Jumping on the Hexi Bandwagon

I've been working on little hexis in my down time.  I'm sewing along with the Jo Morton Stitchers Yahoo Group as they are having a year long hexi challenge.  These of course will be all done in Jo fabrics, so it will be a warm rich quilt.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to set them, but I did decide on making the flowers.  My next one (yes, they're kind of addicting and I'm already thinking of a next quilt), will be done in lighter fabrics ~ possibly some 30s prints, or even modern.

I already own a Hexi quilt that my mother made years ago that I blogged about in This Post.  As you can see it's a lot brighter, made all from scraps and that wow pink ~ I'm thinking after the current cozier one I'm making, I'll need to make one with pops of bright yellow :)

My hexis are large by the standards of some of the other gals in the group.  My papers measure 1" on the sides.  Some of the gals are making 1/2" hexagons!  I might tackle that on my next project, but with this one, I'm using my AccuQuilt Go! cutter to cut the papers and the fabric.  I use the smallest hexagon on the Hexagon Die (which is 1" on the sides and 2" point to point) to cut the papers (I'm using a thin cardstock that I had on hand), and then I cut my fabrics from the medium hexagon shape on the die (which is 3" point to point, and 1-1/2" on the sides).  This makes the cutting quick and easy, and I don't have to purchase the papers :)  I cut a whole bunch at one time, I've even listed some hexagons in Jo fabrics in my Etsy Shop in two sizes ~ the medium and small hexis (I'm not cutting papers to sell at this time though, they can be obtained in large packs in many sizes from Paper Pieces). 

This is the back side of one of my flowers.  There is a good amount of seam allowance by cutting these sizes and that makes for low stress in basting my shape edges.  I'm going for low stress here ~ I'm taking some of these, along with an applique block in progress on my trip to Quilt Market.  This is going to be a crazy busy week for me, so you might not see me online until I get back. 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn 

Christmasy Thoughts

Are you thinking Christmasy thoughts yet?  Well we are ~ Lisa and I have decided to do a local craft show the first weekend in November.  I haven't worked a craft show in years, and never with my daughter, so we should have a blast!  

We'll be taking Quilts and quilted items of course, Infinity Scarves by Lisa...and Christmas items!  So that means among my customer orders I'm working on, and multiple deadlines before heading off to Quilt Market next week, Lisa came up for the weekend and we made Christmas ornaments and gifts.  Here's a little sampling of what we did all weekend...

(These wool trees were cut out with my AccuQuilt GO! cutter Holiday Medley Die and layers were fused to make them sturdy)

Dad cut up some wood for us ~ We're capitalizing on some of that hurricane damage that we sustained back in August :)

We put together some little dittys that I've been planning to make for a long time.

And Lisa brought me this neat idea.  These little post-it holders will make great affordable teacher and co-worker gifts!

We got out the scrapbook papers, ribbons and embellishments (I have a bunch of all of that stuff, because my scrapbooks are yet to be made). 

We made a bunch in different sizes, colors and styles ~ they were actually quite addictive, and we got a little carried away :)

And we didn't forget the Dad's either, they need cool stuff on the desk at work too!

To really make some progress we had to do most of our creating after the little ones went to bed at night.  Then we got out the snacks, turned on the TV and played ~ one night we got carried away and "played"  until after mid-night.  Even if we don't sell a thing at the actual event, I've already enjoyed this craft show...play on :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

And the Winner Is...

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my blog and my Winter Friends quilt!  I used the magic Random Number Generator to pick the winner of the Snow Days fat quarter bundle...

...and the winner is number 24...Kris!  I'm emailing you Kris to get your information to mail out your bundle :) 

If you're not Kris today, and you want a little Snow Days bundle ~ don't fret!...they're available in my Etsy Shop...and I have even more Snow Days on the bolt on my Website, and of course I have kits for the Winter Friends quilt Here on my Website ~ but hurry, it'll be gone before you know it! 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

500th Post Give Away!

Yes, this is my 500th post here on the blog!  I feel a little like Seinfeld ~ only not as witty (a whole lot of talk about not much).  Anyway, I thought that post number 500 was worth a little Give Away.  So in honor of the publication of my Winter Friends Quilt, I'm giving away this little fat quarter bundle of five fabrics from the Snow Days collection.

These sweet prints are designed by Teresa Kogut for Marcus Brothers Fabrics ~ and by the way, I think that's my all-time favorite snowflake fabric.  Anyway, we'll keep this short and sweet, leave a comment on this post, and on Friday I'll pick one random winner :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Snow Days are Ahead!

Even though we just enjoyed a nice Autumn weekend here, Winter is on the way, and what's more cuddly than a cute Snowman quilt! 

This is my Winter Friends quilt as seen in the Dec/Jan 2012 issue of Quilt Magazine, on new stands now!  I made it to be a quick and easy, generously sized throw quilt (measures 70" square) that can be made in a weekend and used all winter long ~ mine will be right on the couch by the fireplace for those cozy winter nights :)  It's made from the cute Snow Days fabric collection from Marcus Fabrics, and you can get a Kit for it Here on our Website!  (While supplies last...)

As you can see, back when I made this quilt and snapped the photo it was Springtime, and getting warm here in Maryland (see our window open in the background), so I had to really rush to get it finished for the photographer and shipped off to Colorado in time for the photo shoot while there was still snow on the ground there (...so I can attest to the fact that it can be made up quickly) ~ I'm still getting used to working half a year ahead of myself!

You can find this issue of Quilt Magazine on most news stands (I found mine at the grocery store), and I know that Walmart, Joann's and Barnes & Noble usually carry it too...And I just love the scrap quilt on the cover this month made by Paula Barnes ~ it may just have to become my new "sew offs" project :)

PS ~ Don't forget to snag the Free Pattern for Month Two of our Quick Mystery BOM Runner!!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little Finish & A Day at the Museum

I finally got this little applique block finished.  It was made for Cathy Marciano in appreciation for her first year of service as the President of the Baltimore Applique Society.  It was due last June, but I got side tracked with family stuff this summer, so I'm just now getting it done ~ better late than never, right?  BTW, the pattern is one of the bird blocks from the Margaret Potts Quilt.

On Sunday I volunteered with some ladies from the Baltimore Applique Society at the Maryland Historical Society Museum in Baltimore.  The museum was having a Women in the Civil War weekend (as a part of their wonderful Civil War exhibit that's going on right now), and we set up an applique display and shared some hands on demos and tips.

And of course there were quilts!  We were allowed some photos as long as we didn't use flash.

 Some of the quilting was simply amazing...

 This orangey one was my personal favorite :)

...Plus the museum has areas that I could not photograph like a wonderful portrait collection, an extensive Civil War exhibit that includes clothing, and of course the original Star Spangled Banner manuscript that lives there.  Definitely worth a visit if you're in the Baltimore area!

And I scored this out of print book!  The museum store found a long lost box of 50 of them, so I spent a good part of my October fun-money allowance on the second day of October because it just had to be added to my collection :)

If your interested in Baltimore Applique and you're on Facebook, the Baltimore Applique Society now has a Facebook Page ~ you can click Here to "Like" them :)

Remember to come back tomorrow for Block Two of our Quick Mystery BOM Runner!!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Winners!

First I want to announce that my DD Lisa who is super creative, and has been since she was a little bitty, has officially joined Heather and I on the Spring Water Designs team!  I'm so excited that she'll be sewing with us, and bringing her ideas and sense of style to our little endeavor here on Spring Water Path ~ it just makes it so much more fun to be working with my girls :) 

Lisa's first offerings are her Infinity Scarves that she's been busy trying to keep in stock in our Etsy Shop.  They are made of cozy flannel and are perfect for the cooler weather that seems to have arrived here in the Mid-Atlantic all of a sudden.  Check out our Etsy Shop for colors and descriptions ~ they are very reasonably priced so they make great gifts for family, friends, co-workers & teachers!

...And we have winners from the Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler Blog Hop!  There are actually Twenty winners combined from all the blogs on the hop!!  My two winners from here are:
Darlene
Karen in Tucson
Congratulations!!  Pat Sloan will be emailing you for your information, or you can contact her at pat@patsloan.com.

I wish I could have answered each and every one of the comments that I received, but I wasn't home all weekend ~ but I want to thank everyone for all your fun remarks, and even the helpful tips that some gave me when my blog was acting kind of hinkey (I think I broke my blog with that incredibly long post on Friday!).  It was a super fun week :)

Make sure you check all the participating blogs to see if you're a winner!  In case you didn't win a ruler, you can get one in my Web Store, Joann's online or check your local quilt shop. 

...Oh, and as a final bonus, Pat has compiled all of the recipes that everyone shared on our hop (plus two bonus recipes) in one handy dandy booklet!  You can go to Pat's Blog to download that PDF file :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn