Showing posts with label #100hexies100days2023. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Spending Quality Time Slow Stitching

It's already February although outside it feels like spring is in the air. 🌞 Frankly I don't mind if spring comes a few times this year 😊! I've done quite a bit of slow stitching this week and it's been lovely.

Lots of Hexies

This summer, the #100hexies100days2023 challenge started in August. I started off well but life really got in the way in the fall. Lets face it, 100 days is pretty long! On Instagram, I made it to week 11 with hexies of fruits since I didn't have enough berry fabric 😁 I did make 3 more hexie flowers with Christmas scraps but never did post them. That gets me to week 14 which is one week shy of the 15 for the challenge. I can live with that.

Berries and fruit for week 11

Christmas hexies for three more weeks

These hexie flowers haven't been added to the rest of my scrappy hexie blanket yet because I wanted to fix my very wonky side. This image shows it best. If the top row is relatively even, then the side row is really, really off.

Side row of double hexie flowers are off!

I undid the last three double hexie flowers. It's not perfect but it's better than it was.

I won't be winning any prizes for accuracy but it's a little better!

This is how much extra hexies I had to add before stitching the double hexie flowers back.

Trying to make the edge a little straighter

I worked on these hexies for a few days. Since I'm dog sitting Poppy this week, I'll keep working on adding these hexie flowers and making more double flowers.

Daily Meditation Stitching

Actually, this is no longer daily and not always meditative but it is stitching! You may remember the hand-woven tablecloth from Turkey that I'm stitching. It is coming along, but instead of daily, it's more in spurts.

It's not daily but I did ensure that I stitched the 24th block for my daughter's 30th birthday!

Celebrating my daughter's 30th birthday!

Here are some of my favourites, in no particular order. Sometimes I was experimenting and other times just stitching and playing with the thread.

Playing with variegated thread

Experimenting with variations of the fly stitch

Trying out battlement stitches

Experimenting

Trying to make fly and chain stitches work together.
I haven't succeeded yet!

One Monthly Goal

I have two objectives this month - to quilt my girlfriend's quilt and to finish ~~Falling~~ Swirling Leaves 3. My February OMG is the ~~Falling~~ Swirling Leaves 3 quilt. I worked on it and appliquéd all of the leaves. It's now ready to quilt!

A great way to remember the size of the
zig-zag stitch that I'm using for the appliqué

A couple of the leaves appliquéd

Exhibition - Chez Lucien Restaurant in Ottawa

Some members of the Out of the Box (OOTB) Fibre artists are exhibiting at the Chez Lucien Restaurant in the market. I have a wonderful lunch with my girlfriend, and we were surrounded by some very lovely art.

Wall art at Chez Lucien

Do you recognize the birds in Home to Feed?

What I learned

If it looks like I have trouble establishing a routine, especially when it comes to stitching, then looks are not deceiving. I've never been a routine person, so why would I expect to be one now?
I don't need a plan to stitch or quilt every day because that is what I do - and when I don't, it's usually because I need a rest. I am learning to listen to my body.
I do know that I have to bring more interesting thread from the studio to the living room where I do all of my slow stitching. That does help me stay motivated.
I undid the double flowers on the hexie blanket and then proceeded to stitch them back pretty much the way that they had originally been. The problem is that they look like they are in a straight line. It's just compared to the other line that they are not straight. Besides, try to make a straight line with hexies! 😁
I had a wonderful lunch at Chez Lucien. It's so cool to see my art on the wall! The other members of the OOTB also had some great pieces.
Poppy is not impressed with me - I've been writing this post instead of playing with her! Thank goodness that a few treats will set things right.
Did you see the Project Quilting challenge this week? The theme is inside out. I really have to think this one through!

Thursday, August 24, 2023

More Hexie Fun on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 444 of the Free Motion Mavericks link up. Thanks for visiting and linking up last time. I went on a short family vacation but I did bring my hexies with me since it's #100hexies100days2023 challenge. This all takes place on Instagram with weekly themes. Usually I make one hexie flower per week but my Scrappy Hexie Blanket is getting big and I would love to finish it this year, so I'm making more than one hexie flower per week.

Week 3: Notions and a Safari

The theme for week 3 was notions. I took out the few fabrics that I have with a sewing theme and found one with a knitting theme. They made for great hexies.

Notions among the wildlife

A ladybug on my notion 😊

Driving through the African Lion Safari in Cambridge, we saw lots of wildlife. Are we observing the animals or are we the strange beings in the moving cages being observed?

Posing for us?

Majestic giraffes

Hippo taking a refreshing mud bath

Week 4: Flower Power

Flowers are easy to find in my stash. I got a little carried away making many hexie flowers.

Hexies, a poster and lovely tats!

Flower Power on a bench in Stratford ON

Hexie flowers back at home

I believe that flowers are music for our other senses. That's why I included the music hexie in the centre.

Flowers - music for our other senses

So many flowers 😊

Amanda McCavour's Wanderings and Traces!

While in Cambridge, we took the opportunity to visit one location of Amanda McCavour's exhibition, Wanderings and Traces. I love her work and have taken two workshops with her. She creates mostly with free motion quilting (FMQ) on water soluble textile (like Solvy) to make two and three dimensional art.

This is an amazing installation. I can't imagine making that many of anything!

Pink Field Blue Bog

Details of Sample Wall

Amanda's Sample Wall

Cloud of Colour hanging from the rafters

What I learned

Bringing an easy and versatile English paper piecing (EPP) project is great for travelling. I'm lucky that I can stitch in the car. I really got lots done on my hexies.
I often want to visit an art exhibition when I travel, but end up not doing it because it's difficult to find or I'm too tired. My daughter helped me plan this so that we visited the exhibit first, then had lunch and onto the African Lion Safari, all around Cambridge ON.
I've been enjoying the cooler weather and stitching outside as much as possible. I finally mowed what passes for the lawn in my back yard - it's a little less wild, but it'll grow back 😎
Great news - I've added about half of the fusible interfacing to the back of the t-shirts for my niece's quilt. By the end of the weekend, I should be planning the layout of the t-shirt quilt. Finally!

Free Motion Mavericks

Thank you so much for linking up while I was gone. You are working on some wonderful projects!

For Island Batik's Challenge, It's All Up To You, Gail made herself a housecoat. Wow! She deconstructed a silk robe and made the housecoat using her stash of Island Batik fabric and silk batting.

The front of Gail's housecoat

The back of Gail's housecoat

I'm sorry, I missed DonnaLee's lovely toppers. What a great way to use up Christmas and other scraps!

One of DonnaLee's table toppers

It's now your turn.

Wednesday, August 09, 2023

An Exhibition and Hexie Love on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 443 of the Free Motion Mavericks linking party. I'm still not spending much time in my studio, but it's because I have a companion who would rather spend time outside or in the living room than in my studio 🐶. It's also #100hexies100days2023, so I've been having tons of fun going back to my hexies. 😊

Dog Days of Summer Into Fall

The Out of the Box Fibre Artists group has an exhibition up in one of our local libraries. The Alta Vista branch has a lot of wall space. I'm really looking forward to seeing the exhibit. I'm also thrilled that one of my pieces made the poster!

Out of the box Fibre Arts Exhibit

These are my two pieces. Clover at Dusk was made after a walk with Chevy. It was magical - in the field of clover were several fire flies twinkling around. The background was a fence and vines that were starting to turn red. It's a tiny piece, only 7½" x 8½".

Clover at Dusk

My second piece is Swirling Leaves. You've seen this one a few times because I created a similar one for an auction. I'm going to make a third one this fall as a wedding gift for my daughter's friend.

The original Swirling Leaves

If you're in the area, I hope that you have a chance to see the exhibit. Just check the library's hours.

Dog Days of Summer Into Fall exhibit

Hexie Love!

It's been a while since I played with hexies. As I reviewed my posts, I saw that I made a fun hexie project for Quilting Project this year (see Related links below) and then only posted about my Scrappy Hexie Blanket last November. This was the last time that I added anything to it.

I love the #100hexiesin100days2023 challenge on Instagram and have participated in many of them.

Here are my hexies for week 1. The theme was "This is ME". I included a mono-printed hexie with mostly floral fabrics. That purple flowers hexie is from the curtains of my favourite purple bathroom many moons ago. My son and his fiancé are on holidays in the East Coast of Canada - that blue-green reminds me of the sea 😊and of them.

Week one hexies - "This is ME"

There hexies are from week 2 - Summer Vibes. I'm getting more creative now. This time it includes summer critters as well as blueberries and books. They are all surrounded by a very happy sun 😎.

Summer Vibes displayed with rocks gathered on summer trips

Summer Vibes and my stash of ready-to-go hexies

As I was at it, I created a double flower hexie to add to my Scrappy Hexie Blanket. It started of as this lovely yellow hexie flower with a brown centre.

Playing with hexies outside in the back yard

It then made it to this double flower - poor Poppy acted as a not impressed prop for my picture 😁

Poppy and the double flower

You may have noticed that I messed up the order of the outside hexies. Oh well, I doubt that it will show surrounded by all of the other hexies!

Attached double flower

Here is the week 2 flower added to the rest.

Week 2 flower now part of the gang!

Finally, here is my very crooked Scrappy Hexie Blanket. The double hexie flowers at the top are actually the bottom of the blanket. I have one side finished and will keep extending the other side and making it a little wider. I am then going to figure out how to make it more even, probably by adding some whitish hexies as a kind of border...we'll see.

Scrappy Hexie Blanket so far

This is what the Scrappy Hexie Blanket started as during the #100hexies100days2018

The beginnings of Scrappy Hexie Blanket in 2018

My Companion

When it wasn't raining, I spent a lot of time in the backyard garden with Poppy. I love these photos. If the garden looks like a jungle, it's because it is 😊 The lawn (mostly plants) desperately needs a cut!

Poppy - waiting to see wildlife

Poppy reluctantly posing

Poppy in the sun. She doesn't care
if the lawn is cut!

What I learned

I'm really looking forward to seeing the exhibition. I saw the pieces when I dropped off mine, but couldn't stay because I had a stomach flu and didn't want to share it!
It was really nice to spend time playing with my hexies. It had been almost a year.
I'm going to have to raid my fabric stash to get a little more creative as the challenge goes on.
I've also been spending time stitching on my watercolour pieces. I'm trying to get a little more creative. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to share soon.

Free Motion Mavericks

We didn't have any free motion quilting going on last week but Melva finished another mini, Margo Yang is working on a baby quilt, and Gail made a cool bag for her phone, to use while she walks the dog.

Melva's black and white mini

Margo's design for a baby quilt

Gail's cell phone bag

Please note: there won't be a Free Motion Mavericks post next week, so I'll leave the party running a while longer. Feel free to link up anything you're working on and as often as you want. See you later 😊

It's now your turn!