Sunday, February 10, 2013

In love again with Hexagons & Eye Fooler Quilt is done!!!

First off I have to say I am so very sorry to the HGTV group. I resigned from their swap. I had many good reasons.

The biggest one was that the hostess says she is deathly allergic to cats and their fur. I have four cats. Okay...I can deal with that. Clean clothes every time I sit down to sew. I used a lint roller to remove any hair from the chair I am going to sit in. I yelled at the cats to leave me alone while sewing. They did not understand.

I bought new papers for the swap from her suggested site. 1200 of them. I worked in a factory that had a metal stamping department. I understand about sharp dies and slag. The papers had such rough edges from a dull die that I was worried that the hostess would not accept the hexies from me for this reason. This is a issue that was NOT my fault.

I have a lot of fabric. But had to look at my fabrics with a new eye. Not  many had small enough designs to meet her criteria. And she also said no batiks...arrgggg. Half of my fabric collection is batiks. But I spent an anxious two weeks pulling enough fabrics for the 1st swap. I found all I needed. Thanks goodness I did not cut into them yet.

Then there were basting rules. I baste all behind the paper and not through it so I do not have to remove any basting when sewing together. She wanted all basting to be through the papers. And not only that but she wants them basted exactly as she had shown on her blog. Okay...I sewed for two weeks using her method. I kept her blog photos in front of me trying to make mine look exactly like hers. So slow....

The more I grumbled at the cats and complained about the basting through the papers, my husband had enough..."isn't the best part of sewing the "joy" of the journey?" he says. Yes...he was so right.
I wrote to her and told her the reasons I was resigning. She wrote back accepting my resignation.
Me? A weight has been lifted.


I  am working on an early hexie project. Little fussy cut sewing machines surrounded by fussy cut little kitties surrounded by my lovely batiks.


I had these already done. And I was able to sit in my furry chair with a warm kitty at my side and totally enjoy the process. I even let my work touch my body!!!
No contamination here!!!!


My Eye Fooler is done. I did some investigation on this pattern. It used to be called "Sparky". Check my earlier posts. The designer is still at the same address and is still offering the pattern.
http://quailvalleyquilts.com/eye-fooler/
The designer contacted me and this pattern is still available.

I want to make another one. But I am going to reduce the unit sizes. I need to go through and do the math. This is one big quilt!!!! Yet I loved the whole process.

As I enjoyed making the East Street designed by Our Bonnie Hunter. I am no longer afraid of patterns that have more than 1000,2000,3000  pieces.
Who cares how many????


We have been without a home phone for nearly a whole month. Turns out it was some squirrel damage. It had to have been the backyard squirrels as my front yard squirrels are very well fed.


This is Macy and my DH. Macy hates cold weather. She has her own heating pad. It usually sits on hubby's desk and she stays right there with him. He swears that she was trying to drag it to the couch yesterday. So he helped her. She is not spoiled at all.

And here is sweet Pearl. She looks so nice against a pink quilt. I am sure she practices looking deep asleep. Love her stripes!!!
XOXOXOxo Subee

18 comments:

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh I love that Eye Fooler quilt Subee! It's gorgeous!!! I'm glad you had the good sense and courage to quit that swap group! Your husband is a pretty smart guy... well, he proved that when he married you, right? LOL!!! Love the pics of your kitties - they make our life so much sweeter :*)

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

I would have dropped out of that swap too, sounds more like a nightmare. I love that eye fooler quilt, I have been eyeballing that for a while. After I get a few more finished maybe I will start that one later this year. Your spoiled kitty is funny, dragging her heating pad....

D Brown said...

Oh suebee I'm so glad you have solved that stress from your life. I loved your postage stamp swap, and I have swapped with the same hostess you worried about with little problems.

But I wanted to let you know that I thought about that same hexi swap, i just thought there were too many rules for me to enjoy it. And I agree with your DH. Lives to short and I want to enjoy my sewing.

LOVE THE EYE FOOLER QUILT!!!

Katie said...

Oh dear. Not a fun swap. I can see both sides as I'm deathly allergic to cats too….but then I'm not crazy enough to run a swap! :-)

I think your Eye Fooler quilt is wonderful!

Janet O. said...

That was a LOT of hoops to jump through to participate in that swap. I'm impressed that you even tried!
Eye Fooler looks wonderful! Oh, I need to work on mine.
Love the cat with the heating pad. : )

Aileen said...

Bravo. If you can't enjoy the process our sanity will suffer.
Aileen from FL

Grit said...

Your hexagons are so great . And your top looks so fantastic.
I wrote to the designer, but no answer.

And your cat is so lovely.
Greetings Grit

Corn and Wine said...

I whole-heartedly agree with your husband. You make quilts for the joy of it and if there are too many rules then it sucks all the fun out of it. I'm glad you're now quilting with your sweet furry friends and having fun again. : )

Kay said...

You're right - quilting should be a joy! I love your eye fooler quilt!! I love everything you do!

Carolyn Sullivan said...

I am VERY allergic to cats and all of the things oyu have done would have helped me. However it should be fun, not a stress probably one of the best things to drop out of. Besides she sounds like a CONTROL FREAK!!!! can we say Hexigon Police????

I still love the eye fooler, and would love to make it someday.... too much on my plate right now.

Judy Dietrich said...

Your Eye Fooler Quilt is gorgeous. I may have to go see about this quilt pattern!!!! Love the kitty with the heating pad--some just like to be warmer than others. I love making hexagons--I baste through the back and not through the papers. The basting threads stay in the hexagon when I remove the paper and the hexagon seam allowances stay in place--so no ironing down all those seam allowances when it is done!!!! Stay true to your heart and do what makes you happy.

sandra said...

Subee it sounds like you did the right thing resigning from the swap. Too much hassle and stress that you don't need.I emailed the designer of eye fooler and got no reply. I have found a similar pattern elsewhere so will use that. I can also work out how to make it by looking at your completed blocks, but I guess it is not right to do that.

Frog Quilter said...

Love your eye fooler quilt. Mine has been done for awhile. I'm thinking about doing another. I did mine without a pattern. Hugs

Sarah said...

It's one thing to be allergic to cats and ask for *some* concessions to the fur but all the other rules would have driven me away as well. Good for you because I like what you've made for yourself :)

Frances Meredith said...

A beautiful Eye Fooler quilt, no wonder you want to make another!

Mommy Robin said...

Oh my, your sewing is gorgeous and inspiring as always. I'm loving those fussy cut little kitties in your hexies!

For me, the saying, "Love me, love my cat" applies. I've only one left now, DH says no more - but while I have him, I'm loving him up. I understand allergies, too, as DH has many. Sounds like you made the right decision for all.

LOVE the pics of the your cats, they look like real sweeties.

Mommy Robin said...

Oh my, your sewing is gorgeous and inspiring as always. I'm loving those fussy cut little kitties in your hexies!

For me, the saying, "Love me, love my cat" applies. I've only one left now, DH says no more - but while I have him, I'm loving him up. I understand allergies, too, as DH has many. Sounds like you made the right decision for all.

LOVE the pics of the your cats, they look like real sweeties.

Unknown said...

Hello! I just found your site through pinterest, and I am in love with your gorgeous Eye Fooler quilt! Sorry to be a pest, but do you have information on how to find the pattern? Thanks so much for sharing your work. Liz