a nice surprise and some works in progress...

i was going through my google reader today, checking up on some of my favorite blogs. i saw this really cute grouping of images and then realized, "hey! that looks familiar!"



thank you so much, fat quarterly for including my little red and white hexie flower in this amazing post!

now, on to works in progress. i am not really one for "the process". i tend to just sit in front of my sewing machine and just make stuff. following patterns, for the most part, kind of freaks me out. and i've never done mock-ups of things i've wanted to make before. but the idea is growing on me. especially with all the swaps i'm doing. sometimes i get a weird little idea in my head and usually i just dive right in and make it or brush it off. but this time i decided to work it out in photoshop and see what others thought of it.

so, here's my work in progress image:



the person i am making these for requested placemats, and has a very distinct and simple style that i just love. also, i am really into the idea of square placemats! i want to make tons of gigantic log cabin square placemats for every occasion now. i really hope my swap partner ends up liking them. now all i have to do is actually sew them up!

a secret swap mug rug!

i have been a member of the photo-sharing site flickr since september of 2004. i used it for a very long time to post pictures to share with my friends and family but didn't really use it for social networking much. but in the last year, i've become very active in the flickr crafting and swapping groups and have found so much inspiration from so many super-talented people!

it's really helped me grow as a sewer. all the positive energy and great feedback makes me excited to make things and share them with others. i have really loved the swaps and bees that i have joined and i feel like they've really pushed me to make things that hopefully other people will love.

this weekend i finished up my project for the scrappy mug rug swap. both my boyfriend and i have been a little under the weather, so this hexie mug rug was a perfect "curl up in bed and sew while we're watching law and order episodes" project.




my partner said she loved things that were "whimsical" and i hope this is what she had in mind!

a winner!

congrats to sarah of pings and needles for winning the flea market fancy scrap pack! the random number generator picked her! i am hoping to have more giveaways soon, guys. i have been making hexies like mad and will probably end up using some for the next giveaway. better luck next time and have a great weekend!

some more hexies...

i used some really old fabric from my stash in these. i bought a huge bag of 3 inch fabric squares in 2001 and then they ended up in a box and i pretty much forgot about them. then they ended up in another box that i store my scraps in. i don't have a lot of just red and white fabric (what i needed for this block) so i thought i'd dig through my scraps and came across these fabrics! all but the two bliss fabrics are from the early 60's and are really great.

that deer fabric is one of my all-time favorite vintage finds. i actually took most of it out of that bag when i first purchased it and used it up. it's flocked and soft and really sweet. i wish i had yardage of it! it's so perfect.

it also helps me remember that i should stay true to the distinct taste that i feel like i have. sometimes when making things for other people i get too wrapped up in throwing together popular fabrics and i need to just let that go and make stuff that is really "me" because i always end up liking it so much more!

hello, hexies!

right now i am in the middle of so many projects! i belong to the [3x6] sampler quilt bee on flickr, and we just recently got our beehive information. this bee works a little differently than others i've belonged to. instead of sending out fabric and a block pattern, we pick a color group and our fellow bee-members make a block with their own stash. they pick the block pattern and then make a block for each color group we've picked. i can't wait to see what fun stuff they come up with!

for my block, i decided to do a hexie flower. i have one (sort of) put together and lots more hexies made.


my first finished flower is for someone who wanted green, grey and white. the ground for the block will most likely be a kona medium grey



some of the color groups come together really easily. this orange, red and white one was a breeze!



others make me realize what colors are really lacking in my stash. these two purples are the only ones i have! and they just won't do. i have to set this block aside until i go off my buying hiatus. the color group (yellow, grey and purple) is fun and i want to do it justice!