I got the row attached to the bottom of the Patchwork of the Crosses Sunday night and never got around to showing it yesterday – I need to attach all the blocks together for the side of the quilt still to make it  7 rows by 7 rows.  What I have so far – the row I attached is at the top – the row to be attached will be on the left side I believe I have to look at an old photo for  color placement and see if I am remembering right.

My nephew graduated high school last night so I am sharing a few photos that family will want to see – so bear with me -  I went and forgot my camera – all I had was my camera phone, it doesn’t zoom well – here is Roger walking in.

After the ceremony.

His parents – my brother Jeff and wife Greta

For a song before graduation started all the seniors that are in the band took part – Roger with his tuba.

You all remember the two ferns that I wintered over from last summer – I piled fall leaves 2 feet deep all around them, finally this one is looking good – growing new fronds and I do believe give it another month and it will be the size you normally buy at this time of year – I saved $8 to $12 on this the other one is a lot slower and I’m not sure if it will ever perk up completely but I’m giving it a chance!

The clematis and roses – looking good – I hope the rain won’t be really heavy.

I hope everyone that reads my blog from near Oklahoma City is alright.  It was horrible hearing of that terrible tornado 4 hours west of us – the damage is beyond belief and the amount of people so many children that died is devastating for all.  We can all donate to the Red Cross and other charities that we know are ok and donate quilts when called upon, I will have several selected from the stack of finished quilts here at the house and maybe I can get another finished that is in the stack.

Yes that is right the quilts waiting in line to be quilted is getting too big!  I started to keep them in a nice box – and really I could probably keep them all in it but I have the backing fabric tucked in bags with two of the quilts and that fills up the box.

So what all is waiting in line – more than I like

From the left in the bag – the Red and Green Applique with a bag that contains the backing and binding fabric that will be on the frame in a 2 to 4 weeks – the zig zag quilt just needs a couple thin borders and it is done – next to the is the Not So Common Bride which shouldn’t be in this pile either as it is a work in progress which like the zig zag quilt got put in the wrong pile next up is Carousel, then the Scrappy Nine Patch, and then a Pinwheel that I made last year sometime – in the middle is the Red/Cream Dear Jane which I called “Insanity Revisited” quilt with a bag of the backing, binding and thread already picked out.

As I said the Red and Green applique goes on the frame next.  At the same time I am quilting that one I will pick out one of the smaller quilts and put it in the hoop.  I will possibly quilt two by hand in the hoop one after another.  The Dear Jane goes on the frame when the Red and Green comes off of it – ok so that leaves — ok who knows how many – because by then the Patchwork of the Crosses will be done – one hopes anyhow.  And round and round we go and we never get caught up because by next year I will have started how many more LOL.

A never ending cycle of stress free fun!!

At least I have the area cleaned back up and organized

I worked on the hand quilting Friday night and finished one section and it was ready to crank down in the morning for more work.  I normally spritz the lines out a bit and let it dry overnight and then it is ready the next day for more work. (always remember just spritzing the blue lines out isn’t good enough it still needs to be washed when quilting is done).

I got it cranked down and ready to mark the border areas as I have to make sure to see if the design needs a little adjusting so the corners go right.

I remembered that when I first began this quilt that I barely had to do any adjusting of the stencil pattern to fit this border and it worked out really well.  One section of the lines on the side is a little bit longer than the rest but such a small difference that I couldn’t even remember where it was when I settled down to quilt last night.

I think it will move more rapidly now that I am getting so close to the finish – I’m always more anxious to finish and start a new one!  It might still be several weeks off though but it will be finished in June for sure!

I was busy with hexagons yesterday – first our Friday morning quilt group meets at 9 AM and I am keeping my plastic storage box handy with all my cut out hexagons for the Diamonds are Forever quilt – everything is in the box ready to grab.  It is coming along nicely considering that I am mainly just working on it Fridays and the once a month group that meets the first Thursday night of the month.  I now have 61 diamonds finished – way to go – only how many left to go – well I need about 230 of them and then  all the white pieces that go with it – one day this quilt will get done!  I guess I should have kept track of my time for this one – would be interesting to see how long it takes to finish it – well I can always just figure out how long it takes to make one and multiply right.  In fact I might get a book of facts gathered up to keep with it now!   I never got around to pressing the ones I made last week so when I got home yesterday I got the two weeks worth pressed and put in the box.

I will be running out of this fabric of course eventually so I will need to start pulling from the stash – the color variety will vary greatly but I think I will stick with small prints – what I have right now are mainly brown, beige, red and blue – but because I need so many this will indeed be a very scrappy quilt.  Other fabric I pulled from the stash yesterday to maybe mix in are these–

Work was done on Patchwork of the Crosses as well last evening during the news.  Most of the row is now attached to the bottom of the quilt and then when that is done I need to get the row of blocks put together for the side – the blocks are made just not made into a row as of yet.

Now seeing as this blog post is all hexagons of one shape or another – I want you all to check out this blog post from Linda at  Gum Valley Patchwork in Australia.  This is a special quilt that she made and she has a whole blog post about it which is this link that I am giving you all to check out.  Now I think everyone will agree with me that this is a very challenging quilt!!!! I have made two Dear Jane quilts and this one is beyond that level I do believe – what do you think?  Do you want to make it   not I – too many things in the works right now for me!  Now maybe if it was 1 inch hexies I would consider it – but what are these 1/4”?

Just right for visiting!  Really, in the house in the morning – rain began to clear and we – Mike, our daughter Melanie and I too off for lunch, a little shopping and then home again to continue talking – of which we do almost non-stop when we visit.  She with Petite Point – stitching on a homemade frame – work is done on fine canvas or linen?– hmm guess those old frames come in handy huh.

I with my applique for “Floral Fantasy” purple done now on to the red pieces.

Melanie is changing over from dyeing vintage fabric to Petite Point I thought she was doing counted cross stitch at first and never knew the difference – I think she might have found the craft she likes now – it sure is occupying her spare time!  Instead of dying fabric she is dying her thread organically instead.

Off to quilt group this morning – I think the rain will be gone sometime this morning – good thing – everything got watered very well with rain on Wednesday evening and off and on Thursday.

I do hope none of my readers were near that terrible tornado in Texas on Wednesday evening – it sure looked like horrific damage to a small town on the news last night.

I spent a lot of time at the sewing machine yesterday to get all the strips finished to get the Carousel quilt finished and I did – I don’t remember the exact measurements but I think it is something like 62 x 72? around there.  I still have to press it, but I just laid it out on the floor to see what it was like – I will put it aside now in the “to be quilted” stack which is growing by the day it seems.  This quilted ended a little differently than the book in that I added the red squares in the sashing strips-I didn’t want it to be exactly the same.

No more new tops for awhile! I have to finish what I have started or at least some of them.  Last night I was able to get started attaching the row that I finished to the Patchwork of the Crosses – I hope to work on that more today – it is supposed to rain – maybe I will get a little done while visiting with our daughter who well be out later today visiting?

For those of you that paper piece here is a cute pattern I saw on Bonnie Hunter’s facebook page – here is a link to the site – Charise Creates she has more than paper piecing, I find her blog a variety of things.  The pattern link that I have given is on her creates blog site is in a setting of 9 patterns – this one is the last in the second row.

I have been asked what pens and pencils do I use for marking in more detail – here goes – my favorites aren’t necessarily your favorites but I have had great luck with these two.

Fons and Porter mechanical pencil with white chalk – I don’t remember where I got mine probably some place on sale but the link takes you to one site.

close up with the chalk – nice and firm but like all chalk if you press too hard it breaks – best to not lead off with too much chalk exposed.

Order extra chalk in the simple container

My blue pen of choice – again they all seem to be the same – blue – wash out with plenty of water and I mean don’t just spritz – wash.  No heat until after it is washed.  I get mine at Wal-Mart of whatever brand Hobby Lobby has and use my coupon.

Lot of piecing done on Carousel this afternoon – got up to 86 degrees yesterday and although I was outside off and on I spent a bit of time piecing.  I have one more strip on the bottom then both sides and maybe one more narrow plain strip all the way around – possibly some more design after this but this might be it – now measures about 60 by 72? something like that.

Almost ready to be attached to the Patchwork of the  Crosses – a little more of the aqua pieces and it will be ready to attach to the body of the quilt.

Thank you everyone who stopped by yesterday for a look at hand quilting info – so many nice comments – thanks.  The blog hop from Celebrate Hand Quilting goes on all week, each day there is a list of hand quilting blogs sharing information or photos – if you want to look at the info I had put in it was on yesterdays post.

A couple weeks ago right around the time I had a give away I entered a couple myself and I actually won two!  I received a charm pack of  Bella solids from Cindy in Wisconsin – In a Stitch Quilting – thanks Cindy.

Look at all these lovely colors – not sure what they will go into but believe me they will be used!

I also won a little give away from Lynette Anderson Designs in Australia – a little sticker than can go on the car window – or on my computer!  Cute –  everyone will know this is my computer!  thanks Lynette.

with 5 minutes here and there throughout the day I managed to get three rows of  Carousel blocks put together – I decided to do 4 x 5 in blocks and then go around it with another pattern – undecided as of this moment but using the same fabrics.  The width strips will have the cornerstones of red in them like the blocks have.

That bar across the quilting frame comes in so handy as you can see!

And 50 minutes of quilting last night -

More than one has said that I get so much done and I inspire them – thank you so much – yes I do get a bit done but most is done in bits and pieces of time throughout the day and evening.  I am in and out of the house all day – now that the weather is nice it is so nice to sit outside and read – it has been too breezy to take sewing out.  It is amazing though what can be done with 5 minutes here and there – I would come in the house and sew for 5 to 15 minutes, then go back outside to see if Mike needs help with what he is working on – putting new shingles on the back side of the roof at the moment – the last part that needs it.  Mainly just handing him things and doing clean up!  Putter in the garden, read, then back in the house to do laundry and what not and grab another 15 minutes at the machine.

Almost every evening I do sit at the quilting frame for the past 6 weeks or so – I really want to get the Bow Tie Medallion done by some time in June – wish it was May but I doubt I will get it done in two weeks.  While I watch the evening news for about 40 minutes I will pick up Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses and continue to sew blocks together and I’m getting closer to being able to add a row to the big body of the quilt top – but not quite yet – moving slow by 40 minutes here and there and it will get done.

I just plain started too many projects at the same time and I’m not finishing things – this has got to change I will be having too many quilt tops piling up waiting in line to be finished.  A couple of them I will soon start to do machine quilting straight lines on to make some finishes and save the best for hand quilting.

This week on the blog that I contribute to Celebrate Hand Quilting we will be having a blog hop sharing tips of the trade and just general information – if you like to check it out all week go to the link on my side bar or on the link above.

For hand quilting (and I think for machine quilting) a lot of us mark out our quilting using stencils or you can do it free hand.  I use the pen Mark B Gone for this (lots of different brands almost all work the same way) – I know there is controversy about this pen – you either like and have had no trouble with it or you do not like it and refuse to.  I’ve used it for over 20 years with no problem on any of my quilts and never and I really and truly mean never have had a problem with it as long as it is used correctly it works. Quilts that are 20 years old have never had the marks come back on them and they have been used and washed numerous times.

I mark all my stitching lines on this quilt that I am currently working on.

I use this big stencil for the borders  Most of my stencils come from The Stencil Company – good prices and a large variety.

I have a smaller stencil that I use for the background bits and I use a square ruler to mark quarter inch lines for the bow tie areas and on the background areas.

My tools of the trade – a small pair of scissors, King Tut thread (almost always I use this thread for quilting) a little rubber needle pull, and my “paddle” thimble which really works well at a floor standing frame as I can quilt in any direction.  I have been using this thimble for years and have 3 of them.

Needles – I used to always use Roxanne between #11 but in recent years after they changed ownership in my opinion the quality of their needles went down hill.  Someone recommended that I try Jeana Kimball’s Foxglove Cottage Betweens so I am currently using #11 and overall I like them but I think they bend just as easily as Roxanne but I find them sharper than Roxanne so I will stick with them for now.

The biggest pieces of advice I have for someone who wants to try hand quilting or already does but isn’t confident with their work –

1- don’t rush your work – it doesn’t really matter if it takes you 4 weeks or 2 years or more to finish a quilt does it – well I guess it does if you set yourself a deadline – – I guess I should say as a beginner don’t set yourself deadlines – you will enjoy it more!!

2- do not worry about stitch length!!  everyone quilts differently – with experience you will develop your stitch length – just try to be consistent.  I have been quilting for years and my stitch length still varies – depends on the needle – the fabric – the batting – if you have arthritis and/or other medical problems – DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT – it really spoils the experience.

3- relax! above all relax – don’t quilt for hours on end and then wonder why you are stiff – get up and move around, or sit in place and stretch every so often.

4-Don’t think you can’t hand quilt without a thimble – really and truly some quilters do not use a thimble and have no problem with that and really hate it that they are always told they have to use a thimble.  When I started I never used one – I used my fingernail – yes I wore a hole through it numerous times then I found a leather thimble and liked it – I can’t stand the regular standard metal thimbles on the finger – my fingers have problems and I can’t wear one.  Quilting is more comfortable though with a thimble and I encourage you to try numerous ones until you find one you like-  if you have trouble with your fingertips, finger joints or skin rashes as I do from medical problems you might find the paddle thimble (hand held) works for you or a stick on disc in leather or metal.

5 – Don’t make it work – just sit back and enjoy

6- if you have a problem with hand quilting ask someone for help –in this world of quilting blogs there is almost always someone to answer a question if you do not know someone who hand quilts.