A Bit of Sewing and Stuff

Good Morning!  

Since I have started having weekends off, Sundays have a new meaning to me.  One, I'm no longer dreading this day because now it is my day off!  Two, it's a  day to spend with my honey, sew some and do whatever I want!  Who wouldn't want that...  My day always starts off the same way:  

C*O*F*F*E*E 

After the first cup all is good with the world (and me).  

I'm making progress with my Hex on the Beach EPP quilt.  I started the first step, putting the paper on each piece.  Well, this is gonna take me a while since there are 1008 pieces!  I purchased some Clover Wonder Clips and I LOVE THEM!  They are wonderful to use and make my life easier.  The clips hold the paper and fabric together with no fuss. They stay put and are much safer (for my fingers) to use than pins.  I use them for most of my projects so if you don't have any... get some!  You won't regret it.  I have never sewn hexagons that have only 1/4 inch seam allowance all the way around.  I have always given myself a generous 1/2 inch seam allowance so learning to hand sew around each one with such a VERY small seam allowance has challenged me.  At first, it felt like 1/4 inch wasn't enough to work with but as time goes on I'm getting faster and coping with it.  I love that I don't have to cut any fabric.  Plus, since the fabric was cut on a machine, they are perfectly cut and the pattern is always in the right direction.  

(Image from Clover Website)

 (it's a start!)

Moving along... 

Star Blossom

Remember when I was going to add a plain back to my table runner?

Well, once again, I changed my mind.   Originally, I was going to use fabric I had on hand but then I went to a fabric shop.  You know how hard it is to resist once there.  When I was talking to the quilt ladies, they convinced me I could hand quilt with a pattern fabric.  I also decided to add a dark blue binding  to help tone it down a bit; the orange and green are pretty loud.  

So I tried hand quilting and had to rip it out.  My stitches weren't even and were very wonky so I'll try again.  But for now, this is how it looks, pins and all:

Another project I finished this weekend were lined drawstring bags.  I purchased the pattern from In Color Order where you can find a free tutorial for this bag!  I bought the pattern, which allows me to sell the bags.  I would like to try and sell them on Etsy.

When I was sewing these together I found that my ironing board was way too big to iron the little bags so I bought a mini.  I purchased it from Joann's Fabric and Craft Store.  It was $19.99 but with a 40% discount coupon I paid $12.  I'm sure I'll be using this for many future projects; it's very handy to have.

On another note...

I won a contest at work this week!  We had a chowder and soup contest.  People brought in crockpots of their favorite recipes and coworkers voted on their favorite.  A winner from each category was picked and I won!  My soup: Deconstructed Lasagna.  I found the recipe on Pinterest:

                                               Source: peggyunderpressure.com via Heather on Pinterest

I hope everyone in blogosphere is having a great weekend :)

                                                                      Kim