Petal Patch on hold while I finished this...

My daughter Madison got a new tablet last week, so I decided to surprise her with a case. We'll what started off as a quick project took a lot longer than I expected.

I made Hazel Hedgehog from Fancy Forest for the first time using the same fabric from her quilt. It turned out a bit more crinkly after the wash then I anticipated & took two turns in the dryer to  dry. If you're wondering how it went read on ...
First face, Surprise! my quarter inch was not exact (was slightly larger) and as you can imagine with this pattern accuracy is a must. So I remade all the pieces for the face.
Second face, I oriented the body/leg the wrong way even after reading the warning. I even flipped it down before cutting but still didn't catch it so big slice down the face with the block going the wrong way.  So on to making face number three, I have to say by then it was going much easier.
While working on the third, my presser foot broke. The lever went up and as soon as I moved my hand away it fell. The foot, well it never moved from down position. Yep, my trusty model singer I bought in '92 was having a bad day. Thankfully, as Chris was at his parents 5 hours away, I jumped over to the 128k that has been gathering dust off to side in my sewing room. Actually this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 9 layers of fabric and batting for that one section with that front pocket & binding. My '90's model while pretty darn rugged never would have gotten through all that! It was slow going at times, broke one needle and after a needle change & a good clean she kept on chugging. I forgot how much I love that machine, no searching under my desk for foot peddle (knee peddle in table) and as far as straight stitch -she's a dream.
Quilting was done on the 128 and my powerquilter 16. I need to practice a lot more, my free motion is a bit too free at times lol.

Hazel or maybe I should say Myrrh the hedgehog (Madison's Christmas gift 2 years ago pictured above) tablet case has been given and is now protecting her tablet.  I will make this block again along with the other blocks in the Fancy Forest. Next time with a few learning lessons in my quilting toolbelt.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend 🌷🐞

May already

I have no clue where last month went. I haven't made much progress on Madi's quilt since last post but I have to say, I've been whipping through hexies at a good rate. I've been working on them each evening while spending time with the family. All the the middles (25 in total) are done and I started surrounding them in black. I was going to try to make each into square blocks and orient them all going in different directions. I obviously didn't think this through completely (surprise, surprise) they aren't going to turn out into a perfectly centered square block size.

I'm discouraged its not going to be how I envisioned it. Truthfully,  it's all I can do not to put these aside and start on my next hexie project. Whats stopping me is I still haven't decided if it's going to be a star pattern or grandmothers flower garden (minus the extra border). I already bought the fabric Early Bird by Kate Spain. I do love anything stars but I think this fabric in a mass of flowers would be stunning.

Plans are still underway for our vacation reno projects and I'm getting more excited about it as it gets closer. It has gotten me thinking about other little touches we can make around the house to spruce it up. Like new lighting fixtures in the bedrooms, rearranging furniture to maximize our space (we really need to do a major purge first - seriously where does all this stuff come from?!?). We also found an incredible sink on sale that would really change the look of our powder room, but we'll see about that. Most importantly, I think we have finally decided on a new paint colour for the main living spaces (which I'm already starting to second guess). I will show you after its all done. As for my sewing room, it will stay the pale pink we painted last year. I can't believe it's been a year already since Martin moved to his own apartment... and yes his quilt is still waiting for me to sandwich and quilt it. I swear it's next on the list.