{More} Black & Red Hexie Notebooks

Success begets success. –Unknown

It has been a really slow year for finishes for me. Before this week, March was the last time I finished anything. I got my Phoenix quilt done on Monday and yesterday I finished four Hexie notebooks, showing here:

I love that apple batik. Very Twilight-y. Two of them are already in the mail to their recipients, although that's not really a huge accomplishment since one of them is for a birthday that was in May and the other is for a birthday that was two weeks ago. On the upside, the other two will arrive on time for the birthdays they are meant for in August and September, provided I remember to put them in the mail .

These little notebooks are so fun to make. I think I've done about 20 of them now. I used a 5" x 5" Chipboard Art Journal {Stampin' Up!® item #108495} for the notebook. I discarded the front cover, substituted Pellon Peltex 72F II and a rough approximation of this fabric postcard tutorial for the front cover and fused fabric to the chipboard back cover with Heat 'n Bond Lite. To put the Hexies together I cut the fabric, a layer of Mistyfuse and bit of batting using the largest {5”} Go! Hexagon. I trimmed the batting Hexagon down by ⅜” all the way around and used Mistyfuse to hold it in place on the back of the fabric while I quilted it {I placed the Hexie batting side down and put parchment paper on the ironing board to keep the allowance of Mistyfuse around the outer edge of the batting from fusing where I didn't want it}. After I'd finished quilting, I pressed the edges over and sewed it onto the notebook cover.

LadyBug, smart girl that she is, asked me recently why I don't just stick with one project until it is finished. I didn't really have an answer for her. Obsessive Creative Disorder, I suppose. Sometimes I stick with a project from start to finish, but cranking out a quilt in two weeks is a rare occurrence for me. Even the Phoenix quilt took more time than that and the disappearing nine-patch blocks were already finished. All I had to do was sash and quilt it.

I stuck with the Sesame Street quilt. Sort of. It was fun and challenging enough to hold my interest and I worked on block after block. But when I saw I wasn't going to make the quilt show deadlines, I put it on hold and pulled out the Pinwheel Sampler hoping I might finish it in time. I spent too much time ripping out quilting and trying again and I didn't get that done either.

Finishing the Phoenix quilt and these four little notebooks {which were great FMQ practice} just feels good. I sometimes get in my own way . Starting the Sesame Street quilt in mid-April, while fun, took up a lot of time and kept me from finishing anything else on my quilting to-do list for this year. I plan on finishing the Sesame Street quilt within a year of starting it; I think for me the year mark is when a project becomes a Project Half-Done. And I have plenty of those I need to finish up in the next little while {as well as a few new projects; if only I could quilt full-time}.

I think I'm past the half-way mark on the quilting on the Pinwheel Sampler so I'm going to take LadyBug's advice and stick with it until it is done. You can hold me to it . If I even hint at working on something else before it's done, refer me to this post.

Black & Red Hexie Notebooks

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. –Lawrence J. Peter

I planned to start 2012 with a bang. It was more like a whimper. I wanted to finish three quilts in January. I finished nothing. We're already two weeks into February, and no quilts finished. But I did finally get these little Hexie notebooks done. I've only been working on them since September-ish. Looking at it another way, six weeks into 2012 ÷ six notebooks = one finish a week. OK, so maybe 2012 is going better than I thought, especially if I don't tell you that four of these six notebooks are for birthday gifts in October and November of 2011. These are for the girls in Twi-Quilters {red & black, apple theme, Twilight font monograms}. We do a little something for each other's birthdays, only I'm way behind. This bunch gets me through February, and then there isn't another birthday until May .

I did a little McTavishing on the red backgrounds, and outlined the apples and monograms on the Hexies. The lighting isn't the best, so you can't see the quilting on the Hexies, but here is one from the back.

To put the Hexies together I cut the fabric, a layer of Mistyfuse and bit of batting using the largest {5”} Go! Hexagon. I trimmed the batting Hexagon down by ⅜” all the way around and used the Mistyfuse {I put a little parchment paper between the Hexie and the iron to keep the allowance of Mistyfuse around the outer edge of the batting from fusing where I didn't want it} to hold it in place on the back of the fabric while I quilted it. After I'd finished quilting, I pressed the edges over and sewed it onto the notebook cover, which I did using Pellon Peltex 72F II and a rough approximation of this fabric postcard tutorial.

Today's post brought to you by:

Daisy Cottage

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home. –Unknown

I ♥ Lori Holt. Her appliqué quilt patterns are absolutely amazing. I'm {slowly} working on her Woman's Work quilt. Early this year, she designed the most adorable fabric line called Sew Cherry and nine patterns to go with it! I made these cute Hexie art journals with a bit of Sew Cherry.

Lori's at it again. She's got a new line of fabric called Daisy Cottage coming out in just a few weeks and she's been designing like crazy. I think she's come up with 10 patterns to compliment this line. Have a peek. You'll be absolutely amazed. Home Sweet Home, Ring Around the Rosy, and Daisychain are my top three picks.

To celebrate, she's giving away three fat-quarter bundles and three of her new patterns {details}. I'm crossing my fingers, because just look at this deliciousness.

Hexie Art Notebook Finishes

The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future. –Jessamyn West

I've been puttering around with these fun little art journals. This is the one I made for my giveaway winner, Peach Rainbow. This one went half-way around the world. I like to send things to other countries—I love that there is a little bit of my craftiness on at least four different continents.

And lest you think I'm done posting about Twilight-related things, I'm not. This one went to fellow Twi-Quilter, Angie. See, the little monogrammed a? Yep. That's what it's for. I love the apple batik fabric. It has been so much fun to use and share. I McTavished the background again, but chickened out on using black thread because I was afraid it might not look nice. That was probably a wise choice. It got a little crowded down there in the bottom right corner. Eventually I loosened up and by the time I got to the top right corner {I worked clockwise}, the design was better.

Today's post brought to you by:

Hexie Notebook Giveaway Winner

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. –Doug Larson

I love hosting giveaways! The anticipation of picking a winner is always so much fun. So without any further ado, congratulations to:

Peach Rainbow

who said, Congrats on your 500+ posts and thanks for the CUTE giveaway .

Miss Peach, check your e-mail and let me know which notebook style you'd like.

Thank you to everyone who commented. I really wish I had a notebook for each of you .

Hexie Notebook Giveaway

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. –Buddha

I wanted to do a little giveaway for my 500^th post, but it came and went and I didn't have any really great ideas. This is post 537, on a random Tuesday in August and since I have something I want to give away, today is as good a day as any.

Today, I want to give away a Hexie Art Journal. The winner can choose from the following designs: Sew Cherry {right}; Twilight themed {bottom left}, or Sanibel coordinates {in one of the three variations; top left}. Click on the photo for a closer look.

So what are you waiting for?

Leave me a comment and be entered to win!

The Fine Print:
• Non-blogging/non-Google users and international entrants are welcome.
• If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url {url optional} or anonymous commenting options and make sure you leave your contact information in your comment in case you win.
• Comments with no contact information will be deleted.
• Non-Google commenters, please leave your e-mail in your comment in the following format: address (at) domain name (dot) com.
• Google account users, not sure if your contact information will be attached to your comment? Click here:

• Duplicate comments will be deleted. Comment moderation is on, so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up. I'm notified of new comments and will approve them periodically each day, after which they'll show up on the post.
• The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm {MST} on Tuesday, August 9^th. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by 8:00 pm on August 10^th.

Good luck!

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol 16

Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
–Muhammad Ali

More Hexie Art Journals
These little notebooks with quilted covers are so much fun to make. I put together a few more. I made two using a bit of Sew Cherry by Lori Holt

And I did a third notebook using those darling Sanibel coordinates.

Love these? Want one? I'm having a little Hexie Notebook Giveaway. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm {MST} on August 9^th.

Apprehension
The class of '91 reunites in 5 days. I'm kind of nervous. Like a lot. And I'm kind of wondering why I decided to go. I think I got a little excited by all the chatter on Facebook. That's mostly died down now and my 18 year-old self is reminding me how much I did not like High School. Hopefully, some of the kids I hung around with will be there and I'll have fun catching up with them. At the very least it will be a nice dinner out {read: no cooking!} and Mr. Bug and I are thinking of getting a hotel in Salt Lake and making a weekend of it.

For your extreme amusement {or my extreme embarrassment, you pick}, a picture of me in those days-gone-by with the biggest hair I could find.

Pinwheel Sampler Update
I've kind of been procrastinating quilting the Pinwheel Sampler. My plans for it are a bit ambitions . . . and a bit intimidating. I mean, once you take that first stitch you're committed. At least I am. I have an "I don't unpick" policy which I like to maintain. I'm especially stringent about enforcing it when it comes to machine quilting because it takes three times as long to take out as it does to put in. With all that fancy FMQ I've got planned, there's plenty of potential for disaster.

So, I let thread, or lack thereof get in my way. I decided that I had to have Aurifil. There are only four shops in Utah that sell Aurifil. The closest of those shops is a 20-minute drive from my house and I really hate to drive across town for anything, so I put it off and put it off. When I finally made it to the shop, they only had one spool of off-white in the 50-weight and a teeny, tiny handful of colors on teeny, tiny spools, none of which worked for my quilt. I bought the off-white so I could get started and came home and ordered a color card. Hopefully, it will get here soon, so I can get the other colors I need/want.

With thread in hand, I got the quilt marked, basted and I started on the ditch work. I've got most of it done; well, the pre-meditated ditch work, that is. Some of the blocks obviously need it; others, I'll have to wait and see. I'm going to get the Little Bugs tucked in and then I'm going to spend some quality time with Grace.

Today's post brought to you by:

Hexie Art Journals

All art requires courage. –Anne Tucker

I've been puttering around with some little chipboard art journals and my Go! Hexie dies. What do you think?

This one is for one of my Twi-Hard friends whose birthday was earlier this month. Isn't that apple fabric perfect!?! I tried a little McTavishing on the background. It still needs a little work and I think the next one I do {good things come to those who wait, TwiQuilter friends } I'll use black thread so it shows up a bit more. I loosely followed this tutorial for fabric postcards. I made a few alterations; for the front cover I used Pellon Peltex 72F II double-sided fusible stabilizer {I got mine at JoAnn's, but couldn't find it on their web-site} and only used Heat n' Bond Lite to for the appliqué t and to fuse the fabric to the back cover {inside and out}. If you're interested using these cute little On Board 5" x 5" Art Journals {Stampin' Up!® item #108495}, I just happen to know the cutest Stampin' Up!® demonstrator you can order your supplies from. Her name is Jenna and she would be more than happy to help you out. If you live in the US, you can place an order through her web-site or you can contact her directly via e-mail {if you live outside the US, visit Stampin' Up!®'s website to find a demonstrator in your own country}.

As a matter of fact, this next Hexie Notebook was a little gift for Jenna's birthday.

I did the hexie a little bit different on this one. I cut a piece of batting into a hexagon and then trimmed ⅜" off each side. I used a piece of Mistyfuse to iron the hexie to the batting. I quilted it and then pressed the edges under, and because the Mistyfuse was the same size as the hexie, when I tucked the edges under they fused to the back of the batting, making certain that everything stayed in place while I sewed it to the cover. It was fun to quilt around these flowers.

And here's a third little journal, using another color variation of the same Sanibel coordinates. I used the floral print inside the front and back covers and added a little monogram on the back for fun.

Love these? Want one? I'm having a little Hexie Art Journal Giveaway. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm {MST} on August 9^th

Today's post brought to you by:

Hexagon-O-Rama

The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present. –Alice Morse Earle, Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday: Garden Delights

Once upon a time, I gave away some cutting services using my Go! Fabric Cutter. I didn't do too badly with the turnaround time for my first winner, but I very sheepishly admit that I really dropped the ball for my second winner. Today marks exactly two months since her fabrics arrived at my house in the mail. As soon as they got here, I got busy and within about a week-and-a-half I had all the colored hexies cut. But then life kind of got in the way and I haven't worked on them until yesterday, when I had a marathon cutting session and got all of the white hexies done. All told, I cut 1942± hexies, 795 white and 1147 in a rainbow of colors. I've already made a trip to the post office this morning and they are on their way to Marcia. My apologies for having taken so long!

When Marcia's fabrics arrived, I was really blown away with how pretty her selection of colors and prints is. Just look at how beautiful. I believe she intends to do a Grandmother's Flower Garden with them. Won't it be just gorgeous? Marcia, I hope you have so much fun! And please, keep me updated with your progress! I love sew and tell.

While we're on the subject of giveaways, I thought I might mention that tomorrow {January 9} is my 1-year blogiversary. And Wednesday {January 12} is my birthday {I'll be 38, if you're curious. And I know you are}. I believe some sort of celebration is in order. As it is tradition for the birthday kid to provide the party favors, check back on Monday for a week-long celebration.

Punch Drunk Love

Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. –Norman Podhoretz

I've been doing a little punching cutting with my Go! Fabric Die Cutter. In October, I gave away cutting to two people. It was really fun — they sent me fabrics and told me which of my dies they wanted me to use and I cut for them. These fabrics are what Julianna sent and asked me to cut with the Drunkard's Path die. How perfect — polka dots. L♥ve it! Julianna got me her fabric the week before Halloween, but I kind of sat on it for a bit. Sorry Julianna! I finished them up over the weekend and these polka dotted beauties are on their way to Poland! I can't wait to see her layout!

While I had the Drunkard's Path die out I decided to see what I could do with the pieces of Metro Blue I had left from the Wedding Ring wall hanging. I had a ½ yard cut of each fabric and didn't use much at all on the wedding ring. I bought Kona cotton in Ivory and Chocolate and a nice Quilter's Solid in tan clear back at the end of May and had a little something planned for these fabrics. But I wasn't loving the picture in my head, so I decided to go in a different direction. Cutting with the Go! went pretty quickly and then I laid it all out on the living room floor my design wall to so I could orchestrate a little organized randomness.

What do you think? Click on it to see a closer view. While I was laying it out, LadyBug mentioned that the polka dots were her favorite. A girl after my own heart. And any suggestions for a name for this quilt? I already know how I'm going to quilt it — loopy flowers in the center of each circle and stippling in between with a variegated turquoise thread. Yeah. I kinda have a crush on loopy flowers and stippling. So much for branching out and learning new techniques .

I saved this stripey piece of Metro Blue for the binding because I love stripey bindings. I always do a bias-binding so that my stripeys are diagonal {plus bias is so fancy}. But these stripeys are printed diagonally, which presents a connundrum. Do I do a bias binding and if so, do I do it so the stripeys run the long way {horizontally, I guess} around the quilt, or go up and down {vertically} on the edge of the quilt? I've seen a lot of cute vertically striped bindings lately. Or, do I do a regular old cut-on-the-grain binding so that the stripeys stay diagonal? I am not sure if I know how to do a regular binding .

I've still got my Go! Cutter out. My other winner, Marcia, sent me lots and lots of pretty strips of fabrics to be cut into Hexies. Those got here on Monday and I've been keeping a little tally as I've worked on them this week. When I finish, I'll show a picture of all her pretty Hexies and give you a number to go with it. Fun!

Thanks to everyone who left me a little Diamond in my comments yesterday. I've been wrestling with that darn pebble {I actually think there might be more than one} and haven't had a chance to reply to each of you personally, but I so appreciate it . It really put a little sparkle into my day.

Cutting With the Go!: A Giveaway

Quilters aren't greedy. They're materialistic. –Unknown

Not too long ago, I won an AccuQuilt Go! Fabric Cutting System. It was pretty awesome.

Since then, I've been thinking of ways to share it because it is just too good to keep to myself. So I've decided that I'm going to offer up some Go! cutting to the TWO winners of this giveaway.

Here's how it works: you send me your fabric and I'll cut it for you and send it back. I'm willing to cut whatever you'd like, up to one full quilt for each winner. How does that sound?

The details: Have a mountain of scraps you want cut to 2" or 4" {finished} squares or 2" {finished} half-square triangles? No problem. Been dying to do a Dresden? Easy peasy. Drunkard's Path got your head spinning? This'll sober you up. Do Hexies make you hesitate? No cause for pause with the Go!  You pick which die you want {from the four I have}, send me your fabric and it will come back to you all cut and ready to stitch together.

As with all of my giveaways, non-blogging and international entrants are welcome. If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url or anonymous commenting options and make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you win.

To enter, leave a comment telling me how awesome you think I am your ideas for how to use these dies.

The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm {MDST} on October 11. The winner will be announced by noon on October 12.

You might also like to enter my other giveaways:
• Guy and Eva Earring Giveaway {closed; congratulations to the winner, Cynthia L.}
• Zelda's Fancy Hat Giveaway {closed; congratulations to the winner, JaiCi}

Favourite Things Friday: Lori Holt

Her needlework both plain and ornamental was excellent, and she might have put a sewing machine to shame. –James Edward Austen-Leigh, about Jane Austen



Lori Holt is one if my favorite pattern designers. She creates the cutest vintagey appliqué quilts, ever. And her hand work is absolutely amazing. Not only is she creative and talented with appliqué, but everything she does is done with precision, beauty and style. And she's one nice lady.

I first saw one of her quilts at my favorite LQS during Shop Hop in Spring 2009. It was hanging on the wall half-way up the steps to the loft where all the best fabric treasures are hidden. I marveled over it for what seemed like hours. I couldn't get enough of looking at this amazing quilt that had a vacuum cleaner and a broom and a mop and furniture polish and a roll of paper towels appliquéd on it. The tag said it was made by Lori Holt. And I loved it. Then I noticed a basket on the stairs under it with the pattern sitting in it. There was just one pattern left in the basket, so I snatched it up and marched straight back down the stairs and bought it.

As soon as I got home, I read through the pattern from start to finish. I loved looking through it and soaking in all the amazing details in this quilt. As I was finishing up, I noticed on the back cover that Lori Holt was the pattern designer and she had a web-site. I got right on the computer and browsed through her projects. I fell absolutely in love with her work. I ordered two more of her patterns on-line that night. Then I started collecting just the right fabrics for these fabulous appliqué quilts. I prepared all of the freezer paper templates for that Woman's Work quilt, and then I got involved in other projects and my appliqué quilts have been waiting patiently for me to get back to them.

What with Grace being on holiday and everything, I thought now might be a good time to bring out the hand work for something to do in between cleaning the refrigerator and organizing the Little Bugs' toy area. But let's face it; making an appliqué quilt about housework is way more fun than actually doing housework, so I fear that all my plans of being Wonder Woman while my machine is in for repairs might just come to naught. Look at what I've been doing instead of cleaning the living room carpets.

A roll of paper towels! In fabric! I mean, how cute is that? Go ahead and click on it so you can see it in detail. I'm doing the broom next. And I suppose when I finish with it, I'll find an actual broom and do some actual sweeping with it.

Lori has been doing her quilts as a block of the month appliqué club at a couple of shops not too far away from me. Last fall I discovered that she'd just started the cutest quilt called Paper Dolls. They were already three months in when I found out about it, but I very nearly joined late anyway. My only hesitation was that the holidays were coming. I always get a little crazy with the making presents at Christmas. I decided it would be in the best interest of my mental health not to join the appliqué club, but to wait until she released the complete pattern. It is finally here. And look how absolutely adorable this quilt is:

{Photo © Lori Holt
Used with permission}

To celebrate the release of her newest pattern, Lori is giving the Paper Dolls pattern away to three lucky winners {check out her web-site for details on the giveaway and more pictures of this super cute quilt}. I'm hoping that I'm one of them. LadyBug would make the cutest paper doll ever. She looks just like the cute little blondie on the right {and has her personality too – look! Bandaids in the very same spots!}. And I think that Miss Butterfly would be the perfect paper doll playmate for the LadyBug paper doll. Which means I that if I don't win a pattern I'm going to have to buy it. And I might have to make two paper doll quilts.

If you're not into appliqué, don't count Lori out yet, because she is 12 kinds of awesome. She gardens, cooks, crochets, collects vintage, does traditional quilting, sews with her daughter and is an awesome grandma. Her blog is definitely worth checking out. Her Hexie tutorial {Part I, Part II and Part III} is the best I've seen and will definitely come in handy.

Thanks for the inspiration, Lori! I'm off to sew a broom.

Today's post brought to you by:

An AccuQuilt Go! Cutter of My Very Own

The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. -Wilson Mizner

I'm pinching myself just a little to make sure I'm not dreaming. It is, after all, the middle of the night. But I'm pretty sure that I won a Go! Cutter from Heather at A La Mode Fabric and . Check this out {Heather, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed a page from your blog as proof}:

Thank you Heather!

{And AccuQuilt, of course.}

I've been following Heather for ages. She is so creative and talented {and I'm not just saying that because I won a Go! from her giveaway}! Her cathedral windows pillow inspired my fabric choices for a cathedral windows quilt. And check out her hexies {these too}. You know the Go! Hexies die is at the top of my wish list now.

I've had a streak of really good luck lately. I've averaged a win a week for the past five weeks. That is pretty amazing. I'm not sure whether I should retire from the blog giveaway circuit for a bit, or keep on entering. Mr. Bug says I should give someone else a chance to win . In any case, I'm hoping that some of my luck will rub off and one of you will win a Go! Cutter too. There is still time to enter these giveaways.

Canton Village Quilt Works
If you haven't met Jackie, check her out. Giveaway ends on August 28.

Sweet P Quilting
She's done an awesome quilt with the strip cutter. Winners will be posted the morning of August 31.

Sew Many Ways
Karen is so creative. She's posted lots of fun ways to use the Go! Cutter dies. Giveaway ends September 1.