My obsession with the Hexagon

Ever since I started quilting, I’ve had a bit of an obsession with the Hexagon.  At my first modern quilt guild meeting, I took hexagons to piece by machine.  I remember one of the guild members being very curious about my plans for my little hexagons that I had painstakingly cut out.  I think she was just a little disappointed when I shrugged my shoulders and said I was just experimenting with cheap fabric and if it didn’t work out, so be it.  My machine piecing then got as far as joining hexagons into pairs and then they sat for a very long while.  Eventually, I pulled them out and decided that I would hand piece them into flowers while I waited for my daughter at her play practices.

3 of ? hexies needed

I’ve finished maybe five hexagon flowers and tried to make an unsuccessful pincushion out of two and put them aside again.  But this month, Alyssa’s blocks for the skill builder Block of the Month had hexagons which we were going to paper piece.  I tried the paper piecing and ended up going with a machine piecing hexagon tutorial that I found on the blog of Kati Spencer at From the Blue Chair.   All in all, it went fairly well.  It got easier as I went along.  I definitely think that it would be a lot easier if I was piecing hexagons that are bigger that 2.5 inches.  The hardest part was pressing all those seams flat.

The Hexagon Chevron

It’s a little wrinkled in spots but I’m sure that will quilt out.

 

Next up is the paper pieced Diamond Carat.  Here’s the layout (at least I thought it was the layout, I definitely don’t want the sunset pink dots right next to each other, that will need to be moved)-

Don’t you just love those Michael Miller Disco Ball dots?

Wish me luck-this may take a while!

 

Right where I should be

So I still haven’t had time to sew but it’s okay because I’ve been right where I should be.  This past week was Tech week for my Drama Queen’s theater group and the performances were this weekend.  She didn’t have a big part, it was pretty small but as any mother, I think she did wonderful.  Tech week is very exhausting.  I’ve been through 9 of them now but I wouldn’t trade those weeks for a European vacation.  I love seeing her on stage and the giddy happiness that emanates from her after being onstage.  I LOVE every minute of it.  When it’s all said and done, it’s a rather emotional week for both of us.  I think this year has really had an impact because her theater group only goes to 8th grade so next year she will graduate and she will move on to other things which I hope will involve me a little bit at least.

She’s always been a “hat” girl.  Love you sweetheart!

Last scene of the play where Dr. Evil sends her off with shark food in place of their lost kittens.

These kids do an amazing job–seriously, they do a better job than a lot of adult theater groups.  Their director, Christine Schaefer, is a godsend; she loves what she does and these kids just shine because of what she is able to pull out of them.  I’m always in awe of how incredible it is in the end (and mind you, I’ve sat through many a rough rehearsal).

My Drama Queen has been truly blessed to live near this non-profit children’s theater group, KidsPlay.  She’s often told me how much this group of kids means to her and how she feels that this group really understands her and that she finally feels part of the group.(yeah, I know, I get teary just thinking about it.).

Maybe next week, I’ll get a date with my sewing machine but today, I don’t mind..

A little bit of everything

The hope is that I will get in here more now that it won’t hurt my back to cut fabric.  As you can see, I’m still working on my Woven Chevron block for the Skill builder BOM.

I finally found a top for my make shift sewing table.  Now maybe I can actually get things organized and start sewing again.  I’ve been a little scattered in the sewing dept. lately.  I’ve been storing a china cabinet for my brother until he bought a house.  He finally bought one and now so I needed to figure out where to store my growing stash and quilting/sewing tools.  Back in February, I just happened upon a 50% off sale at Michaels on their craft room modular units and spent an entire weekend putting together materials for a cutting table.  I ended up going back to get more because Lil Bee wanted to use her allowance to build an art station up in the loft area–which seemed like a win-win because I was getting her stuff out of my sewing room but she still drags everything downstairs to be at the kitchen table :/  So there’s the cutting table up above-I only had to go to 5 different home improvement/craft stores to find MDF that was the right size for the top.

Another surprise is a pressing board that my brother made me as a thank you for storing his china cabinet.  Isn’t it beautiful?

It works great!

Other activities keeping me from sewing have been Drama Queen’s school play (which is now done),  she has a small part in another play in a few weeks, and our 2 week Spring Break.  We didn’t go anywhere and it snowed but we did take the kids to see Oz and I took the girls with my sister and nephew to Cookies and Canvas.

She got the best supporting actress award from her peers and her directors since she played 2 parts in the play.

Finished fish pics-I wish their brother had come along.

Have you ever been to Wine & Canvas?  My sister has and she had a blast–we’ve decided that we definitely need to do that as a girls night sometime this summer.  I saw that they even had a painting that looked like my little Stella Violet print that I won a few months ago.