On the Road!!

My week began with a teaching trip to western Michigan -- explored the area a bit on my way there!

 I found the Otis Farm Audubon Preserve down one country road and actually got out of my car and just stared down this road for a few minutes because it was so lovely and peaceful.

Ever since my trip to New Zealand in 2009, I've been aware of natural silence and I found it walking around this lovely meadow bordered by old fence lines now marked by trees.

No freeway or train noise in the background!

Just crickets and distance crows.

It is the season for the turkey foot grass which has been planted in this meadow and I took quite a few pictures of it blooming against the horizon.  The subtle colors drew me in and it might become something?

As I headed out to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, I hoped I would come across a dune area that I could explore.  Sure enough, the Rosy Mound Dunes have been preserved for just that purpose!

The map warned me about all the steps but I wasn't prepared for the height of the dunes and the diversity of them -- not just little mounds of sand -- ancient huge accumulations of sand with mature forests and alluring little valleys.

This little area of loosely scattered oaks at the bottom of the stairs was teaming with birds when I got down there!

There was shopping, too.

Three new to me shops and some small amounts of fabric to fill in here and there.

This one is curious and I have no idea of it's destiny, but couldn't leave without it.

And a few new birds prints!!

Today, I'm heading back out to help Denise from Mercantile on Main in Coshocton, Ohio vend at the Granville, Ohio quilt show this weekend.  I've packed up lots of hand stitching for my Dodecagon project and expect to make big headway!?!

There are hexies to baste so I can keep up the #100hexiesin100days2017 momentum.

Look how many I've done in the first 52 days!

And kits of black hexies to make three more "loops" that will have a large scale print appliqued into the center.

I have two more dodecagons to border with the black hexies.  I'm anxious to get these two parts of the project finished so I can begin to assemble the center of the quilt.

My Sew Together Bag has the last four dodecagon motifs cut and ready to baste and assemble.

And it all fits into the Maker's Tote along with my date book, Kindle, camera, and reading glasses!

Actually, this bag can get a bit heavy.

And just in case I get all that done, I think I'll take along the box of hexies and the other 12 dodecagons so I can start to border them with the black hexies.

What an optimist?!?

Is that the way you travel, too? 

I'm looking forward to the drive down to central Ohio and hoping the fall colors are beginning to dazzle.

Hope your weekend is relaxing!

Mary

Hexie Mania

In my Instagram world, English Paper Piecing and hexies are really hot right now. 

There are so many interesting new designs coming out and I know of at least four sew alongs that are centered on EPP and/or hexies. 

I certainly enjoy the process!  I'm a hand baster and find that stage of it quite soothing.  

However, I need to remain practical and not cave into any of the sew alongs right now.  I have two large unfinished hexie/EPP quilts in progress and starting another project would only take time away from each of them.  So I've held back and held back and held back.  

But when I saw the #100days100hexies2017 hashtag pop up in my Instagram feed, I decided to use the daily posts and prompts to motivate myself to produce the 1700 or so hexies I'm going to need to complete the setting I've organized for my Dodecagon blocks.

This is my working diagram (generated in Electric Quilt) and the tally sheet for how many hexies I need and how many I have finished basting.

I had a good start on the scrappy black ones, but still needed 236 -- that took 20 days.

Now I'm working on the yellow ones.

I'm going through hexie papers like they are M&M's!?!

So I was glad to come across this package of light weight cardstock in my office.

Not sure what weight it is, but it's light enough to work well.

Everyday, I punch another 20 papers from a sheet.

And I cut a stack of hexies -- 12 to 16 so they are ready for basting when the opportunity presents!

This weekend, I was able to finish 27 while serving as welcome hostess during a local event.

Don't you love hand stitching out in public?

It's such a great conversation starter -- everyone in curious and wants to know what I'm doing!

The rows of yellow hexies are growing.

(Apparently my blacks have a lot of blue in them since they always photograph navy?)

I'll tackle the green ones next.

And then the pink ones.

If I have stitching time once the day's hexies are basted (trying to do at least 10 a day),

I've started to add the black ones to the dodecagons -- I make two "chains" of hexies.

Once those are complete, I add them to the dodecagon.

Removing the dodecagon papers as I go makes it easier to manipulate the edges and keep them aligned. 

I'm pleased with the progress I'm making though I don't expect I'll get all the needed hexies basted by the end of the 100 days.  Most of the participants are doing a single hexie every day and using a lot of cute prints so it's fun to browse the hashtag once a day and see what's new!

If you are on Instagram, you can check it out by visiting @sewfoxymama or the hashtag #100hexies100days2017.

Mary