Morning Handwork

Lately in the mornings I like to get up, and I will listen to The Bible on my kindle.  While I am listening I need to have something to do with my hands so I  started locating my hand work.

First I found my tiny hexies.  These are 1/2 inch hexies.  I was doing alright until I ran out of my mylar templates.  The company I would get them from has closed down due to illness.  Lucky for me I found another company that makes the mylar templates and they are exactly the same as the other vendor.  The Scrappy Apple Yard which is an Etsy  and Ebay store.

I have these little boxes that Jeff brought home to me a few years ago.  Perfect for my tiny hexies.

Second box.   I have been trying to group my hexies either in fabric groups (same fabric) or color groups so it is easier to add to the main piece, which is pretty much just random.

I have been making some flowers too.  They will eventually be added to the main piece. If you look carefully you will see a couple.

Once I ran out of the mylar hexies, I started looking for other handwork I knew I had.   I picked up my barn embroidery.  Jeff bought me this pattern 4 years ago at a quilt show in Sylvania, Ohio called Kaleidoscope of Quilts.  How do I know it was 4 years ago.  Because my girlfriend and I went this year, and it is held every 2 years.  Two years ago Jeff and I were traveling across the US with the two oldest boys seeing the sites.

This is the first one I started.  I really don't have a lot left to do on this one. So I started rotating these two projects once my reinforcement mylar hexies arrived, but  I got stuck on the barn for a bit and couldn't figure out a mark if it was transfer or a mistake. I needed to find the pattern.  I knew it was upstairs in the master bedroom where all of my sewing stuff had been dumped.  So I ventured upstairs to the "sewing room" armed with a flashlight and baseball bat to beat back the fabric and projects lurking there. 

While sneaking upstairs I started thinking about some of my other hand work projects. I actually found them quite easily, and no I was not attacked by my stash and all of the unfinished projects. 

I have the hand sewing for this row quilt.  I bought the kit several years ago.  I made one row, my

first real foray into raw edge applique.  I was struggling with the blanket stitch.  Lessons learned from this first row of my first project?  When you have large pieces like this cut out your fusible, but cut the center out so you don't have these big stiff motifs to work with and try to blanket stitch around.  I am surprised at how quickly this is going once I started working on it.  I have almost all of the acorn caps done.  I think I have 1 1/2 acorns left to sew down, then acorns then maple leaves....those are a bit of a challenge. 

I started looking for other handwork things, like my Christmas stocking cuff...can't find it anywhere, but I have the floss box for it.  Insert perplexed smiley here.   Maybe if I find the pattern I will find the cross stitch part.  I have my red, white and blue yo-yos, somewhere and a bigger hexie project which is like a grandmother's flower garden--I found all the templates, but cannot for the life of me find the gold for the flower centers, or the white I purchased for the background.

Update---I went on a search and destroy mission in  returned to my sewing room.  Things I located?

 My bags of yoyos separated into red, white, and blue.  I also found the plastic pencil box that I use to store my yoyo maker, and squares cut out for the yoyos. 

 I started to sew the yoyos together in 9's. Once I figure out how many squares I have of this fabric type I will go from there. 

I found my Christmas stocking cuff cross stitch.  I worked on it a bit Sunday morning before church.  Almost all of the cross stitch for the motif is done, then the outline, and finding my chart for the name, that I had made. 

I also found my larger hexie project, and the white fabric to go with it.   sorry no photos.  But I am loving the fact I have multiple hand projects to work on when the mood strikes.

The other day when I was out at the dollar store I saw a plastic basket and thought it would be a good thing to have near where I sit to throw my handwork in, probably safer than having it sit on my side table where coffee, or other things can be spilled on it.  I have a really nice covered Amish basket somewhere, but I have no clue where it is, somewhere in the attic more than likely.

Do you like to do some handwork?  A recent convert member at quilt guild has tried many different quilting techniques, but she seems to enjoy the handwork the most.  It is so neat to see people pick up handwork because it gives you a different sense of accomplishment.