May Hexie Project

It all started at quilt retreat when Cindy, Nicole and I went for a little retail therapy. I picked up a package of diamonds. I planned to make a lone star quilt. I was too excited and didn't read the package. I picked up a couple 1/4 yard cuts on Monday the 6th and got started. I basted like they were going out of style. Diamonds are MUCH quicker than hexies.

I put my first diamond together in less than a day. I soon realized I had picked up a package for a 6 point star, not an 8 point! Oh no, but there was no turning back, the fabric was cut, the hexies were basted and I plugged along.

I was easily able to do about 2 diamonds a week.

On Friday I finished the top of the star. It actually turned out pretty good. I'm going to have to take out one diamond and re-do the stitching. I used dark thread and it just shows too much. I love how it turned out and can't wait to d a lone star with the same fabric.

I put it on my purple cutting mat just to see what it would look like, but I do have a purple/dark navy fabric I am going to use for the backing. I just have to find the steam a seam to attach it all down. It's turning out amazing and I am really hopeful I can finish it time for the mini quilt challenge.

I have ordered 8 point diamond pieces and will start that when I get them. I love how quickly this pieced together.

Blogger Quilt Festival - Group or Bee Quilt

It's time for the Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival over at AmysCreativeSide.com. I love to look back at the past and think about the quilts I have made. One of my favorite quilts I made last year involved a friendship block swap. I had 12 amazing friends make the Lover's Lane block from Quilters Cache during the Summer of 2011. I requested a solid black with three different purple batiks in the blocks. I got quite the variety! When I layed them out at quilt retreat last year, my friends suggested a gradiation of color and it worked great for this quilt.

The outer border is one of my favorite fabrics and I bought the rest of the bolt!
I quilted it with a purple verigated King Tut on the front and a dark purple Bottomline in the bobbin. The backing is the same as the large border. This is a close up of the quilting on my friend Jen Buettner's block.

I used a Thermore batting, so the quilt is very thin and lightweight. I love the drape and how it looks over the back of my chair. I am constantly reminded of the amazing friends I have through quilting. Each of the blocks is signed with the makers name.

Quilters are Crazy 2013 Retreat

This weekend was simply amazing! I went with six of the best friends a girl could ever ask for to Outlaw Ranch for quilt retreat. I knew it would be challenging to be away from my family, but I also knew how much I needed the friendship and support of my friends.
In preparing for quilt retreat, I made a bunch of kits up with blocks prepped and prepared to create tops. I find I don't like to make tops at home, so it was fun to get them ready to put together. I felt so productive actually having finished tops to take home.
I started Friday afternoon with these Dilly Dally 5" blocks and made this Easy as 4 pattern by Me & My Sister. I also have backing all prepped and a piece ready for binding. The backing is to the right. This one was for a friend, but she had a different theme, so I changed gears and now it is ready for the next baby girl I need a gift for. I finished this before supper on Friday.

This chevron is from a Max and Whiskers layer cake. I had other plans, but I ended up making this for a sample for a class I plan to teach next quarter. I love how it turned out and can't wait to quilt it. I need to get a backing for this one. I finished this late evening Friday.

This is the Unity quilt top I had mostly completed. I added the borders and got the backing ready. This was finished Sat. night.

Emilee worked on these plus blocks.

Nicole finished her 2nd quilt top, a plus quilt she designed herself.

Nicole, Cindy, Jenn, Emilee, Tammy, Gaila, and I Saturday night

Gaila made this table topper from Atkinson designs.

She also made this little wall hanging from a Moda candy pack. She sent it with me on Sat. and I found the border so she could finish it.

Friday night I laid out this Thangles BOM and started sewing it together while I pumped. Around 2AM I found my way to bed, but I was awake at 6 AM, so I sat and sewed it all together while I pumped. I had it into this top by breakfast at 8 AM. I have a border to put on, but had left it at home.

Saturday was spent on Scrappy Swoon. I spent all day on it and I'm just not loving it. I went to bed at 2 AM with the top done and left it on the design wall. When I got up at 7AM, I just kept looking at it and really not liking it. Well I have a couple squares out of place and I need to do some ripping. I just didn't want to spend any more time on it.

Here's a more true color picture of it. I used purple/green/black batiks. The colors were all the same value, so it just didn't set the star off enough. I'll still finish it and I think put a big bright purple border on it to make it big enough for our bed.

Gaila made these wall hangings for her mother and mother in law from a panel she got from me last summer.

We had a small forest of Aurifil trees which we finished. Mine was the pine beetle infested one!

Throughout the weekend I worked on this one. It's a scrappy chevron using 5" squares. I marked while I pumped, sewed while I pumped, cut while I pumped, and pressed while I pumped. As Nicol said, Keep calm and pump on. This will be another sample for my chevron class.


The weekend was truly amazing and I can't believe how much fun we had. I was so thankful to have such understanding friends and be away from home. Paul and his mom had a great weekend with the kids as well. I can't wait for the next one.

Lots Accomplished By the Quilters Are Crazy Retreaters

All the quilters accomplished a lot at the retreat, though I did miss getting pictures of everything.
Tammy finished the first quilt of the weekend, a scrappy charm plus 1 yard of fabric quilt.


This is Cindy's 1600 quilt. She's making it a bit bigger and hopes to have it for her grand-kids one day.


Tammy was working on the same quilt, only she added a charm pack. She was working on the borders.

Michelle put binding on this super cute baby blanket she quilted. She was using it for practice to learn to quilt on her frame.

Emilee made several black/white blocks!

Jane made this cute baby quilt with paper pieced hearts. She was learning to paper piece with the Carol Doak beginners book.

Michelle made this placemat and worked on her quilting. She did a scallop throughout it. It turned out so cute.

The back shows the quilting well. She used the Easy Scallop tool to draw on her placement lines before she began. Darlene was working on a table runner in the same manner.

Darlene worked on quilting her grid table runner and getting it all squared up.



Lois made this baby quilt and worked on quilting it throughout the weekend.

Jenn made several bags for her kids during the weekend, when she needed a break from her big quilt.

Bev was making purses all weekend. The runaround bag was her first zipper and she really enjoyed making it.

Michelle made this fancy pillowcase with the scalloped borders out of French General.

Cindy made a Zippy Strippy bag. Darlene and Michelle joined her in making them as well. They used their fat quarters and zipper that were gifts during the retreat.

Jenn spent a majority of the weekend working on this quilt for her grandpa. It's made with all his old shirts. It turned out so neat!

Jane paperpieced this tablerunner and added the pink piping in to make it stand out. Aren't the bunnies so cute?

This is Emilee's Snapshots quilt fro the class she took from me a few weeks ago. We were discussing borders or no borders.

All in all everyone seemed to be extremely successful and get a lot done. I always enjoy seeing what everyone is working on throughout the weekend.

Quilters Are Crazy Retreat - Day 3

Sunday morning started off bright and early I cut out the setting triangles for my Mocha Meringue quilt before anyone else got up. We had delicious breakfast burritos for brunch. My dad stopped by for a visit. I showed him all the bright/black/white blocks we made during the weekend.

Before everyone left we used the timer on my camera to take a group photo.

Emilee and Darlene, who had never met before found they had someone in common. Emilee's grandma and Darlene were best friends in high school. So all weekend they were BFF's and when we found the magnet at Peterson's it just had to come back with us.

Just before we left I finished the setting triangles on the Mocha Meringue quilt. I plan to add a couple more borders, but needed to get some of the gray first.

My shopping experience added a few more yards to the stash. I picked up these two pretty purple batiks.

Here's all the fun door prizes and gifts I brought home from the weekend.

One of my favorite door prizes was the fat quarter pack of Central Park.

I did bring a few fats home with me as well. I'm sure they'll get put to good use!

This is one of the black and white blocks we made. We were able to make 60 blocks and Jenn, Cindy, and Emilee each took home a set of 20 blocks.


The weekend was tons of fun and we really enjoyed sewing together. Next year we hope to do it again and have even more friends join us. I'm so excited to start planning!