I won a mug & magazine & my 64 patch Butterfly quilt!

I was flabbergasted when I received the e-mail that I had won the volume 7 of the Quiltmaker magazine and one of the precious mugs!!!
Hubby has been laughing at me for the excitement I felt when the mug arrived. I currently have it right next to me at the sewing machine. Nothing is in it yet but a pair of scissors. But I can see it all day long!

I have been sewing up a storm. I know I should be working on my applique' project. But the sewing machine has really been my companion for the last 4 days.
DD#1 collects butterflies. And I bought this fabric many many years ago. I did not like the border on it at all. So I cut it all off...much better. Then began to cut the blocks down to a usable size.
DD#1's birthday is in July so I am getting a head start on getting this sewn. I still need to add a border. I will use the brown fabric that is the 64-patch.
I LOVED making these 64 patch blocks. I used 1 1/2" squares. I did not sew them in strips but made them each individually. DH is still laughing about the mug and how this was too much work for an 8 1/2" block.

And the neutral I used just seems to glow. I am determined to use the neutral all up. It has the painted texture that is hard to sew through. I did not know that when I bought it online a million years ago. I sure do love shopping my stash!!

Here is the first one I made...only 40" square. But still quite pretty.
Hubby does not like the green butterfly fabric I used. He says it is baby shit green.
MEN!!! I need to love it as I have 10 yards of it!!! It will be used!!!

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Cats, squirrels and spool block progress

Our Macy is so special. She fetches toys like a dog and we know she understands what we say. When her food bowl gets near empty she brings the bowl toys.
So funny. Her newest favorite toy is a piece of string from a grass weed whacker.

DD#1 braided my hair yesterday. I so need to get a trim to straighten up my self mutilation. It lasted all day and overnight.

This is some of the fabric that I bought at Quilts and Friends in Roanoke Indiana. We were hired to play during a sale day for the above shop. Of course after staring for two hours as we played and sang I could not NOT buy fabric.

The quilt is still in it's design mode...more to follow.

As I work on the butterfly quilt I am cutting into the swap strips and making spool blocks. Some of the fabric were too light for the spool body but I was able to use them as the backgrounds.

The paper shows 190 made but with yesterday's sewing session I now have 200 even sewn. 1/4 of the way to the 800 needed...

Here is a closeup of our newest squirrel family. The mommy squirrels all bring the babies from their birthing nest to our trees. I am sure it is the food supply. We have two families right now in the front trees. There are occasionally some territory squabbles. But we can stop them by adding more peanuts to the argument. They then get so busy eating that they forget to fight with each other!!!

But this little baby has a very gray cast to her fur. It will make her easily recognized when taming. She is already quite comfortable with me being close to her. I make them peanut butter sandwiches and slices of apples with peanut butter. And tons of raw peanuts and sunflower seeds.

I have all of the quilts quilted that I made from Craig Robison's shirts. He would have been the grandfather to the new arrival (due in June) SO I thought it was appropriate to use the shirt fabrics as baby quilts. I managed to squeeze 4 quilts and all have Minkee backing!!!

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Sunbeam hot iron case

WHOOOHOOOO!
My hot iron case came today.
Our hero Bonnie Hunter blogged about this item and I must have been quick enough because I got the last one off Amazon!!!!
Hubby is doubtful about this item because it is made of plastic. I explained about the silicone interior...men!
I am heading for a retreat this weekend but I am only bringing hand work. Yet I am sure this case will still come in quite handy. I can also see me storing an iron in it here at home. Lots of possibilities.

I have my Great Grandson's quilt all sewn. I have the backing pinned into the quilting frame but have not pinned this up for quilting yet. I thought I had a good chunk of Minkee for the back but it is way too small. So I am going to use some turquoise polka dot fleece.
And as usual I have made way too many blocks. I can make another quilt exactly as the one below...what to do......
This quilt is 54" square.

Maggie Mae got her summer haircut yesterday. She never napped at all after returning home. She can lick places previously unreachable. She is such a happier kitty now. She is also trying to squeeze into places she should not be...we have created a monster!!!

How could I not take a photo of Pearl when she poses so sweetly. Our precious Pearl Piwacket. (from the movie Bell, Book and Candle)

This is one of the hand projects I am taking to retreat. I want this to be done so I can begin another Hexie project. I am loving this process...

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Still Hexing away!!!

Here is my progress on the Fussy Cut Hexie quilt.
As I am working on it, it seems I make such little progress. Then I slap it up on the wall, take a picture and am so pleased that it makes all the work worthwhile!

It has taken me a week of some serious TV watching and hand sewing to get to this point. I was watching Downton Abby and then all the seasons for Game of Thrones. Love having cable when they do "Watchathons". But I also made two baby afghans (crocheting). What I work on depends on where I am sitting. HA!!!!

I received my newest issue of Quiltmaker magazine and another of Bonnie Hunter's famous friends (who I met at a quilting retreat) is also featured in this issue!!!
I have Mickey Depre's set of Hexie Templates and her new book. They are both fabulous!

There are not many times that I can get two of my four cats in a photo. On the left is MaggieMae who weighs in at a scant 9 lbs. And on the right is Macy Gray who weighs in at 12 lbs. They are both tortie points. Love the straight white lines on their little faces!!!! Maggie is a Himalayan and Macy is a Siamese Color point. Maggie has a hair appointment next week to get her Spring shave. She and I cannot wait. She gets her tongue stuck in her chest fur. It is funny and so sad.

Fussy cut Hexagon quilt top progress

I cannot begin to tell you all how thrilled I am with the progress I have made on this hexagon venture. I have been making the large rosettes for months. And since I started this a few years ago and then stopped, it is really an old UFO!

I started assembling the quilt today. Look what I have done! I love it! I really like the gray fabric in there. It gives the eye a place to rest against all the batiks.
Although this looks like it will be a circle quilt, I am aiming for a rectangle. But then some quilts have a life of their own and tell you what shape they will be.

DH just shook his head and said I was crazy to be doing this. I admit I am a bit odd but so far this has simply been a labor of love.

In the beginning it looks like a spoke wheel. Or a starfish. Then I just set the batik rosettes inside each arm making sure my little sewing machine was upright. I know I have made this a bit harder for assembly but I love those little Singer Featherweight emblems.

On the brown and pink quilt, I added a dark brown border and it suddenly said it was finished! I have the backing already pinned in the frame and am ready to baste this up for quilting. The binding is made too.
I have a new candy love: Lifesaver Jellybeans! Oh boy!! Had to go and buy more before they are all gone. Was 5  bags enough?????? When those are gone...Easter candy will be but a memory.
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A pink and brown quilt top has been born!

Wow! What a joyous ride this quilt has been. It literally flew from my fingers. It did not ever feel like work.
Granted mine is only 54" square and the one Bonnie Hunter showed was mammoth!
 But...I have enough blocks to make another one!

Then border decisions needed to be made. Hubby and I decided on the lighter pink. The one on the right. I may use the rose colored one as the backing.

On the Hexie front I have made all the batik flowers I had cut out. What is on the wall is only 3/4 of them. I am now making the little 3 piece unit between each rosette. I am using a Kona fabric called Ash. It is a nice clean gray and will not compete with the batiks for glory. So I am back to basting and basting and basting.

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In the pink and brown rejoice!!!!

Once again I cannot thank Our Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame for her inspirations!
All it took was one look at this post:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/03/celebrate-pink.html

And I was off and running sewing!!!
In two days I had 152 blocks made using her streamlined method. I made 20 with the browns in the corners and 132 with the pinks in the corners.
Looking at the antique quilt it seems I only needed 110 blocks. And since at the beginning of the cutting marathon I was cutting duplicates, I can set those aside and still have enough blocks to copy this beauty!!!

I was not sure I would like Bonnie's sewing method. But it is so fast!!! The only complaint I have is when I used a striped fabric. The block ended up with one fabric rotated incorrectly. Oh well....that will just add to the wonkiness of the quilt. I am totally in love with just the blocks.
Now I need to find 2 yards of a nice brown for the setting blocks. WHOOHOOO!!!

Here is the box of parts I started off with on Friday night. It only took me two days to make all those blocks.

And above is a sampling of the grays I am swapping on the Quiltvilleswap group on Yahoo. I sure love gray fabric. Someday I am making a gray/pink quilt. I can feel it churning in my head!
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