2 MORE HEXIES

Not much new except I lost a crown and the tooth had to be pulled.  No problem except that tooth has to be added to an existing bridge.  Always something.

1. Here are 2 more hexies that I have finished.

kitchen re-do

We are working on updating our kitchen and had the painters in yesterday.  Same color as now but nice and fresh.  I found a company that refinishes existing cabinets if they are good wood.  Ours were solid oak and weigh a ton.  There are 36 cabinet doors and 24 drawers. They took one door and did a sample and I was amazed at what a beautiful job they did.  They even filled in the holes from the old knobs so that you can place new ones anywhere you want.  I have picked a colour called Whiskey Maple.  It is a little darker then the existing oak but also has the glaze over it.  They come into the home and refinish all the existing wood that is exposed.

They tell me they will have it all done by the time we leave for Florida which will be in a month or so. I also have to go out and buy new handles or knobs. We will talk about the counter tops in the Spring. I will get a new sink and faucet then.  My counter tops look like new and are a plain almond colour but the kids say they have to be marble or stylestone, etc. to stay with the times.

Well back to sewing.  I have been working hard piecing the hexies.  I want them to be all pieced before I leave for Florida so I don't have to take all the fabric with me.  Bad enough taking all I do take and even then what you want is never where you are.  Joys of being a snowbird.

Here are 2 hexies I have finished.

CQI RETREAT

Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the CQI annual retreat in Kansas City, MO.  It was held at the Heartland Center just a few miles from the airport.

I had a great time and would encourage any of you who would be able to attend a retreat to do so.  The rooms were comfortable and the 3 meals a day were very good.  After 55 years of cooking for my man it is really nice when I get a chance to have my meals cooked for me.  I will never complain about the cooking.

It started on Wed. and ran thru Sun.  I flew out of Chicago and the flight was only 1 hour 20 mins. long.  It was so good to see some familiar faces and even more so get to put a face to a name I have been seeing on CQ Embellishers and CQI.  I know a lot of the gals from when the retreats were in Omaha.  Carol from Claremont is a good friend and I get to see her in Florida in the winter.  We room together if we are ever at the same retreat.

It is very informal dress wise.  You just bring stitching to work on if you want and informal classes are taught by the gals who can.  Lisa Boni taught 2 very good classes on intermediate embroidery and beading on seams.  Both classes had a large turnout and were thoroughly enjoyed.  Lisa had handouts for all.

Barb Warner was to teach a class on buttons but unfortunately did not come as she ended up in the hospital with blood clots in both lungs.  Poor Barb.  She is home now and recovering nicely with the help of her hubby and daughter who is an RN.  Her class was picked up by Tahlia from Washington State who filled in admirably.

There are a few highlights every year at the retreat but the one enjoyed by all is the gift swap.  The gifts quite often are handmade CQ items but can be anything sewing related.  Gift boxes filled with fabrics, trims, etc. are coveted.  It is a Chinese auction ? where you pick a number and all the boxes, etc. are piled on the tale and #1 gets to pick first.  Now #2 can either take a new item or can steal away the first item.  After being stolen twice it is retired.  One of the most saught after is Laurie B's wonderful black velvet bears embellished to the hilt.  This never lasts with the 1st or second person.

I actually stole my gift after it had been stolen once and therefore got to keep it.  It was a box put together by Connie Kalina.  The interesting thing about this was the colour.  A beautiful soft pink in various shades.  Connie died the fabrics, laces, ribbons, etc. with AVACADO skins and the inside pit.
You would think green but out came this beautiful pink shade.

I am attaching a few picks so you can see the items. She also made the 2 beautiful buttons herself.  What a gal.

Now you can see why I stole this.  I will have to make something special and use it all together.  Maybe a wonderful journal.  Stay tuned for the future.

Starting with the hexagons I had intended to post more often but was hit with a virus in August that went on for about 3 weeks and included a terrible headache that went up and down and awful muscle aches.  At one point I did not think I would make the retreat but cleared up the weekend before.  thank goodness.

I have more hexagons made plus about 30 pieced ready to take to Florida.  They are a lot of fun.  Little works of art in each one.

FredaB

HEXAGONS

Here is a few pics showing how I do the hexagons.  The first pic shows the muslin backing that I have drawn the hex outline on it.  Next I draw the piecing lines with very light pencil so they will not show threw in case a fabric colour is light. Next I turn it over and redraw the outline only on the back of the muslin.  This line is for sewing down when all the block is pieced.

Right side of muslin

Wrong side of muslin.

Next I piece the block with my fabrics.  After this I pin the fabrics then turn it to the wrong side and stitch all around the line I have drawn.  Then I stitch again about 3/8" inside that line and you will end up with the back looking like this.

Please hit the read more as this is continued on another page for some reason.

When all the sewing is finished you will have a hex all ready for stitching and embellishing.  You will note that I leave a very small margin of muslin but that is because I never cq in a hoop so extra fabric is not necessary.  If you use a hoop you will have to leave additional for this.

When embellishing is all finished cut away the muslin and extra fabric as close to the outer black stitching line as possible.  It will now be ready to add the batting and backing fabric of your choice.  I am using black cotton sateen even though very little will show.

Sorry about that.

This is one of the flowers I made in a class with Christen Brown.  I have a bag full of various ones that I will use on this project.

HEXAGON bug

I have been gone for so long that some of you will not remember me.  I really did not have too much of interest to show you but now I am cqing again.

I have been watching Viv from Australia and her hexagons she has been sharing on CQI..  She is doing a fantastic job and she did post a tutorial on how she does hers.  I also saw the book Foolproof Crazy Quilting by Jennifer Clouston which is all about the hexagon quilt she made.  This is one of the best books on CQ based on the fact that she supplies plenty of patterns and also cq instructions for  25 hexagons.  This would be such a help for a beginner and is certainly a help to us oldies when we run out of ideas.

I decided to make mine out of jewel and very bright fabrics and it gives me a chance to use  some of my considerable stash of fabric, threads, beads, etc.  I will outline all mine in black which will make the colors stand out.

Here is the first one I have finished.

GRADUATION, BIRTHDAYS, FATHERS DAY

June was an incredibly busy month for me.  We had a huge family and friends party to celebrate Kyle's graduation from Fremd High School.  He will be attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL. I never counted but guess something like 50 people coming and going. Lots of good food and seeing old friends of my daughters and their families.  Wonderful memories.

Here is part of our usual gaggle of boys and Grandpa Erickson.

Here is my daughter Sue and DIL Jeana lighting the birthday cake.

The birthday boys.  Sean turning 16 and Grandpa Phil we will not tell.

My DIL Kim and my son david came in from Minneapolis for the occasion.

This is me in the middle and a very dear friend of mine and her daughter.  We met 46 years ago when the girls were just 2.  They became good friends and went off to kindergarden hand in hand.  We moved when sue was 10 but haveremained friends all these years.

Birthday boys blowing out their candles.

The party was on the Sunday and on the Monday they had to be on the road by 5 am to get Kyle down to IL by 8.30.  Sue is standing in front of her old dorm she was in when she attended.  This is the same school Sue, my son David, her husband Jon and his grandfather attended over the years.  Jon;s father Phil broke the 

tradition  and went to an engineering school in Colorado.

Here is our graduate Kyle.  He worked very hard to get into U of I.  and we are very proud of him.  Great things ahead.