All Creatures Great and Small

 All Creatures Great and Small

Most of the hexies have now been sewn together randomly by hand with ladder stitch.  I had a few left over that I guess I could place here and there on some edges. We'll see. 

I measured it the other day but now that I'm posting I don't really remember the measurements; however, I think it was close to 48 x 60. 

 This has been a nice summer project but now I'm so ready to be done with it. The basting stitches and papers need to be removed next.  I'm actually reusing papers from a hexie quilt I made long ago and they still aren't all that worn out. I used old yellowed printer paper that was for an old tractor feed printer. 

 I was trying to decide what to do with the edges. On the last hexie quilt I made partial hexie parts to fill in the edges. 

But for this one I''m thinking I'll applique the hexie edges to border strips. I just don't know what I'll use for those border strips. It might have to be a solid or tone on tone (TOT) because all of the wilder pieces of fabric I've tried so far for a border have given me a slight headache. And who needs that? 

For now it's on the back burner simmering while I work on some other nice summer hand work projects. 

All Creatures Great and Small Getting Together

I've been slowly sewing my All Creatures Great and Small hexies together using ladder stitch. It's a nice project for hot summer days. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small Hexagons

With this latest batch I now have about 120 hexies. When I started making them I had no idea how many I wanted. I'm now tired of making them and have used most of my critter fabrics so maybe it's time to start sewing them together.  

For English Paper Piecing (EPP) I've reused old papers removed from a hexie quilt I made in the past and I've drawn new hexies and hexie parts on  graph paper generated at Incompetech.  

All Creatures Great and Small

This is another project I've been picking up and putting down all summer.  These are the latest hexies.  Now I have a total of 102 so should probably decide how many I need.  One of my granddaughters thinks she wants to be a veterinarian so I've been making this with her in mind using all the creature fabrics in my stash. When finished I'll put the quilt in the hope chest so I'll have it to give to her if and when she actually does start studies toward that goal. 

This and That - Handwork

I work on a variety of small handwork projects when it's too hot to hand quilt a large quilt. 

 All Creatures Great and Small

EPP Hexies - New Additions

I now have 88 hexies. 

 Staying Neutral

Crazy Quilt

2 new six inch blocks

Butterfly chain, lots of bullion rosebuds and flyleaf leaves

I also crocheted a snowflake and stitched it to a block with some couched fluffy yarn scraps that remind me of blowing snow. 

Chicken Scratch Sashing

And I've been slowly doing some chicken scratch embroidery. Each strip will be a sashing for a quilt. I only need 84 strips of chicken scratch.  Only 84! Who's idea was this? 

Meanwhile I've been eating, drying and pickling peppers...

 ...contemplating making sauerkraut since most of last year's supply is gone...

 ...eating and pickling cucumbers. Notice my old wire hanger trellis? It has lasted many years. 

 And I spend some time enjoying nature's flower arrangements.  The blue flowers are actually wildflowers  - tall bellflowers - that planted themselves there around a clump of Stargazer Lilies. 

But I don't think I'll stop and smell these roses. Darned Japanese Beetles!!!!! 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

All Creatures Great and Small

This time of year I spend a lot of time in the garden so when it comes to hand work I work on smaller projects instead of hand quilting on a big quilt.  One of the projects I worked on this week was my All Creatures Great and Small hexies.  I completed eight of them and prepped many more. 

They will go into the pile with some of the other critters...

...now totaling 83.  Not sure how many I want or the size of the quilt I'll make. I guess I'll just make them until I've made one from all the different creature fabrics I have in the stash. 

I have my pencil case loaded with more pieces - scraps from the 30s reproduction box.  These will be hexies with the star configuration.    Just an FYI - to baste fabric to my scratch paper templates I use old spools of thread from the thrift store. I'm not sure why someone would have all those itty bitty spools but they work for me. I then use the thread from the ends of machine quilting thread and ladder stitch for piecing.  My cross stitch biscornu pincushion I made years ago has seen better days but it fits perfectly into my pencil box.  I guess my little needlework scissors must be under the pieces.  So now I have hexies to go. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small Hexies

November finishes

 I work on hexies off and on when a small project is called for which has been the last couple of weeks.  I haven't felt like getting a quilt basted so I can get it in the hoop for hand quilting. Maybe today is the day. 

And that makes 62.  I guess I'll make them until I run out of creatures great and small. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small hexies. 

And now there are 48. 

I still have quite a few fabrics with critters on them. I guess I should figure out how many hexies it takes to make a lap quilt.