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i am a creative person. mother to a daughter who is an active young woman and a constant blessing in my life. i hope that you enjoy your visit here and that you will return often.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

15 minute challenge ~ feb. 20


more begonia love
the phrase "an incredible lightness of being" comes to mind . . .  



my weekly report card for the 15 minute challenge:


  • tuesday, feb. 14th: applique on secret birthday blocks
  • wednesday, feb. 15th: sampler practice with TAST (detached chain stitch) ~ detached chain stitch onto stocking
  • thursday, feb. 16th: fabric covered button using the detached chain stitch
  • friday, feb. 17th: prewashed, ironed &amp cut background fabric for hexie project ~ basted 7 background hexies
  • saturday, feb. 18th: basted 11 background hexies
  • sunday, feb. 19th: applique on secret birthday blocks
  • monday, feb. 20th: basted 9 background hexies ~ made 4 pinwheel quilt blocks for a guild member


  • if you would like to see what others are doing with their 15 minutes or you're interested in joining in, you should visit Kate at Life in Pieces. she will be doing some fun give-aways during the month of february for those participating in the 15 minute challenge.
    i have found it to be an excellent way to continue making my own sewing/creative time a priority.





    now to catch you up with my hexie project.
    many years ago i thought it would be great to have a grandmother's flower garden quilt and i promptly chose a yellow fabric that i thought would make a good center for my flowers and began making them. it was my first experience with the english paper piecing method and i liked the foolproof accuracy of it as well as the hand sewing involved. i believe all of my 'flowers' are of a different fabric although i haven't actually gone carefully through them to check. i have quite a few but don't remember the number off of the top of my head.  at some point i got distracted and although i thought about the project and even occasionally looked at it briefly and once or twice made a real attempt to begin again, in the end, i was still looking at an unfinished quilt.

    so sometime last year i seen various other blogs with a hexie wednesday project badge and read a few blog posts that eventually inspired me back into wondering about getting mine done. i got it out once again and decided that i needed to think about what colors/fabrics i was going to use between my flowers as a background area. i thought about yellow but decided against that. i eventually decided that a variety of greens was the way to go. i basted some green hexagons only to decide that browns would be better. so i basted some brown hexagons and prepped many more for working on while i recovered from my hip surgery. i happily basted many brown hexagons while under the influence of painkillers. at some point i was jarred into the realization that i hadn't made anything for my guild's annual christmas bazaar and time was running way short . . . so i decided to sew some of the brown hexagons into a doll quilt. i bordered it with a  vintage pink calico that i found in my stash, hand quilted it, added a dark brown binding and donated it. ta-da~!


    that was all well and good  and i was happy to be able to contribute. however, i still needed to finish the original flower garden/honeycomb quilt. after the chaotic christmas season  passed i got back to working on it and decided that i wanted to sew a few of the brown hexies around one of the flowers to see how (fabulous) it was going to look. i got about halfway around when i decided that it was waaay too busy and not the look i wanted at all. i immediately removed them.
    at this point i began to wonder if i was ever going to find just the look i wanted. i contemplated gently tucking the small box and it's contents back into the cupboard and pretend that it didn't exist for another ten or fifteen years. after all, there were certainly other unfinished projects that i could move on to.
    in a last ditch effort i laid some of the flowers on top of various solid colored fabrics as well as a natural colored muslin to see if something would 'grab' me. no grabbing happened. i was beginning to get very discouraged when i ran the whole thing by a friend who suggested that i use a shirting as the background fabric.


    so we tossed some flowers out onto one that i had handy and i thought it might actually work . . . i purchased a bit more of the same shirting and have now begun to baste shirting hexies. the next test will be sewing a few around one of the flowers . . .
    i'd love to know what you think. 




    recent gifts include:
    • being able to help my daughter as she successfully patterned and constructed a bag for her laptop
    • being gifted with a beautiful new sketchbook
    • discovering pandora radio


    16 comments:

    1. I too discovered Pandora radio recently!!

      OMGosh, I love your hexagon story. I think the shirtings was a fine choice and will look lovely. I look forward to seeing it sewn to the flowers.
      Your little brown quilt is lovely too:)

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    2. you get an A from me!
      I love your little hexie dolly quilt - so cute!
      I like the shirting idea and can't wait to see more. Beautiful bloom photo

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    3. Oh I love the shirting! Yesss. :) I also totally admire your little doll quilt. I love browns. Oh do I ever. Great work while you were under the influence, too. I have Begonia love this morning. :) And I really really love your collage of Hexagons. Great creativity in that. Have a beautiful day and oh yes… Pandora is fantastic!!!

      ReplyDelete
    4. I have started a hexagon quilt that I hope will come together too! I look forward to seeing the progress you make on yours. Your flower photography always takes my breath away.

      ReplyDelete
    5. I have a similar hexies flowers story too.. I thought a white background fabric is good, but then, I changed my mind to black and now I want a pink. But, I still have haven't finish my flowers and also the stepping the stones and because of this pressure, I stopped for few months. And now, I'm back on track and hope to finish it by this year! I hope I can get inspritation from you...I can't wait to see your garden in a shirting background! Perhaps I should follow you too...
      Thanks!

      ReplyDelete
    6. I think this shirting fabric is a BRILLIANT idea, Libby ! Absolutely lovely, and fresh, and vintage looking. Keep going, dear !

      XOXOXOXO
      NADINE (another hexie lover ;>)

      ReplyDelete
    7. I need to put a border on my GFG and then it'll be ready to quilt. I just have to decide if I'm going to hand or machine quilt it. I have no idea what design to use.

      ReplyDelete
    8. I think that shirting fabric is wonderful for your hexie quilt. Keep on stitching!
      liz

      ReplyDelete
    9. Hi sweet Libby Q!
      Hexies are pretty and perfect!
      Can we see the new sketch book?
      LOVE the white bloom. I hope you have a song filled day, good friend!

      ReplyDelete
    10. Wow, you have been working so hard. I love your hexies, and your storage jar for them. What a neat idea. But what I really, really love is the modern adaptation in the doll quilt.

      ReplyDelete
    11. I love visiting your blog. So much eye candy. I'm glad you didn't give up on the hexies. That little quilt for the bazaar is precious - I bet it was hard to give it up! And I think the shirting is going to work. If not, you can always try something else. Some projects are just more challenging.
      What is pandora radio?

      ReplyDelete
    12. Great week, 7 out of 7 days is fantastic! Love the hexies, the shirting background is going to make those flowers pop.

      I tried to comment last night and Blogger wasn't very accommodating.

      ReplyDelete
    13. Does the 15 minute challenge mean you spend 15 minutes that day doing what you had planned?

      ReplyDelete
    14. Fantastic photo of the begonia Libby - so bright and light and cheering. Well done. x

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    15. I like the idea of your 15 minute challenge. I do that when I clean house sometimes....I will devote the next 15 minutes to doing as much as I can. The reward is then getting to sit and stitch! Glad to see you on Stitchin Fingers!
      Deb

      ReplyDelete

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