Up, Down, All Around

The Hexagon Hip Hop quilt with Brannock & Patek's Audra's Iris Garden  (Moda) is a finished quilt top.

I struggled with the fancy border, so it doesn't exactly match the pattern in Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott, but that's what quilters do: improvise!(I like it well enough for all the pouting I did about my mistakes.) I was having a snit-fit over sewing, unsewing and screwing up when Joey knocked over my "design wall" and ironing board. Inspiration hit me as I was cleaning up the mess: unstitch the ends of the remaining two borders and add more triangle units and recut the corner pieces. Fine!

The board Joey knocked over is a heavy duty ironing board I found at an estate sale. A young man carried it to the car for me and asked "does it work?" Well heck. I never thought an ironing board wouldn't work, but I answered I would find out when I got home. Driving away I thought why wait, so I pulled over into a cul-de-sac, pulled the board out of the car and set it up. Good deal; works fine. Wait. OMG, I can not fold it back up! I jiggled, felt around, turned it over, banged on it; I was about to have a panic attack thinking I would just have to leave it there in the middle of the cul-de-sac when whomp! Down it went, and I didn't even know what I'd done. (How freaking embarrassing.)

Here's Joey down on the floor on the quilt top seeing if I resolved the problems I was having; it passed his inspection.

Joey went up on the top shelf to snooze on the fusible stuff I need to cut for the bag.

Looks peaceful. I hate to wake him up and move him.

'Cause now he is down on my cutting table thinking he'll give a hand at cutting out. Some help he is, too. I had to put him out in the hall and close the door so I could work.

While I was working and moving things around in the sewing room, I discovered one of my Goodwill purchases will make a wonderful back to my Bento Box quilt. (I love when that happens!)

I got all the outer and inner parts of the bag cut when I noticed it was 2:45 a.m. I lose track of time when I play in my sewing room.

Joe knew it was time to go to bed. I found him down on the floor in the cat crate all curled up on an old quilt. (The cat crate was out because I took Kitten in to the vet to have her eye looked at; I was not sure if it was infected or not, but all is well. I certainly don't want to take chances with the only eye she has!)

Hexagon Hip Hop

 We are having beautiful weather here in Atlanta, so I have been able to sew outside on my patio. I am working on Hexagon Hip Hop from the Lintott's book.

Audra's Iris Garden by Brannock & Patek (Moda) has worked out quite well. I love the colors! 

Just so you know, squaring up is my least favorite activity, but being outside makes it endurable. 

 Since he is recovering from hernia surgery, my husband has been hanging around watching me sew. Monday night he told me this is his favorite of the quilts he's seen me make. I queried why, and his reply was that it was poufier than my other ones. He said "real quilts are poufy." I thought for a moment about what the heck he meant, since I was doing what I always do.

What he was looking at was the sewn strips that had not yet been pressed. Hah! I bet he was disappointed to find I managed to ruin this one by flattening it out too.

Smashed it flat as a pancake!

Dear me; all the pouf is gone!

That cannot be a quilt now.

Can it?

Because the pouf is gone.

So I ran back to the Goodwill store to buy that poufy quilt I'd seen the day before.

Here you go honey.

 The pouf that lasts forever.

100% 

will-never-fade

1970's

era

 vintage

double-knit

 polyester.

 My favorite block has a printed background.

How about that? A REAL quilt.

Okay, now back to my stuff.

I am auditioning the checkery brushed cotton for the border strips. Oh wait, I have to press the pouf out of the pieced border first. I won't have any poly-pouf looking mess in my quilts. That would make you-know-who happy. No sir; not happening. 

And June, the next photo is for you. Sweet baby Kitten has been neglected on the blog since Joseph James moved in.

But she is here, and she got to be outdoors too; soaking up some sun and breathing in some fresh air.

Thanks be to God for all the blessings great and small (poufy and not) in my life.