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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Naughty or nice? A little bit of both

I'm so sorry for the silence. That puts me in the naughty category I guess! I just seem to have lost my blogging energy over the past few months but I have been sewing, teaching and doing trunk shows. Thank you to everyone who dropped me a line to make sure all is well. That was very nice and very much appreciated. All is indeed well with me.

This is one of the quilts I've been working on. The quilt is made of hexagons that are just over 1/2". I folded it up and put it on my sewing machine. Every rosette is fussy cut and I'm thrilled with how it looks. My plan is to add pieced borders to this quilt. Jinx decided this would be a great place to roost. Definitely naughty but I have to admit that he looks nice on the quilt!


In February I'll be doing a trunk show for the Region of York Quilters' Guild. February is Pieceful Quilters' Guild and April is Twisted Stitchers (what a nice name for quilt makers). Trunk shows are nice and I do enjoy sharing my work with others! I've been teaching at Country Clothesline / Spark Fabrics in Toronto (very nice). I know that registration is open if you are interested. There are two different workshops so far. The first is an introduction to English Paper Piecing and I call it "It's Not Your Grandmother's Flower Garden". The workshop is on Sunday, February 5. I designed two quilts for this workshop and patterns for both are included in the registration fee. The first one needs a border but the English paper piecing is done. It is called "What The Hexagon". This quilt was a great way to use up leftover scraps and that always feels nice.


The second quilt is called "Cotton Candy" because of the juicy candy colours! This isn't my usual colour palette but it is nice!


The second workshop is Fussy Cutting for English Paper Piecing and it builds on the first class. The quilt that Jinx is sitting on is one of the quilts that I will show at the workshop. It is scheduled for Monday, February 13. You will find more info here.

I've also been working on another project - very naughty when there is so much to do! I do love hexagons so here I go with yet another hexagon quilt. I saw an old quilt on Pinterest. It was made of rosettes surrounded by hexagons made of polka dot fabric and the path was made from a chintz print. I managed to find some polka dot fabric. Actually what I found were two different polka dots so I bought them both and mixed them together.


The white background was not nice (too stark) so I boiled a pot of tea and in went the fabric. Well actually, in went the pieced blocks that I had made so far, paper and all! I soaked them for a bit and then rinsed them in cool water and the result was very pleasing to my eye....nice! So I tossed the rest of the dot fabric before cutting it up for piecing. I'm really happy with how these hexagons are looking and can't wait to make more. This quilt will be all about the colour and print with no fussy cutting at all! Can you see the naughty fluffy toes in the upper right hand corner of the picture. He figures that he is being helpful but I have a different point of view!


I didn't have a suitable chintz but came across a new line of fabric, Pumpkin Pie by Moda. I had received a free pack of charm squares and the toffee colour background print worked perfectly with the blocks I had made. I received a 20% coupon from an online quilt shop that carried this line so I ordered the fabric for the path. I think this quilt is going to be very nice when done! I haven't decided how the edges will be finished but am mulling over a number of ideas all of which are nice.

So there you have it - a little bit of naughty and a little bit of nice. I'll try to be more regular in my posting. Until the next time, happy sewing!
Karen H

19 comments:

  1. I have missed your postings. I am glad you are well and quilting a lot.

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  2. So glad to see you here, Karen. Was worried about you and your mom. Love all four quilts, but especially Cotton Candy - something to use my Kaffe fabric on. Look forward to hearing more from you at your own pace. I know the shows and teaching take a lot of time.

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  3. Lovely to see you back in blog land. I so love your hexagon quilt,so pretty. Happy Stitching.

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  4. Hallo Karen,

    Love to here from you, what lovely beautiful Quilts. And the cat, so cute,
    I can not say, witch quilt of the 3 , i likes more :)
    The pink one, what lovely colours.
    I likes Hexagon Quilts too, i am looking forward for your new Project
    Kind regards Marika

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  5. I enjoy reading about your projects. They're all lovely. Thanks for posting. villacrestfarm@gmail.com

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  6. I'm glad you are well and keeping busy. Nice to see that Jinx is still living up to his name!

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  7. Little wonder you didn't blog! You've been busy creating beautiful things!!

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  8. Fussy cutting 1/2 inch hexagons takes a very special person. Unfortunately, I am not one of them, but I really love the quilt you made. Jinx knows a good thing when he sees it. Tea dying the dottie fabric was a great idea. The pathway fabric looks great with the dotted fabric.

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  9. So glad all is well with you, hope the decorating is completed now lol
    Jinx is one fine looking boy!!
    Stunning quilts - I guess the dunked paper templates dried okay then lol

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  10. Hello Karen, I was si happy to hear from you. Only last week I checked back with your blog, in case I had missed a post. I'm pleased it was "just" work that kept you away and not ill health or problems with your home. I did enjoy seeing Jinx, my, how he has grown. I have been asked to show my group how to EPP in August. I am very excited to show what you ave taught me and take my quilts to show. I am looking back over your tutorials to get inspiration!

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  11. So happy to see a post from you. So happy to see you making "nice" things. Hopefully all the house trouble has been sorted and you will have a terrific stitching year.

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  12. Finalmente Karen, sono contenta che sei tornata da noi. Avevo nostalgia di leggerti e di vedere i tuoi lavori. Anche io sto lavorando molto su un giardino della nonna...mi piacerebbe mandarti delle foto ma non so come mandarti gli allegati...
    Ancora un saluto dall'Italia Silvana

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  13. Glad to see you back Karen, it is always so nice to see what you are working on. Love the pretty polka dots.

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  14. Welcome back Karen. Inspired by your tea dying of fabrics to get them just right - such a good idea.

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  15. It's so nice to hear from you again, I've been meaning to drop you a line to see if you were ok. Love those polka dot pathways!

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  16. It's great to see you post again, but I can understand how life gets in the way! It sounds like you are a busy lady. Good luck with your classes and your fun new projects!

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  17. Missed your postings also. Like all the pictures, and glad that you are OK! You are certainly a busy lady - happy for you! Assuming all the remodeling is completed!

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  18. Good to hear alls well in your part of the world Karen. Your colours are always lovely, and looking at your polka dot hexies makes me want to start one.:-)

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  19. So happy to see a post from you. So happy to see you making "nice" things. Hopefully all the house trouble has been sorted and you will have a terrific stitching year.

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