1248 Triangle Top update

I've been wanting to post these updated photos of my 1248 triangle quilt all week, but it's been hard to get any good pictures while we are in the process of moving.  This queen sized quilt is all done and ready to be quilted as a Christmas gift for my sister and her husband!  It doesn't hurt that this year late November is their 2nd wedding anniversary, which is the cotton anniversary!

I don't think that these photos really do the colors on this quilt justice (I hope to get some better one's post quilting), but I do hope that they show the cool design.

I love how the skinny solid border stripe separates the one block wonder blocks from the original fabric.  It really shows how the technique can change the pattern.  

I really can't pick any favorite hexagons because I like too many of them!  Although, I do like the ones that form swirls and stars a lot.

I think that I might have to make another one of these now because this one was so fun to do!

I also love how easy the pattern came together.  The book talked about laying the hexagons up on a design wall and tweaking them over the course of a few days or weeks to get a pleasing pattern, but really, I don't have that kind of time.  I took a much more serendipitous approach to the design process and laid them out on the floor and took an hour to re-arrange while the kids were in bed.  It came together pretty fast compared to how hard I thought it would be, and I love how it flows.  

I can't wait to get this quilted.  One more item checked off my Christmas to do list!!!  

Halloween 2014

It's my favorite time of year again!  The leaves are turning, the air is crisp, and the scarves are getting aired out.  It's also time for our annual Bunco Halloween Party.

I have had the pleasure of hosting two years in a row now, and I love decorating the house so it's nice and spooky for our guests.  If you missed last years decorations you can see them here.  This year, I went for spooky chic with lots of spider webs, spooky art, flying bats, twinkly lights, and Halloween colored tulle swags separating the rooms.

I learned from last year that lighting is super important when throwing a Bunco Halloween party.  Last year, the overhead lights were on, and it distracted from the spooky decor.  This year, I turned off the overhead lighting and only used fake candles, jack-o-lanterns, and lamps.  The effect was much better and it made a huge difference.

This year's art was super easy too.  I covered my normal prints with tea stained newspaper and then cut out a spooky vulture (courtesy of the Graphics Fairy) and cat silhouette for each frame out of black wrapping paper.  I then used the left over paper to cut out some bats for the drapes and wall.  I think my favorite part of the living room decor was the witches hat above the paintings.  Next year I think it might be cool to do a whole wall of different witches hats.  What do you think?

I also loved the dining area decorations. I left my travel plates up, but I covered the art with black poster board and topped it with a skull swag.  

I used up two silver metallic sharpie pens to make this print.  I don't claim to have the greatest penmanship, but I love this Halloween poem and wanted to include it in the decor.

The Moon has awoken

With the sleep of the Sun

The light has been broken

The spell has begun

I don't know who wrote it, but if anyone else does let me know so that I can give them proper credit.

Some of the other decorations that we had up are bare branches covered in bats and twinkling lights and a ripped and torn window covering.

 

tulle swags with skull corners

trash bag spider webs

and jack-o-lanterns made by the little helpers :)

We had a great night of Bunco.  I hope this post helps you to haunt your house or party too! 

Happy Halloween!

Christmas Tree Lane Quilt

I'm so happy to report that my Christmas Tree Lane quilt and table runner are almost complete!  In my previous posting, I had just finished the piecing while dealing with our upcoming move back to Texas.  The movers come this week and I'm just about to lose my sewing machine and fabric for the next few months :(

I've finished the quilting on both the quilt and the table runner despite not being able to find my supreme slider for some weird reason and running out of the variegated green thread that I was using to quilt the trees and borders.

I love the swirl quilting on these pieces and even tried my hand at incorporating a few pebbles into the swirls for the table runner.  I really think that my free motion quilting has improved over this last year and I was excited to do some feathers on my quilt border (although, I choose to do line quilting for the table runner border).

A few of my feathers went a bit wonky, but overall I'm pretty happy with their size and shape.  Now, it's onto the binding.  I'm torn between a fun holiday stripe and a great red plaid.  Decisions, decisions :) 

1248 Triangles

Once upon a time, I saw a one block wonder (or stack-and-whack, if you prefer) quilt at a show, and ever since then I've really wanted to make one.  Call me crazy, but with all the other things going on in my life right now (school, moving to a new home in three weeks, Halloween, and the family) I decided to try to whip out one of these quilts before we leave Germany so that it will be done in time for Christmas as a gift for my sister and her husband.

Yep, I'm nuts.  There are 1248 triangles in this pile.  These stacks of hexagons represents 8 yards of fabric!

Thankfully the whacking only took one night.  If you've ever read about these quilts, lining up the fabric is really the hardest part.  It took me forever to get my layers all perfectly straight, but it makes a huge difference in how the blocks look when they are put together. 

I'm now at the fun part.  I get to arrange all my hexagons together in order to create the design.  The books say to put it up on a wall and tweak it over the course of a few days, but I don't have that kind of time.  I'm going to be arranging these on the floor tonight while the kids are asleep and whatever design is formed is how it's going to get sewn together.  That's just how we busy moms have to roll sometimes :)

I'll keep you updated on how this project is coming together.  I'm thinking about just sending it to a longarmer for finishing because I don't really think I'm going to be able to do it myself in time.  Quilting a queen with a domestic sewing machine is tricky under the best of circumstances, but it might be a mistake to take it on when the movers are coming for my machine on the 16th, and I might not see it again until December.