reset my trip odometer last week to see how far I go in seven days.


This is actually 9 days - but holy cow - 258 miles! I haven't even left our suburb! No wonder Becket protests when we have to load up yet again.

Finally, Becket found this in our yard - a little Robin nest. He had to take some pictures.


No, he didn't have to climb the tree. He's standing on the ground! Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good spot, as we noticed today that all the eggs are gone. They must have been eaten by another bird.

I drank the Kool-aid

So I'm going to be on an airplane for an insane 4.5hrs/change planes/6hours. Sure those hours will fly me from my flat midwest home to paradise at the end, but that doesn't mean I have to like them.

I will have and iPod with audio books for Kenton. Caleb and Becket will both like watching movies on the netbook. I also plan on making Becket a little carry-along craft packet. I'm probably delusional that I'll get to do something other than exhaustive preschooler entertainment for ten hours, but then that's what the kool aid does to you.

I downloaded the most awesome Fat Quarterly today....

And now I'm planning on stocking up to make a ton of these...
{pillow pattern in Fat Quarterly by Tacha}

Paper Pieced Hexagons.... Which I know are insanely addictive, I have seen the warnings all over the place.

Tell me, what do I need to know? Best size? paper template material?