It's done!! Yeah!

My hexagon star quilt is done and on my bed.

I'm so excited. I started this project in February 2009. I took many long breaks from it because life got complicated at times, especially when my husband had his motorcycle accident. 

This quilt was hand pieced the old fashion way. I used a cardboard template and traced it on my material and cut it out with a sizzor. The original pattern was too small for our big mattress so I had to make a lot more stars and add a border. The original pattern didn't have a border. 

When the top was done, I noticed it was not flat. There was no way I was taking it apart. So, I just basted it the best I could and quilted it. The quilting really helped flatten it. There are puckers and I went off my lines here and there. I did quilt it on my kenmore machine that's about 50 yrs old. It was not easy to quilt as it's 92 inches by 115 inches.

I love it! 

It's totally my style. 

Scrappy!! 

Imperfectly perfect! 

I hope you like it too!

Hey, I finally have a quilt for my own bed!! Yeah!!

 

I'm done the quilting!

Hi everyone, 

I finally finished quilting my hexagon star quilt! Yeah!!!!!

I only have the binding left to do. 

I'm so excited!!! 

 

Free motion quilting and a workshop!

Hi everyone, 

I'm still trying to finish quilting my hexagon star quilt. I quilted all the white part, all the borders, and now I'm quilting the stars. I have about 1/3 of the stars quilted. I've spent about 25 hours quilting it already. It is a big quilt and there's a lot of quilting to do. I'm loving it though. I'm so glad I'm keeping this one for myself. It will be beautiful when it is all done. 

I also attended a workshop and trunk show last week.

Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts, came to our guild and gave an amazing trunk show. 

Her quilts are so fun, and beautifully made.

I bought 6 of her patterns. 

I just couldn't resist. Haha!

The following day, I took a workshop with her. 

We had a choice of 6 patterns to make, and I chose the black birds quilt. 

I made 8 blocks during the workshop. 

They are so adorable. Lorna was very helpful with all the students. She's a great teacher and I would recommend you taking a workshop with her if you get the chance. 

I've made a few more bird blocks since the workshop, but I'm trying to finish quilting my hexagon star quilt. So most of my time has been devoted to that. 

I hope all the Canadians had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. 

I know I did!! 

Free motion quilting..

I decided to free motion quilt my hexagon star quilt instead of hand quilting it.

I just find hand quilting takes too long.

I've been working on this quilt long enough and I want to get it done.

I love free motion quilting.

Unfortunately, I don't have a long arm, or mid arm.

My regular sewing machine, an Elna Lotus that my mom gave me is great for piecing, and mending clothing.  But it is terrible for free motion quilting.

I tried it, then I tried my vintage singer, and then I finally asked my Mother-in-law if I could borrow her vintage kenmore sewing machine. 

I've used it before for free motion quilting.

It works beautifully.

I don't have a big quilting bed to sit it in, so that's a bit harder.

But, It has perfect tension, the thread doesn't break every two seconds, it has a super strong motor.

I wish I had a better set up, but, that's life right.

It's getting done, and that makes me happy. 

I'm linking with Sew Fresh Quilts
https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2016/10/lets-bee-social-145.html?m=1

I have a finished flimsy!!!

Hi everyone,

I have finally finished my hexagon star quilt top!

Yeah!!!

I've been working on this quilt since February 2009.

It is all hand pieced.

This quilt is being made for my own bed.

It's big!! 92 x 115 inches

It's not perfect. But that's perfect for me. Ha!!!

 

It's super wrinkly in this photo.

That's okay though.

I need to make a backing for it.

Then, I will start hand quilting it.

I hope you like it!!

My hexagon star quilt progress....

I've been working at finishing my hexagon star quilt the last few days. I'm very close to having the Center part done so that I can put the border on. I'm getting excited to be close to a finished top. This ones been in the works for over 9 years. 

I hope you like it!!

Hugs

Ariane

I'm back!!!

It's been quite a long time since I've posted to my blog. I stopped quilting completely after my husband had his accident. The only sewing I did was hemming and mending clothing. But a few days ago I decided to take a hand sewing UFO out. You may remember my hexagon star quilt. Well I managed to add two more rows of stars to it this week. 

I'm really itching to do some sewing and quilting. It's been over a year and a half since I did any. So I'm back! I'll do a bit at a time. I'm going to try to finish some of my old projects and maybe work on some small new ones just to practice again. 

Hugs

Ariane

Hexagon Star Quilt progress...

Hi everyone,

I got another row of stars attached to my hexagon star quilt.

I now have 11 rows of 17 stars done and together.

I have more stars made and I'm slowly working at getting another row done.

I need 4 more rows to get the center of the quilt done.

This quilt is not supposed to have borders, but I have decided to add some in order to have it hang down lower over the thick mattresses we now use.

If you haven't gone to the Wicked Blog Hop, you should check it out.

It started yesterday, and my turn is next Monday.

Hugs

Oh my stars.....

Hi everyone,

I've been busy working the last 4 days.

It was hot working Wednesday and Thursday with the high humidity making it feel like temps were in the mid 40 degrees Celsius.

I worked night shift on Friday and Saturday and the temps were more comfortable.

We don't have AC at work.

When I work night shifts I usually bring some hand sewing with me.

We do our hourly winds, and if everything is good, then we sit there til the next one.

So, I worked on my Hexagon Star quilt.

This one has been in the making for about 3 years.

I take long breaks from working on this one.

The last time I took a picture of this top in progress was here.

Sew, I got a few more stars to add now.

Hugs

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and I'm a guest on Stash Manicure!!!



Good morning everyone!!

It's 7:10 am and I just got in the door from work.

I just finished a 12 hour midnight shift,

and I'm off for the weekend.

YEAH!!!!!

I worked 7, 12 hour night shift in the last week and a half.

If you have ever worked night shifts, you know that your brain takes a holiday during that time. LOL!!!

I always worry that I've forgotten something important that I was suppose to do.

Oh well!!!

My hat goes off to anyone out there who works nights.

They are tough on the body.

I'm guest posting at http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/ today.

So hop on over there and leave me a comment telling me what you think.

I put up a little tutorial.

Nothing fancy!!

Well, I did get some work done on my hexagon star quilt.

For the March UFO challenge, project #1 was selected.

And that's to finish my hexagon star quilt top.

So, right now I have 9 rows all sewn together.

Two more rows done, but need to be attached to the main piece.

I ran out of cut fabric, and I'm making this quilt the old fashion way.

I'm using a cardboard template and cutting all my fabric by hand with scissors.

It's not a fast process.

But it's a relaxing process.

I love that!!!

I needed to cut fabric for another 68 stars.

Just a few.......

LOL!!!

So, I got 34 cut and I started hand sewing some of the stars.

I have 14 done.

I'm not sure I'll finish the top this month, but I will try my best.

Wish me luck!!!

And since it's St. Patrick's day,

I should be very lucky.

I just need to find that four leaf clover.......

Hugs

Some hexagon stars.....

Sew, I haven't blogged in over a week.

I pinched my sciatic nerve in my lower back, and I've been kind of taking it easy.

I did work on my hexagon star quilt last week.

I have 9 rows of 17 stars sewn together.

This quilt top is all sewn by hand.



It is really long, and it's hard to take pictures of it.

It's the size of a twin quilt now.

But, it's going to be a queen size whenever I get it all done.

This quilt has every different style of fabric.

It's like a story quilt about all the different fabrics that I have purchased since I started quilting.

I really love it.

I hope you like it too.

Hugs



Ah few things to share.....

Hi everyone,

I've been working the last two nights.

I've tried to switch most of my night shifts, but couldn't get rid of this weekends shifts.

Probably because we have the time change tonight and no one wanted to work a 13.75 hour night shift.

I don't really blame them.

It's going to be a long night tonight.

Ughhhhh!!!!

Well, I've been doing a little hand piecing. I don't know if you remember my hexagon star quilt that I'm hand piecing. It's been in the works for a long time. I do some work on it, then get tired of it, so I stop for a while. I decided to pick it up again.

I've completed two more rows of 17 stars. I have to make 15 rows of 17 stars. So now I have 9 rows completed.

Here's a pic of a few of the stars I just finished.

I don't have the two rows attached to the others yet.

At some point, I will do that.

This is one of those mindless sewing projects that I can do without thinking too much.

I've sewn so many of them, that it just comes really easy now.

The picture below is the last picture I took of the put together rows. I have one more row sewn to the body. I just don't have time tonight to take another picture of it. This is just to give you an idea of what the project is going to look like.

This is going to be a queen size quilt....at some point.

It may take me a few more years to finish it. But I still love it.

So, I'll keep working at it, bit by bit.

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Hugs

Ariane

I'm back with lots of goodies!!!

Hi everyone, I'm back from my Mom's. It was great to go there and relax. It's so peaceful there. I got to spend a lot of time outside. The weather was so nice. Not hot, but sunny and breazy. I sat on the swings and spent some time hand piecing some of my hexagon star quilt blocks. I'm completely done 4 rows. I have another 60 stars put together. I just need to add the white border around them. I'm doing well, considering I've been working on other projects and I took almost a whole week off sewing last week. I just wasn't well enough to do it. The picture above is of my four rows. It is very colourful. I love it. It's a slow process to hand piece all those stars. But it is very relaxing and rewarding. I went to Fabricland on Friday with my Mom in Sudbury, Ontario. They were having a 50% off sale for sewing club members, which I am. I bought 17.5 metres of fabric. I know, that's a lot. I got it for $5.oo a metre. I couldn't resist. I bought up to 3 metres of some of the fabrics. My daughter loves the colors. I plan to make a simple quilt for her double bed with it and a few pieces of summer clothing for my daughter and I. The red and white fabric I bought to eventually make a red and white quilt. Red is my favorite color. So I can't wait to have collected enough variety of fabrics to make it.

On Saturday, My parents and my family decided to go to some yard sales. The Anglican Church in the town they live in was having there annual church yard sale. This is a huge event in town. The deals are amazing. My parents got a lot of stuff. I bought a few things. I bought 2 pillow cases, some christmas fabric, 4 old magazines, and a Mary Englebreits book with a bunch of pictures of quilts. I thought it would inspire me. All this cost me $1.00. You can't beat that. Well, I have more pictures to share but I'll keep them for tomorrow. I hope you all have a nice day!!

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Hexagon Stars Quilt Progress

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. I have been working on my hexagon star quilt. I'm stitching this top by hand so it's a slow process. I have two rows out of 15 sewn together. There are 17 star blocks in each row. This is going to be a queen size quilt. I really like the way it looks up to now. It is going to be a very colorful quilt. I'm only making 2 stars of each fabric I'm using. So that is 122 different fabrics. It's going to be fun to see them all together when I'm done. Well, I have to work this evening. So that's all for today.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

More Stars!!

Hi everyone, I haven't posted anything in a while. It's not because I haven't been sewing. I have a few projects completed that I can't show you until later because they are gifts. But I will share with you the stars I've been making for my Hexagon Star quilt. I made 62 stars up to date. I need 255. That's pretty good. I have to cut more pieces. I've sew everything I had pre-cut. As you can see, this will be a very colorful quilt. I love that. I like to mix all the colors. I love all the fabrics and it allows me to have a piece of all the fabrics I love in one quilt. This is just the beginning. I still have 193 stars to make. WOW!!! That seems like an insurmountable amount. Considering I still have to put the white borders around each. Well, I'm having fun doing it. I know that I will finish it, because I just love the process. I have to do some housework today. So, I have to go. I hope everyone has a great day.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Looking for pizza and cellphone fabric

Hi everyone, I have a new friend Shelly from the Wilton Creek Fabric shop who asked me to see if I could locate a fat quarter of cellphone fabric and pizza fabric. She is making a quilt and needs a fat quarter of each of these fabrics. She would be willing to swap a fat quarter with the person who has a fat quarter of either of these fabrics. She knows that they are out there, but they are not being produced anymore. If you know someone who may have some of these fabrics, send me an email and I'll put you in contact with Shelly. If anyone can help, that would be great!!!

On another note, I started a new hand pieced quilt the other day. I love to do hand stitching, so I found a quilt pattern perfect for that. It's called the Hexagon Star. I got the pattern out of the Big Book of Best-Loved Quilt Patterns. It's a scrappy quilt. So it's suit me great. Here are some pictures of the pattern.

I have to make 255 stars for this pattern. I have 19 made. I've got a long way to go. I still have to buy the white material for the pieces between the stars. But for now, I'm just using what I have and making as many stars as I can. The great thing is that I participated in the Itching2Bstitching scrap mini swap and received some wonderful material from my partner Jodie. I was able to make 2 stars out of each of the pieces of material she sent me. The stars are very small. I really love this pattern. It's going to be a wonderful quilt. Here are some of the stars I've made. These are all using the material Jodie sent me.

This is going to be a WISP (Work in slow progress), but that's okay. I needed something portable and small to piece by hand. So this is perfect. Since I've already made a the Tumbling Block quilt by hand, I know that I can handle this project. It's essentially the same thing. All the pieces are diamonds. It's the colour placement that is different. The size of the diamond is smaller for this pattern, but that's okay. It make it easier to use up my scraps. Well, I hope everyone has a great day. I have to work evening shift tonight. Oh well!

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)