Flamboyant Flamingos

 The flamingo hexagon quilt is finally finished!

It currently has pride of place on the quilt hanger in my dining room.  I think I need a life-size wire flamingo sculpture to go with it - right?!

I was originally inspired by Barb Vedder's Hex Vex quilt.

At the time, Barb sold a pattern that included instructions and starter paper pieces for the different shapes needed for the quilt.  

As much as I loved Barb's Halloween theme, I already had a stash of fabrics that I thought would make a great interpretation: flamingos!  I pieced my first blocks in April of 2017.

Barb's Hex Vex description mentioned being inspired by Kim McLean's hexagon quilt from Quilter's Newletter Magazine, March 2005.  As luck would have it, I still had a copy of that very issue.  I immediately made a copy of the cover and consulted it repeatedly for inspiration.

It took several years to accumulate enough pieced hexies for a quilt.  The finished quilt has over 100 pieced blocks, as well as plain blocks.  It measures 60 inches by 52 inches.

I had a blast fussy-cutting all the different print fabrics I picked for the quilt!  I cut several "viewing windows" from card stock to help me visualize how different motifs would look as part of a block.  Later, I bought acrylic templates from Paper Pieces so I could cut block pieces using my 18 mm rotary cutter.

After experimenting with different fabric prep methods, I settled on using pre-cut card stock shapes from Paper Pieces.  The purchased shapes were much more accurate than shapes I could make on my own.  I also used a fabric glue stick to attach the fabric to the card stock shapes.

Once the quilt top was assembled, I sent it to Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads for quilting.  
The simple swirl design of the quilting was a good compliment to all the movement in the quilt top!

I had a big piece of flamingo fabric that didn't make it into the quilt top, but looked great on the back.  The yellow stripe in the sleeve matched the yellow in the flamingo print, so that was an easy choice.

And what does one call a group of flamingos?  

A flamboyance, of course!

Many thanks to Barb for the inspiration and Diane for the quilting!

I think I will be entering Flamboyant Flamingos in my local quilt show next year!

A Fine and Fancy Flock of Flamingos

 First Flimsy Finish of 2021!

I finally finished assembling all my hand-pieced flamingo hexagons.  I made over 100 pieced hexagons, and threw in a number of plain hexies to even things out.

The flamingo hexie quilt began in April, 2017 - inspired by Barb Vedder's Hex Vex quilt and pattern kit.  I prioritized finishing the project in 2020 and focused lots of hand-stitching time on the individual hexies and then stitching them all together as a flimsy.

This week involved a lengthy session of removing the paper pieces behind all the hexie parts, and starching/pressing the top in preparation for quilting.

I also prepped the quilt backing, which includes another chunk of flamingo fabric that didn't get used in the hexies.

In other news -

You may remember I was contemplating a t-shirt quilt marathon to use up a large collection of vintage t-shirts.

I found a chunk of Kaffe Fassett Paperweight (in gray) fabric in my stash that worked perfectly for sashing these shirts together.  I had to order additional fabric (Glorious Color; no affiliation, but they shipped the fabric the same day I ordered it!) for borders, so I'm waiting on that.

This will be shirt #1 for Dear Husband.  Some of these shirts are pretty stained, and there are some holes, but I couldn't convince DH to swap them out for shirts in better condition.  They all have happy memories for him, so I'm happy to help preserve the memories.  The fabrics being auditioned above probably won't get used in this quilt, as I found a big chunk of light blue and gray scrap that will be perfect for sashing, and some blue Grunge that will work for the borders.  Yay for shopping in the stash!

I'm contemplating how to approach this stash of Dear Son's shirts.  There are 22 shirts here, and not all of them have large designs, so I may do some cutting and piecing of the t-shirt designs to keep the quilt from being a monstrous size. 

Time to stop procrastinating and get back to the t-shirt quiltathon!

Dawg Daze of Summer, Chapter 2020

This is the time of year I'm usually the headmistress of what I lovingly call Doggie Day Care.  

My two sons rely on me to help them care for their dogs in August, while they are traveling for work and/or recreation.  In addition to their dogs, we had two dogs of our own, so there were frequently four large dogs at my house for several weeks.

This year, there is only one dog - McKenzie, our lab/golden mix.  Covid-19 restrictions kept my sons' dogs at home with them, and my older dog, Bailey, died last December.  It's been a quiet month so far, but McKenzie does love having all the undivided attention!

After putting the final stitches in my Grandmother's Choice quilt, I found myself (temporarily) without a hand-stitching project.

Out came the flamingo hexagons!  I've been using Barb Vedder's Hex Vex pattern to make flamingo-themed hexies for a couple of years now.  I'm getting close to having enough hexies for a wall hanging, so maybe this is the year this project will get finished.

I had a half-dozen blocks already prepped for stitching, so I finished those up and cut some additional blocks.  The fun thing about making these blocks is the more you play with the fabrics, the more ideas you get for fussy-cutting and fabric placement.

Another quilt project came out to play this week:  the "Lego" quilt.  This has been an on-going project for several years - a way to use up lots and lots of 1.5 inch scraps.

I needed four more blocks to be able to construct a 7 x 7 quilt.  I already had enough strips pieced for the blocks, I just needed to assemble the strips into blocks.

Then assemble the blocks into rows, and the rows into a quilt top.  I posted a picture of my progress on Instagram, and my sister said, "That's a lot of sewing!"

The flimsy measures about 70 inches by 70 inches at this point.  One more row would make the quilt a rectangle instead of a square, but I don't have it in me right now to make seven more blocks.   Maybe I'll feel differently at some point in the future.

At the beginning of the month, I changed out the quilts on display in my house.  It's difficult to get good photographs, as the interior of my house doesn't have a lot of natural light, but I did want to show of my newest quilt hanger, built by my Dear Hubby.

This quilt is a sentimental favorite, with friendship blocks from members of my Florida quilt guild.   The blocks date to 1997, but the quilt wasn't finished until 2006.  It was the subject of my first blog post!

  

Flamingos and Football

It's football season again in the U.S.  

I was never a huge football fan, until my sons got old enough to appreciate the sport.  They both played football for a few years in school, and developed a love of the game that persists to this day.  My hubby was a life-long fan, so I had to learn to love the game in self-defense.  

Now it's a given that my family will gather together for any opportunity to watch football on television - be it college or professional.  That means I need stitching projects to keep my hands busy during the games!

Just as the season was getting started I realized I had run out of flamingo hexies to hand-stitch.

I started making these hexies about a year and a half ago, using Barb Vedder's Hex Vex pattern.  It's been a great adventure in fussy cutting!  Just when I think I've run out of ideas for fussy cut blocks, I'll get a new inspiration.

I've been taking stock of my completed blocks and thinking about what styles and colors I need to make a nicely balanced finished quilt.  These hexies are all created from three 60º diamond shapes.

Inspired by Cathy's All Creatures Great and Small, I added some hexies made from equilateral triangles.

It helps to have some plain (not pieced) hexies in the mix, too.

The hexie stars are probably the most satisfying block for fabric play.  They've got the most pieces/seams, but they're so much fun!

I've been doing a lot of cutting and playing this weekend, so now I've got a stack of block components that should keep me busy for at least part of football season!  (Haha - if I run out of hexies, I've always got quilt bindings that need to be hand-stitched!)

Are you still reading?  You must like flamingos!  I've been collecting them for many years, so I'm attuned to all things flamingo.

You can imagine how tickled I was to receive this picture from my youngest son this week.  I'm glad to see he doesn't fall far from the tree!

More Flamingo Hexies

I've been in a hand-stitching frame of mind for the past two weeks.  My stack of prepared hexie pieces was calling out to me, so I got busy with needle and thread.  I managed to finish most of the blocks I had prepped back in October of last year.

My method is to choose a fabric from the flamingo hexie stash and cut as many variations as possible before I put the fabric away.  These blocks are two of the variations I've made from the paisley fabric.

Two variations from the green batik (sunburst) fabric.

Abstract orange flowers (?) on a fuschia background.

Flamingo admiration society?

This current batch of hexies will get added to the pile.  The project was inspired by Barb Vedder's Hex Vex pattern.  I still need quite a few more finished hexies, but if I keep taking small bites I'll get there eventually!

Good-bye 2017, Hello 2018!

It's a windy and chilly New Year's Day here in the Crescent City.  The temperature is hovering in the upper 20s (-2º C), but at least the sun is shining!  Dear Hubby and I are recuperating from a rather whirlwind trip to the mountains of North Carolina to see family and friends.  All in all, the perfect day to take stock of what's happening in my quilting studio and make plans for the coming year.

For the past several years, I've made a list of quilting priorities - based on WIPs and UFOs - for the coming year.  I keep the list pinned to a bulletin board in my studio and refer to it when I need to stay focused.

Last year, I joined in with Meredithe's 17UFOsin2017 project, which was a challenge to at least move 17 UFOs a little farther toward the "complete" category.  

I tweaked my notecard list and compiled 17 projects to work on during 2017.  (Many thanks to Kyle for the fancy stationery!)  The new list helped intensify my focus on UFOs and I managed to finish many of my projects and move some others along.  Unfortunately, there were still several projects that went untouched for the entire year!

Of course, one never knows when inspiration will strike, so several projects were begun in 2017 that weren't on any list!

Diane Knott's Scrappy Star Sew-Along called my name during the summer of 2017.

Inspired by Cathy and Gayle, I was also bitten by the Burgoyne Surrounded bug - as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  If you find yourself being tugged toward Burgoyne - here is a link to the great free pattern by Becky of Quilted Twins.

Flamingo hexies also crept into my 2017 quilting world.

Then there are all of the quilts still hanging out on my Quilting Bucket List.  

I've had this pattern by Edyta Sitar for years.  Will 2018 be the year I tackle it?

Or how about a Double Wedding Ring style quilt, like this one by Diane Knott?

I still haven't decided on my final list of quilting priorities for 2018, but I'm sure whatever piques my imagination will be colorful, challenging and great fabric therapy!

Sunday with Flamingos

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of work-related travel.  I'm still trying to get back into my usual routine and get some sewing mojo going again.  There are quilting projects clamoring for attention, but I just haven't had the time or energy to devote to them.

I did manage to do some fussy cutting yesterday so I would have some flamingo hexies to sew up today.  These are easy to pick up and stitch when time is short or your energy level isn't up to using the sewing machine.

I did manage to stitch some hexies during my travels.  These were fun to cut, especially the mini flamingoes with the pink and green swirls!  

This project was inspired by a Hex Vex kit I bought from Barb Vedder of Fun with Barb.  She no longer sells the kit, but it wouldn't be hard to get started without it.  This link will take you to a page where she discusses her original Hex Vex quilt and shares some other examples.  It's a fun project and great opportunity to play with fussy cutting and combining fabrics.

Flamingo Hexie Progress

On my recent trip to Florida, I procured some new flamingo fabrics for my collection.  Some of these will get used for flamingo hexies, the rest will wait for other inspiration to strike.  I have to give a shout out for one of my favorite fabric stores, A & E Pharmacy in Pensacola, Florida.  Yes, it's a real pharmacy, with a ginormous fabric store attached!  If ever a trip takes you to the general vicinity, it's worth the drive to check out the shop (hint:  it's not too far off I-10).  

I've made a little progress on my flamingo hexie project.  I'm really enjoying all the fabric play and fussy-cutting!

Fussy cutting might be my new fabric addiction.  I use templates cut from card stock to help me figure out which designs I want to feature in fussy-cut pieces.  I should probably re-cut these in template plastic, so they hold up longer.

Cathy was inspired to start her second hexie quilt:  All Creatures Great and Small.  She has lots of great fussy-cutting! 

A Little More Flamingo Hexie Playtime

I've had a lot of fun playing with my Post Card quilt scraps this week.  I've been cutting and stitching different hexagon shapes, inspired by Barb Vedder's Hex Vex quilt pattern.

I think this will be my go-to travel project for the next several months, so I'm trying to get plenty of blocks prepped.  Barb's Hex Vex pattern/kit included a number of pre-cut shapes from Paper Pieces.  The pre-cut shapes require basting stitches to hold the fabric in place for stitching.  I've been experimenting with that EPP technique, as well as a few others.

 

Another EPP technique is using freezer paper shapes and fabric glue instead of basting stitches.  These diamonds were cut using freezer paper.  Fabric glue will hold the seam allowances in place while the diamonds are stitched together.

I haven't decided if I like one technique better than the other.  I think it's always useful to have a repertoire of stitching techniques, so you can use the one that works best in a given situation.

I went ahead and cut some large, un-pieced hexagons while I still had large chunks of fabric available.  Fussy cutting all those different diamonds makes holey fabric pretty quickly.  Not to mention, fat quarters are not very useful for fussy cutting - at least not at this size (the hexagon sides are 3 inches).  I quickly found I needed a trip to the "modern" LQS in town (Mes Amis Quilt Shop) for more fabric!

And wouldn't you know I found a few new fabrics - completely unrelated to flamingos - that I NEEDED?  These two Robert Kaufman prints were too cute to pass up!  

Or how about this retro-style cocktail recipe fabric?  

 

And a new text fabric - this might even become the backing for my flamingo Hex Vex! 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my Dear Husband was cooking Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk for dinner.  I don't have a picture of our finished chicken, but you can check out the one in the link.  The resulting chicken was delicious - and even better the next day in sandwiches.  We liked it so much we're having it again this evening - and serving it to guests!

If you're looking for more scrappy inspiration, check out the links at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!