Some Hexagons Sewn Together ~ woo hoo

Well after looking a piles of hexagons last week I took my piles and decided I wanted to have some sort of idea what they would look like all laid out.  So I tried to lay out all my hexagons and I gave up...lol.  All those little hexagons I just got overwhelmed.  I then took a BOLD step for me and decided that I was just going to start sewing them together randomly by colour.  I took all my blue hexies and put them into my brown wicker basket I keep them in, and then in no order, did you just hear what I said NO ORDER...lol...I randomly pulled a hexie, and would sew them into a flower.  At first it was very liberating I'm one that usually likes to have the perfect plan all set out when it comes to crafts.  The only rule I gave myself is that the same fabric couldn't be repeated in a single flower.  Then it happened.  One of the flowers I sewed together just happened to all be paler value fabrics I pulled out, and I had a few flowers sewn together, and laid them out, and though I liked how they looked they looked a little to random for me ~blah~, but not all is lost.  I'm not going to frog them...(frogging get it rip it rip it....I kill myself).  Nope I'm going to keep them exactly as they are, and just change my system.  From now on each flower will have a value light, medium or dark I will still just pull fabric out randomly, but if it doesn't fit into the 'value' of that flower back it goes.

Here are the flowers done up to now.  

Showing the back side of my flower, and that the paper are sill in them.

Here is my work basket.  I have thread, needles, pins, scissors, and also keep hexagons in here that I'm currently working with.

I also got invited to join The Vignette Hexagon Quilt which is a group blog about yup you guessed it hexagon quilts.  It was the other day when I learned there was a term for what I want my quilt to look like I'll be doing a colour wash....ah gees that makes total sense to me.  If you are working on hexagons check out The Vignette Hexagon Quilt, and you can ask to join just send an email.  You'll see lots of lovely hexagons, progress, and of course inspiration and motivation.

Hexagon Quilt Update

I've mentioned a few times on my blog that I'm working on a hexagon quilt so I thought I would show how much I've gotten done.

Here are my hexagons before they are cut out.  I they are about 2" hexagons.

I then cut them out carefully & pin them to the wrong side of the fabric.

Then comes the fun part of basting them.  I don't baste through the paper as I don't want to have the extra step of taking out the basting later.  I like the basting part except my thimble is to small.  So I need to get a new thimble.

So now I have piles of hexagons basted on the fabric.

So there that is all my hexagons at the moment.  They are from reclaimed fabric, donated scraps, and stuff I had on hand.  My goal in doing this is to not buy any fabric new.  I find that reclaiming fabric from pillow cases picked up at thrift stores great resource.  I also discovered that you can buy scraps on ETSY reasonably priced so I'm going to check that out.

Now I need ideas.  I don't want to do a flower quilt.  I want to do more of a colour blocking idea.  So all the blues together, red, green etc.  More like a rainbow.  However I'd like to start sewing some of the hexagons together, but should I wait until I have more?  Should I get OCD about it & have a plan.  Or should I just start grabbing blues & sewing them together?  Keep all dark together?  Mediums together?  Lights together?

HELP!!!!!  What would you do?

Painting

 

 

Jeremy was looking at this painting the other day & said:

 

~ Mommy you should finish it. 

~ I'm like it is finished that's why its hanging on the wall. 

~ No Mommy its to small

~ Well that's how big the canvas was

~ Mommy you should do another one & continue the colours on it so they match up.

~ ahhhh well that is a good idea Jeremy

 

So this painting is an original creation by moi acrylic on canvas.  I totally loved doing this, and have many ideas floating around in my head on other paintings I'd like to do.  I just wish I had more time....lol.

Schedule

Well my little guy is home with an upset tummy :( hopefully he feels better soon.  I'm at the very least home for half the day from work.  I will use the time to tidy up some around here.  I'll also get my weight exercises done.

I've also been thinking about wanting to come up with some sort of blog schedule.  Just some sort of guide mostly for myself about what to write about each day.  Then I wonder is that to structured?  I currently do:

~ Wordless Wednesday
~ Plus i try to feature an Etsy shop on saturday but this past weekend i totally didn't

There are things I'm really passionate about.  That you can eco friendly & it can be done simply & you can still look great doing it.  That I have this large artistic/creative side that often gets pushed to the back burner for more 'important' things.  That buying homemade items from artisans is IMPORTANT hence my etsy addiction.  Living a healthy lifestyle is important to me & that includes eating real food, that tastes good that I made.  I'll have to keep spinning these thoughts around.  If anyone has any feedback how they organize their blog posts please share your ideas.  Or if you don't then what works for you?  There may be more posts on this subject coming up...lol.

Hey!!!!

Wow I can't believe I didn't blog yesterday.  We had a good weekend.  It was very low key & just us, but we had fun.  We spent a lot of time cooking on the weekend.  Which was great.  Saturday I cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot sooo easy.  Chris then turned it into home made chicken soup that turned out soooo yummy we ate it Sunday before taking jeremy out trick or treating.  Sunday we did go swimming, had the chicken soup Chris made along with home made dumplings, then it was out to with the others for trick-or -treating.  It was a fun time. 

 

On the crafty end of things I'm still trying to finish Jeremy's scarf...lol.  Every time I think I have it long enough he's like Mommy can it be just a little longer...lol.  I sort of worked on some hexies last night.  I mean I cut out the paper, got the pined onto fabric so tonight I can just baste them on.  Still waiting on more 'scraps' to come in the mail.  I have dish cloths to swap & the dish cloths are totally wanting to get in the mail & on there way...lol.

Ghost Hand Print Art ~ Update With Pics

Here is the craft project we did Friday (I posted about it here for instructions & such) of Ghost Hand Prints all hung up in their glory.  I love how they turned out.  I can hang them up each year :)

Here are our Ghosts:

Happy Monday & Ghostly Hand Prints

I hope everyone had a good weekend & is making their way through their Monday.  My weekend was pretty great.  Chris was off Friday, Saturday & Sunday which is ALWAYS a special treat. 

 

Chris came out to my place Friday night & we made home made tacos for supper which were yummy.  Then Chris, Jeremy & I made these fun Halloween Ghost Paintings you can see examples in the picture here

 

  

instructions at The Crafty Crow.  We had lots of fun doing this project.  We each did one I'll post pictures tomorrow.  I loved seeing each of our individual artistic style come out.

 

Saturday morning we at breakfast at the Millet Skillet a great little family owned restaurant in Millet, before we took Jeremy to Cub Camp.  Jeremy was all excited for camp.  Chris & I then headed to Edmonton as we were going to the Tartan Ball.  We love to get all dressed up.  I wore a new 'little black dress' & Chris a new suit & wow he looked sooooooo good.  The event was being held at the Polish Center & the food was good.  The music could have been better, but we still danced a little & had a good time.  We always have a good time together. 

 

Chris & I slept in Sunday took Chris' roommate Sherry out to breakfast then back to my place last night.  Have to see it was a good weekend of being busy & still having time to relax. 

 

Tonight I'm going to re-start Jeremy's scarf I think.  I should have added a border as it's rolling & I don't like that.

Lack Of Creating

Last few days I really haven't been doing much creating & I hate that feeling.  Last night for example after swimming with Cubs I just didn't feel like working on any of my projects :(  I did read for a bit and I enjoyed that, but that's about all I did.  However going on like that I feel like I'm out of balance, and I hate that feeling.  So I think for me spending some time each day doing something creative, crafty or artsy adds balance, because when I get the charge of the muses to create it adds & feeds my soul for the next day. 

Decisions, Decisions

Here are the hexies I've made up to now using the english paper piecing method which is basting paper onto the wrong side of fabric.  These are made out of recycled pj's, sheets & pillow cases.  It is my goal for this quilt to be made out of all re-purposed fabric.  I have more that I've made, but I didn't include hexies made out of t-shirt jersey.  I'll save those for another project.  I'm anxious to start sewing some of the hexies together.  I know I don't want to do Grandma's Garden pattern.  I would like to do something like this water colour quilt   I think now after looking at that quilt again that I need to make more hexies before I start sewing them together.  Then I think the game plan will be to group them into colour groups then randomly sew the groups of colours together. 

 

What do you guys think?

Hand Knitted Dish Cloths

I gave these three beauties to a co-worker.  The pink one I love it's cotton self stripping yarn it looks so pretty knitted up.  I have only one complaint about this yarn is that the dye bleeds badly :( which makes me sad as I love my brightly coloured dish cloths.

All Crafty People HELLLPPPP!!!!!!!!

I'm working away on a hexagon quilt.  Well working away on making the hexies anyways.  I'm wanting this quilt to be a true reflection of a scrap quilt in keeping with the history of these quilts I'm using stuff I have on hand.  Right now I've used old flannel pajamas, old sheets, old pillow cases & fabric left over from making my belly dance bra.  I've also used an old t-shirt that is to big for me.  I have quilted before & when I was taught to quilt I was taught to use 100%, but in keeping with the history of these English Paper Piecing these would be made by whatever the quilter had on hand.  I'm wondering before I get to far into the project will adding cotton jersey type fabric affect the over all end result of the quilt?  I've been trying to find the answer online, but can't seem to.  Please all you crafty, artistic & handy people anyone have an answer for me?

Birthday Wishes, Spinning & Knitting

I can't believe my little man is 10.  Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday.  He's double didgits ~sniff sniff.~ When did he get so old.  We just did a very small celebration just Jeremy & I.  He's having a birthday party at the local pool on Saturday so he'll have fun there.  But last night was nice, we had chicken, rice & veggies for supper.  I bought small mini cupcakes & put a candle in it & sang Happy Birthday.  Jeremy isn't a big sweets eater so the little cupcakes were prefect.  Not to mention I'm getting a BIG cake for Saturday...lol.  He then opened his gift some TechDecks & an alarm clock something fun & something practical.  Then we were off to Cubs right after that.  I'm volunteering to be Cub leader this year & I have to confess at the moment I'm not overly enjoying it...lol, but I'm doing it for Jeremy as we have 20 kids in cubs & NEED 3 leaders.  I'm hoping as the season goes on the kids will get into a routine & settle down a little. 

 

 

I WISH I had better pics this morning, but I don't :(  I LOVE yummy, rich, beautiful pics, but I was in a rush so I just snapped.  Wish I was better with pics.  Anyways the the two purple dish cloths are for Chris' room mate.  I love knitted cotton dish cloths.  I find they work better & I just get satisfaction out of knitting them & then using them.  I have LOADS in my own personal stash.  My only complaint with them is that they don't hold their colour :( seeing as I'm always drawn to bright colours I do find they lose their colour a little to fast for me.  Other than that they are FANTASTIC.  Every morning I grab a clean dish cloth to use for the day & it's one that I MADE!  Makes me feel good.

 

That odd looking thing behind the dish cloths is my first experience of spinning my own fabric yarn.  It is slow going as I find my fingers get sore, but other than that it's so far pretty cool.  This is the first step after I get all the fabric spun I then have a second step which is plying. I can't wait to get to that step.  That will be interesting as I can then at that point be able to add interesting fibers I have some metallic thread & embroidery floss give it some depth & interest.  I'm going to try to do an hour a night spinning, but we'll see how sore my fingers get.

Up Early

I LOVE getting up early.  I love that hour or so when the place is mine, and I can enjoy my coffee, read or maybe work on a project.  This morning I'm going to work on knitting a dish cloth.  I want to finish this so that I can give it along with another to my boyfriend's roommate.  Also I told a co-worker I'd knit her some as well. I rented Letters to Juliette last night, but didn't finish it I fell asleep.  So I'll watch it this morning.  I tried spinning last night, but my hand was sore.  So instead I started making hexagons.  For some reason I'm obsessed that each one won't be the exact same size...lol.  They are fun to make, but going to take awhile I'm thinking.

Well I think coffee is ready so off I go mmmm coffee.

I’m soooo not in the mood.

I’m fighting a cold & have been for the past couple of days.  So right now I feel yucky L so I’m on strike tonight I’m not going to cook SO THERE…lol  Going to either get take out or something easy at the Grocery Store.  Plus I’ll pick up some videos to watch for my son & I.  Then we are going to get home & do a picnic in the living room to eat & watch a movie should be a good evening.  Then when Jerbear is in bed I’ll probably do some spinning work on my fabric yarn & I think I’ll start on some paper piecing.  I have a pair of flannel PJs that have torn so I’ll start making little hexagons exciting times let me tell you.

Pictures Bath Mat & Fabric Yarn

Woo hoo I actually brought the right cord to download my pictures.  On my camera were also some pictures that I took over the summer.  My boyfriend is really into photography & we spent one day on an old steam ship the Moyie which used to run on the Kamloops Lake.  I tried my hand to take some art pics I'm really happy with SOME of them.  I'll post some of them later.

Here are the pics of my rag rug.  It's made out of a recycled bed sheet.  I like the look of it & I love how it feels under my feet.  I am aware there is a misake in the pattern ~shhhh~...lol.  This was my first time knitting a cable & first time knitting with fabric so I didn't feel comfortable unknitting that to fix it.  I do plan on making another of these mats so I'm sure that one will turn out better.

This is all the fabric I bought to turn into fabric yarn at some point.  I used two & last night I started on my fabric yarn.

Here are all the strips that I pulled apart in two piles.  

I'm alternating between the two when spinning.  The actually spinning is being done on a size #15 knitting needle & it takes a bit to get the hang of it...lol.  So once I get that all spun I will then have to ply it.  I'll use embroidery thread that I have on hand & add some more contrast colour at that time.  This is not a fast process, but very cool. 

Field of Dreams & Fabric Yarn

Here I am second day for this blog, and as of yet I don't think I have any readers...lol.  Oh well as in the movie Field of Dreams, 'If you build it they will come.'  So I'm being positive that if I write it 'they' will read it...lol.  So on I write.  I was looking at different ways to promote my blog & the idea of Blog Carnivals I'm going to look into this a little more later.

On the creative front like I said I finished my rag knitted bath mat that I still need to take pics of & post, but I'm happy with it.  Last night I worked on my son's scarf.  Except I've used all the yarn that I have for his scarf, so I need to buy some more next time I'm in Edmonton.

Tonight I'm going to try something which to me looks fun.  I'm going to make yarn from fabric scraps.  I bought a bunch of large Indian fabric scraps from Value Village last Friday.  I'm going to see how that works in turning that into fabric yarn.  I got the idea from Mademoiselle Chaos' blog here is the post with instructions Make Yarn From Fabric Scraps.  I plan on using unused embroidery floss that I have on hand to ply it with & then knit it on my #15 needles to knit almost like a knitted necklace. 

I'm a very artistic person & always have ideas roaming around in my head.  I love to paint with acrylics & do abstract paintings.  I also love to make things. 

Right now I'm really enjoying knitting.  I also am very interested in recycling items & upcycling.   So last week it was pointed out to me that the bath mat in my bathroom was looking dingy.  So I did wash it, but it didn't get it as clean as I would like.  So I turned to google to see what I could find.  Well I discovered this blog Cocoknits with a Rag Bath Mat tutorial knitting a bath mat out of recycled sheets.  I had to give this a try.  I had an old double sheet, which I tore into strips & then made into a ball of fabric yarn.  I knitted this pattern as written.  Mine didn't turn out as perfect as this one, but I'm still happy with it & will post a pic of it tomorrow.  I thought this was a great way to pair two things I enjoy knitting & recycling.  I'm going to make another for my kitchen as I have enough sheets kicking around.