Quilting Grandmother's Flower Garden

The end is in sight for the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top. At least, I feel like it is. I've been working on it fairly diligently.
I'm thinking about hand quilting it, since it's hand pieced but I'm the world's worst hand quilter...

Anyhow, research has ensued and I thought I'd share a couple of photos from around the web.

A popular method is to shadow quilt in each and every little hexagon. That's a lot of quilting!

 It does make for a beautiful back though.

Another way is to outline the "flowers" and the "sashing".

There is a lot to be said for machine quilting too.

Decisions, decisions.

Organizing English Paper Piecing Projects

Years ago Brenda of Dear Jane® fame sent me a little fishing worm binder to keep my blocks in.
It worked so well that I ordered a bigger one for the bright grandmother's flower garden quilt.

The inserts are the exact right size for individual "flowers" and it has convenient little pockets for thread, scissors, etc.

As for individual, prepared hexagons, plastic embroidery floss storage containers work well for larger ones although I've just been keeping them in the binder as well.

I needed a smaller option for my ½" hexies. I wracked my brain trying to come up with a solution, then had a light bulb moment! If fishing gear worked for other storage problems, maybe there will be something for the little blocks in the fishing department of my local store!
Lo and behold:

I also bought one a little larger which will hold more hexagons in case I get really ambitious and make a bunch ahead of time.

The unmade hexies, templates, thread, scissors etc. are stored in the binder I originally used for my Dear Jane blocks.

The binders are from Bass Pro Shops. The smaller one is the Extreme Medium Binder and the larger one the Extreme Large Binder. You can get extra inserts for both of them. And I just noticed that they have a DOUBLE binder. I may have to get me one of those...

Boo! Runner

I've decided to make a table runner using the Boo! blocks.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with border options that wouldn't be totally boring and finally decided on prairie points.
After a lot of math attempting to figure out the exact right size for the points to fit exactly into the length of the runner, I just winged it.

I'm happy with it so far.

(The foundation piecing patterns for the Boo! blocks are available in both the Etsy Store and Craftsy Store. The fabrics I used in the borders are Moda Essential Dots in Orange and Night & Day Paisley from Robert Kaufman.)

Eye Candy

Prepped hexies all lined up and ready to go.

The Quilt I Should be Working on

Remember this?

It's been an (off and on) ongoing project since June 2007! The last time I posted about it was in January 2011 although I have sporadically worked on it since then.

At the beginning of the year I promised myself that I'd finish it in time for our local guild's quilt show in November. Entries close on September 20th so, if I want to be at least 90% sure I can finish it by then, I'd better get a move on.

Much as I hate to, I think I'm going to have to put Daisy Chain aside for a bit.

A Strippy Runner from Above

When I was taking photos of my hexie progress yesterday, I had to climb on the dining room table to fit the whole thing into the frame.

While up there, I saw the Strippy Runner I currently have on the table from a completely different angle.

I made this one years ago but it's still one of my favorites.
Alas, those are the last of the Hydrangeas. Fall is upon us and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Who Wants to Join Me in a Hex-Along?

No pun intended, although you will be doing a lot of "joining".

I've been making slow and steady progress on the hexie project.

It's a big project which may take a while in between all my other commitments (and unfinished projects). I always feel more inspired when I know that a few other people are working on the same thing, so I'm thinking about turning this one into a "hex-along". A mystery hex-along.

Every couple of weeks I will post a section of the quilt design over here, revealing the whole quilt in a couple of months.
I'll have signups so you can have a look at and be inspired by everyone else's projects.
And maybe a Flickr group.

Sound like a good idea?

Hexie Progress

I've been working on my newest hexie project the last couple of days. Keeping in mind that the completed quilt will have almost 5,000 hexies, I have a long way to go.

Boo!

The fruits of a couple of weeks' labor. 

Now, what to do with these. They're 8" x 8".

Any ideas?

The pattern is now in my brand new Craftsy store and will hopefully be in the Etsy store too.

Something New

I'm a little obsessed with foundation piecing right now.

I did forget that everything is mirrored when paper piecing and made this one in reverse the first time.

Free Skully Pattern

I've made progress on Miss Skully. Isn't she cute? I think she may end up with a bow in her "hair".

A store newsletter went out today containing the free pattern for the Skully block and pillow cover.
I was going to give everyone a heads up over here so you would have time to sign up for the newsletter but things have been a little hectic.
To make up for it, I'm providing a link to the PDF file, which includes the paper piecing pattern for the skull block.
It'll only be available for about a week, after which the block pattern will be up in the Etsy store.

There are now kits in the store containing everything you'll need to make your own pillow cover. You just need to provide the pillow insert.

CLICK HERE to download the pattern now.
The free pattern offer has expired but you can follow the link to a free tutorial for a 16" x 16" pillow cover using the "Skully" block or any other 9" block of your choice.