"Hey, if I had somewhere to go, I certainly wouldn't be in Cleve-Land." -Howard the Duck

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Need Rubber Stamps?

I've recently added a bunch of rubber stamps to my Etsy shop.  The one above is lots of fun...and you can make a quick & easy birthday card using it.  All you have to do is stamp the image, color in the Happy Birthday in nice bright colors & color in the stars & candle...and your card is almost done.

I have artsy stamps like this one for sale.  I just have way too many stamps...WAY over the legal limit!
 
There are some Halloween stamps...it's not that far away, you know.  Time to buy some candy...or save some calories & buy stamps!
 
You can get a great deal on these flowers...they look great if you ink them and then spray them with a fine mist of water...they look almost like watercolors.
 
There are, of course, Christmas stamps...this kitty stamps just the line drawing for you to color in.  Wouldn't this make a great Christmas card?
 
For these...and some other stuff I've been listing in my shop...please visit KittenCreates.  Those of you who read my blog can use the coupon code BLOG10 to save 10% before shipping.  I really do appreciate my customers & I always send a little thank you with each order.
 
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

No...I'm not Paper Piecing my Hexies!

From what I've been able to research on line...it seems most people do English Paper Piecing (EPP) for their hexies.  One look at the videos of how to do that & I know I would never even want to do it that way.  Too many extra steps to get the same end result, I think.  Seems like it would take way more time than how I'm doing it...just sewing short little 1" seams on each side of the hexies. 

As you can see in this detail...I just draw the sewing line on each hexie before I cut it out.  When I started this quilt back in the 1970s...I had never even heard of EPP...and I didn't have a pattern, just memories of my Grandma & Mom's quilt.  I drew hexies onto a piece of clearish plastic from the lid of some food container...one for the cutting line & one for the sewing line. 
 
This is how the flowers look after I've sewn a round of hexies on...the inside of this one is pressed, but the green hexies are not.  The part that doesn't have hexies is where this one attaches to the previous one in the row.  You can see that the seams look a bit unruly...but no worries...they press flat just fine.
 
See???  Everything is nice & in it's place now.  I guess the EPP thing gives crisper, more accurate lines on the hexies...but the basting of the fabric to the paper, then whip stitching those hexies together would drive me bonkers.  A short one inch seam with probably 8-10 stitches per inch works so much better & faster for me.
 
The front of my flowers still have nice hexies in them...and I'm enjoying the process.  I'm glad I never knew about EPP when I started this quilt...it wouldn't have worked for me.  I got a total of 7 flowers sewn together right now...and spent the rest of this week cutting more green hexies.
 
Does anyone else sew their hexies this way???
 
I also have to do a reality check on the size of my quilt.  I've been planning an oversized queen size one...but may have to revise that based on how much of this green print I have.  Back when I started my quilt I had a double bed...so bought fabric based on that.  There's no way I can find more of this green...so I think I'll start with a double size & then if I have enough I can add on a row at a time to the length & width to make it as large as possible with the fabric I have. 
 
That's my plan for now...don't you sometimes often hate reality???
 
I'll be linking up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday as soon as she opens it up for posts.
 
 
 
 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

It's rather boring...

...joining flowers together.  And challenging...the seam ripper has been employed on more than one occasion this week.  All I can say is it's good these are short seams.  Somehow it isn't intuitive for me when joining one flower to the next.  I know it will get easier, but right now it's a slow process.  I have 5 flowers joined right now.  I haven't taken a pic yet...but I had hoped to have one full row of 8 or 9 flowers done by now.  You can't always get what you want.

I have to keep stopping to cut more green hexies.  That's another boring thing.  It's fun to cut the colors for the flowers...something new after each 6 or 12 or 18 hexies.  But row after row of green hexies?  Not as much fun.  Quite necessary, however...so I keep plugging away.  I'll need lots more than what's here...and if I break it up so I'm cutting some then piecing some...it will be ok.
 
Now this is fun...a pile of flowers waiting to be joined together.  That top one is the only new one I finished this past week.  After I get a row joined to recalculate how many flowers I need...I'll get back to piecing more of them.  I have quite a few ready to sew...all layered in a vintage cigar box...fun prints to piece into pretty flowers for my garden.
 
This is my pile of centers that need to be matched up with their outer ring of hexies.  My short attention span works best by mixing up which part of this quilt I work on throughout the week.  I know at some point I'll simply be joining flowers together...but that's ok...that will mean I'm closer to actually starting to quilt.
 
And in totally unrelated news this week...last night we went to Target & I got this new pair of shades.  I adore the polka dots...and of course, since this is NE Ohio...there is no sun today!!!  At least I'm prepared for when that elusive sun returns...oh how I miss SUNNY southern CA. 
 
I'm linking up at Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday.  Hop on over there to see what everyone else has been up to...one slow stitch at a time.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Joining some flowers together...

So this week I decided I'd work on joining a couple flowers together.  I only got 2 of them done, but my next goal is to join a strip of 8 or 9 to see how long that is...and possibly recalculate how many total flowers I'll need for our quilt. 

This is almost the full view of those first 2 flowers.  I had forgotten that every other row is one flower shorter than the last one...so if 9 across works for our queen bed...and I can make it a square with 9 rows...then I'll need just 77 flowers.  That would be wonderful as with the ones I'm sharing today, I have 48 flowers done. 
 
My other goal for this past week was to "audition" some prints that have a white background to see if I like them enough for my quilt.  You see this first one above...so it passed the audition.
 
I like this one, too...I'm thinking the key to using white background prints is to make sure they also have enough color to them. 
 
I think the bits of white will brighten up my quilt...I just have to make sure they're scattered throughout so they don't overwhelm one part of it.  Here are the other flowers from this week...
 
 
 
 
So that's my week in review.  Joined 2 flowers...completed 7 flowers for a total of 48.  I have lots & lots of green hexies to cut...you might notice the gold print for the centers of my flowers & the green for my paths are the same print in different colors.  Purchased in the 1970s...so I hope I have enough.  I'm pretty sure I do.
 
I'm sharing this on Kathy's blog...for Slow Stitching Sunday.  Be sure to check out what all she's been up to...I envy her quilting energy...she's amazing!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, August 8, 2014

My 301st post...and the garden

I didn't realize until after I had posted last time that I had reached my 300th blog post...so this is number 301.  No need to cheer or remember that...there will be no quiz later.

The jalapenos above are our first of this season...and they're quite disappointing.  The skin is crazed & they're small.  I blame it on the cool summer we're having.  These babies love the heat...which hasn't been around much lately.  The most disappointing part is that there aren't many other jalapenos developing...and no more flowers.  While it's nice to not have to run the a/c...our jalapenos need some heat soon!

The pimento is just now starting to show a hint of red.  These need to be red before they are picked...so the pimento cheese will need to wait a bit.
 
The green onions are coming along nicely...I'll try to harvest some soon to see how big they are.  These were planted directly in the soil from seed.  Not bad.
 
Lots of leeks, too.  These won't get really fat...I should have broken apart the plant more when I first planted it...live & learn.  I'm betting they'll still be yummy, though.  The Brussels Sprouts are coming along...getting bigger on that stem each day.  Forgot to take a photo, though...next time.
 
The marigolds are still adding lovely color to the backyard.  I'm getting lots of seeds to save for next year.  I may even try to grow some inside over the winter.
 
This little guy visits us each day.  We call him Mr. T.  We're not sure if he belongs to someone or if he's a stray...but he's a scaredy cat...won't let us go near him.
 
In the rest of the yard...the critters have planted some sunflowers under the bird feeder...they're small little ones, so I think they're from the sunflower on the driveway that kept being eaten.  There will be quite a few flowers to share once they all open.
 
If you look up way in the back of our yard, the Rose of Sharon are blooming.  The ones to the right are white & the ones to the left are pink.  They all seem to be on the same bush...which towers over the garage.  It's lovely when it blooms.
 
This is looking inside one of the white flowers...the pink ones are too far up to get a look inside.
 
And the side of the garage has this huge honeysuckle looking bush.  Each year we cut it back & each summer it comes right back with lots of pretty orange trumpet flowers.  The butterflies like these & so do the bees...I've even seen a hummingbird enjoying them.
 
So that's it from our cooler than normal summer here in NE Ohio...I'm doing my best to enjoy every single minute of it because we know it all goes down the tubes here all too soon.  I hope you're having a lovely summer, too. 
 
Oh...it's World Cat Day today...ours are all sleeping the day away...check out this sunbather...Miss Gracie loves the sun.
 
Happy World Cat Day...and enjoy the SUMMER!
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, August 4, 2014

Yo-Yos and Flowers

This week I finally finished sewing some yo-yos together into the top for a pillow.  The pillow itself isn't even started yet, but I laid the top onto an old patchwork pillow to get a photo to share.  I haven't quite decided what color the pillow will be...probably some shade of blue as that goes with everything in this house.  Maybe I'll pull out the machine & make a pillow this week.
 
I managed to get some more fabric cut into hexies for my quilt top...and once I do I like to sew the first round of the flowers with what I've just cut.  I got the ones above & below done this week.
 
 
I also got quite a few flowers done...one slow stitch at a time.  I truly find this hand piecing so relaxing...and with pre-season football starting this week, I know I'll get lots more done to share next time.  I love "watching" football...but I always have something else going at the same time...unless it's a really good game...or unless my San Diego Chargers are playing.  They're on Thursday night...but I'm sure I'll still take time to make more flowers during the week & on Sunday.  I got a few done today...but they still need to be pressed & photographed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'm happy with the progress I'm making on completing the flowers...and this coming week I'll be auditioning some of the white background prints I have to see if they'll make it into the quilt.  I like some of them a lot, so I have a feeling they will.
 
I'm sharing this over on Kathy's blog for Slow Stitching Sunday.  Oh...and I've labeled all of my quilt related posts with Quilting so if you care to see past posts, they're all together there.