Blog Hop Week 2!

Welcome to Week 2 of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!!!

This is week 2 of the Blog Hop being hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl; Stephanie at Late Night Quilter; Terri Ann at Childlike Fascination; and Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

Please "buzz" over and check out this week's posts from my new friends: 

Christy at Love You Sew

Patty at Walnut Street Quilts

 Sarah at Sarah Goer Quilts

Eileen at Eileen in Stitches

Thanks for visiting me and my friends too! 

WIP Wednesday - Hexy Update #5 and Mystery Quilt

Hexy Update

I have made more progress on my Hexie Project!

The last I posted I was in the middle of Hexy #3. Here it is in its final state!

Hexy #3

 You can see my other progress posts in these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. I'm really like how all these pieces are coming together. I still have the grey/black fabric to add as the row that pulls them all together but I'm waiting for all seven hexies to be completed before I do that!

I have already started on Hexy #4. The first few rows of the large hexy is quite easy compared to the final rows. Here's some in-progress shots of Hexy #4.

Blog Hop Time!

Welcome to the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!!!

I am participating in the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Hop! This is Week 1 of the Blog Hop and I am happy to be one of the first 20 participants! We have been grouped into four hives each being headed by each of the hosts: Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl; Stephanie at Late Night Quilter;Terri Ann at Childlike Fascination; and Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

My group, New Bees, is being headed up by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. One of our members, Sarah, designed this fabulous button for us! Isn't it fabulous?!

A little about me! 

I live a small town in northern Louisiana, with my husband of five years and my two sweet kitties. My sister and her three kids live in town also; I spend a bunch of time with them. If you follow me on Instagram, then you will see lots of photos of the kids as well as my quilting. I work full time at a local university as an administrator in graduate studies. I also teach one course in the fall and spring term for a community college. In my free time I spend it sewing and blogging!

Friday Finish - Tote Bags

Technically I finished these bags last weekend but it still counts if I don't post until today, right!?!?

My mom asked me to make her a tote bag for a friend who had recently retired. Her directions were bright fabrics, needed a top zipper and an outside pocket, and pockets on the inside.

Bag designed specifically for my mom!

I think I fulfilled her requirements!! This is a pretty large bag with starting dimensions of 18" by 20"; I then boxed the bottom at 2.5". I did do padded straps but didn't add batting or any interfacing to the bag itself. I'm not sure why other than I didn't want to add to the bulk of the bag itself or its weight. I do think next go around I will add some light weight interfacing to give the bag more substance and power to stand on its own.

I pointedly used grey as the bag's bottom to hide dirt plus reserve the pretty center fabric to work into future projects. I also wanted to reserve it as I actually made two of these bags! They have different closures though.

Twin Tote Bags!!! 

Thoughtful Thursday

On Thursdays, I will post a few of things that I have been thinking about. This includes projects that I thinking of creating, thoughts about life and family and just general get-it-out-there-and-out-of-my-head ramblings.

I am....

 ...excited that I am posting again!!! 

.... super-duper excited about the Mystery Quilt being hosted by Meadow Mist Designs. I have to pick out four fabrics this month. So far I have two picked: Kona Cotton White (you can't go wrong!) and Pocketful of Daisies below. Unfortunately it's an awful photo and I can't link you back to it as I bought the final 2.5 yards at $4.30 a yard! Plus I bought a very sweet mini-charm pack!

Bad photo I know but it's missing from the Fat Quarter Shop website since I bought the last bit!

Best part about this purchase is that it cost me less than $3! Yep! How, you ask? Easy! I still had the $15 gift card that I won from Sew Like My Mom in March of 2014!!! Yeah... never found anything I had to have. I am so glad I held onto it! This fabric is so pretty! I can't wait for it to get here.
** Secret: The five yards that I won at the same time? Yep, still sitting in my fabric shelves! **

Thoughtful Thursday

On Thursdays, I will post a few of things that I have been thinking about. This includes projects that I thinking of creating, thoughts about life and family and just general get-it-out-there-and-out-of-my-head ramblings.

I am....

 ...proud of myself for posting twice in one week! What!?!?! Yeah, let's not look at my track record on that! 

... have added a couple of new buttons to my side bar which leads me to: 

... happy to say that I have stepped out of my comfort zone not once but three times this week! 
  
FIRST -- I have joined in the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers!

I can't wait to get to know other quilt bloggers and get inspiration from all of them! A Facebook page has been set up just for us new bloggers so it's been quite entertaining for me to hear little digs from my phone all day at work from people posting on the page! I created a new group in Bloglovin feed just for this group of bloggers! I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything from my regular reads but still keeping up with the requirements for the group!

*I would love it if you would follow me there! You can find me here or through the link in the sidebar.*

WIP - Hexies Update - Part 4

I've shared the progress of my hexies quilt a few times: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. I've made quite a bit of progress in the last few months. My plan continues to be to create a total of 7 large hexies. These hexies will be composed of a total of nine rounds with the final (tenth) round being common to them all in the black/grey round.

I am really enjoying how I am progressing at this point though it is a bit slow going. Of course handwork generally is a bit slow. I have ready decided that this quilt will of course be hand quilted. I expect to be working on this project off and on for the next couple of years. Maybe less but we shall see!

Here are pictures of my current large hexies:

Hexy 1: Only one at this point with the final grey/black round