Catching up on the past week...

 It's been a little over a week since I have posted so I will catch you up on things.  Not a lot of sewing but I have been busy.  

First up...look at the back bumper on my Envoy.  LOL!  I know it's dusty but I live in the country and on a dirt road.  :)  Anyway, I ran over a stick in my driveway as I was going to my sister's house and by some freak accident the tire threw it up and into the back bumper.   I was not please but, it's life.

 I showed Richard when he got home and I knew that he would just roll his eyes and that's exactly what he did.  He laughed and said that he was leaving it in there!  LOL! 

 Hunter had a ballgame on Friday and another one this evening.  He is the tall one in the orange.  Not a good pic but oh well. 

 Richard was off work this past weekend so we took Hunter to a local festival over in the next county.  He loves cars and they were having a car show.  Andrew had to work so he didn't get to go.  Hunter's friend, Mason went along too.  Look how tall that Hunter is getting.  Richard is 6'2" and Hunter is close to his height.  My baby is growing up and looks down to me...I'm only 5' tall.  LOL!

 A little fun at the festival.  Hunter in the middle, Mason on the right and my niece, Madison on the left. 

 Hunter riding the mechanical bull. If you look real close it looks like he has a little person hanging from his right hand.  LOL!  That is someone on the zip-line behind him.  :) 

 I prepped all of my kits for my next hexie class which is October 2nd. 

 I canned 5 pints of homemade hot dog sauce from my mom's recipe. 

 I also made Addison more hair bows. 

Two of the pink ones....one for Addison and one to sell. 

 

I guess that pretty much gets you caught up on my week.  LOL!  

Sewing right along...

 I'm making a little more progress on my Remember quilt blocks.  These are large 20" blocks.  Only 2 of these have the machine applique done on them.  The other 2 need to be finished.  I just have the pieces ironed to the background.  I really like this quilt because it is so different from any of my others.    Don't worry, I am still working on my Trail Mix quilt as well.  I am just sewing together some diamonds on it. 

 I am so excited about the photo below!  This is from one of the ladies that took my hexagon class the other day.  I think she has been bitten by the hexagon bug!!!  I love it!!!  I know that some of the people that took my class will never make this quilt BUT when I see someone this excited, it makes me feel great!  I love seeing new quilters getting started with this stuff.  I think she made a wonderful selection of fabrics and her hexagons look perfect.  I can't wait to see more of her work in the near future.

 Richard was off work Monday and Tuesday and when he is, it is hard for me to get much accomplished.  LOL!  Oh well, I love having him home.  I ended up canning 12 pints of chili and 1 pint of leftover taco meat on Monday. 

 Tuesday I canned 7 more quarts of pinto beans. 

 I also made a batch of these for Richard and Hunter.  Richard could eat his weight in these babies.  :)

 We also ended up getting a new propane tank set.  They should be back in a week or so to fill it for the winter. 

Richard is back to work today so after I get my housework done I will work on my quilts.  I hope to make a lot of progress on my Trail Mix diamonds and maybe even do a little more applique. 

Making progress....

Another block for my "Remember" quilt.  I'm loving this so far!  Sunday I switched back and forth between this quilt and my Trail Mix.  Both are by Edyta Sitar.  

 I got 100 of my 176 diamonds cut for the Trail Mix quilt. 

 Now to finish the last 76 diamonds, I have to do a little bit of piecing.  Let me explain how I will get these.  The pattern tells how to do this.  When cutting the diamonds from my strips, I have leftover scraps.  (see below)

 Cut those apart and you get two triangle shapes.  You then take a scrap strip that is the same size as the strips in the strip set and sew between the two triangles.  This then gives you a larger diamond shape.  Take the template and cut out the exact diamond shape.  No waste!

 After cutting my 100 diamonds I am left with a big pile of triangles that need to be pieced as mentioned above, then cut to size. 

 I ended up getting a lot of sewing time in yesterday!  Richard worked all day.  Andrew being the wonderful big brother that he is, took Hunter to the drag races.  So I was home alone until 7:30pm.  I made simple healthy tacos for supper which did not take too long to prepare.  I made two versions...extremely lean beef and chicken which I used a jar of my chicken breast that I canned a week or so ago. 

Remember...

 I decided to try out a new block from another Edyta Sitar pattern.  Right now she is my favorite designer.  I have a few of her patterns but each of them so far take some work.  :)  This is a 20 inch block. 

 The pattern is called, Remember.  It's not real big so maybe I can get it done.  LOL!  I am also doing it by machine applique. 

 The machine that I usually sew on downstairs is a straight stitch machine and I have several vintage machines that have zig-zag but I decided to open this machine up.  It was given to me still in the box.  I changed out the needle to a 70/10 and I am using smoke nylon thread on top and cotton thread to match the background in the bobbin.  It is working out nicely.  I will say that it seem odd not sewing on an old machine.  I can really tell a difference in them. 

 Meanwhile, I am still cutting diamonds out of my strips for my Trail Mix quilt which is also designed by Edyta Sitar. 

 I have several cut but I need a total of 176 diamonds and I get sidetracked.  :)

 I also baked more homemade buttermilk biscuits for the freezer.

 I ended up putting 3 1/2 dozen in the freezer and that does not last a week.  Shew...they are vultures!!!

 I'm hoping that I can get most of my diamonds cut today and maybe assemble another applique block and have it ready for the machine.  I also have lots of laundry and housework to do after Church so we will see what all that I can get done.

Hexagon Newspaper Article...

I am one happy woman!  My Facebook was blowing up with messages from people asking if there was going to be another class.  I was also tagged in several photos showing the hexie flowers that they had finished up!  That was amazing!  They all did a wonderful job!  

Here is a link from the local newspaper about our class!!!!  Wonderful!!!!

http://www.thelevisalazer.com/lifestyles/12140-community-of-sharing-hosts-quilting-class-at-blaine.html

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TheLevisaLazer.com - Lifestyles

COMMUNITY OF SHARING HOSTS QUILTING CLASS AT BLAINE

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Written by Jennifer Ferguson

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

 Class was taught by the talented Kristie Layne

Layne demonstrated just a few of the endless creation possibilities that can come from the hexagon shape. Scraps of fabric, strands of thread and ladies eager to learn filled Blaine Community Center Tuesday evening as the Kentucky Community of Sharing hosted a Quilting Class, the first of its’ kind in this area. 

The class was taught by the talented Kristie Layne. A Lawrence County resident who has been quilting for over twenty years. 

“I’ve made over 250 quilts,” said Layne. “I’ve sold a few, gave several as gifts and have over 100 that I’ve kept.”

At no charge to participants, each received a starter kit that provided them with the pieces and tools needed to make a quilt piece following the pattern Grandmother’s Flower Garden. Layne taught using a method called English Paper Piecing, an age old technique that dates back to the late 1700’s and became popular in the United States during the Depression era. Paper piecing is the process of taking a piece of fabric and basting to a thin cardstock or paper to add stability making it easier to work with and keep points precise. 

Following Layne’s example, the class was able to cut, stitch and piece a full hexagon quilt piece.

Participants observed as Layne demonstrated how to construct the quilt piece. “The possibilities with the hexagon shape are endless!” said Layne, who had multiple examples on hand to demonstrate. 

While most participants had never had any quilting experience, many found it to be very rewarding. 

“I feel accomplished,” said Marcella Staniford of Martha. “Just learning to complete this one piece is very rewarding.”

Throughout the class Layne reminded students to not “over think” or “rush” the process. 

“It’s not a project that is finished quickly, so don’t get discouraged,” said Layne. “Just relax and enjoy the process.”

For more information on quilting classes, contact Layne at 606-652-9880 or layne1142@yahoo.com  She can also be reached via Facebook by searching Kristie Layne or through her blog, www.quiltingcowgirl.blogspot.com 

Completed Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt piece.

Participant Linda Young receives assistance from Layne.

I am super excited about doing more of these!!!! 

Grandmother's Flower Garden Class....

 Hexie class review....I had a blast!  I hope everyone else did too.  Hunter was with me and he took the photos. 

 I am most comfortable when talking about quilting.  I love it that much.  It is my comfort zone. 

 We had a great turnout.

 The youngest taking the class was 10!  You never know, she may be a quilter some day.  I love seeing younger people doing this.  Also had girls from Hunter's class along with their mothers. 

 This is my neighbor...well she lives about 3 miles away. 

 Everyone was working hard on their hexies...

 I think that everyone left knowing how to do this...

 Newly retired....maybe she will enjoy quilting.  :)

 Sewing right along...

 More sewing...the lady on the end is a Bonnie Hunter fan!  :) 

 Last but not least...my sister Chantal!!!!  This is the first time that I have ever known of my sister sewing!!!  I wanted to cry when she told me that she was going.  LOL!  I've tried for years to get her to try quilting but she never had any interest in it really.  She and Addison came to class.  Who knows someday Addison may be a quilter.  :)

 Posing with Chantal and Addison!  Addison was soooo good. 

 Hunter snapped this photo of me near the end of the class... 

I absolutely love teaching these little classes!  I also love meeting new people ans sharing the craft of quilting.  

When I got home Richard was in bed because he had to get up early for work.  What really made my night was that both of my boys told me they were proud of me.  That means so much to me.  

Cutting, canning and teaching...

 I started cutting some diamonds from the strip sets for my Trail Mix quilt.  Honestly this is all that I got cut.  LOL!  This is just from one strip set so they will be all mixed up once I get them all cut.  Lots of scrappy goodness.  I think I need something like 176 of these diamonds.

 After cutting the diamonds you have these little triangle pieces leftover.  The directions say to sew a strip in the center to connect the two triangles, press and cut out a diamond shape from it.  No waste!

 My hexie class is this evening!!!  Very excited about it.  I'll post photos in the next post.  I know most of the people in the class so that makes it really nice.  Actually two of them are young girls that are in Hunter's class.  Their mothers are taking the class as well.  I love that!

I also did some canning yesterday.  I bought chicken breast on sale for .99 per pound.  I cooked it, pulled it off the bone, shredded it and canned it.  I ended up with 9 pints of chicken breast and I crammed all that I could get in those jars and also 4 more quarts of chicken broth/stock.  Let me tell you....I WILL NOT do anymore canning while the water is off!!!  Shew....I have jugs of water all over my kitchen but it is just too much of an aggravation trying to do it that way and not just run to the sink and turn the water on. 

 This is some dehydrating that I have been doing over the past few days.  The dehydrating is much easier to do since the only water it requires is to wash the veggies off.  Anyway, the tiny jar is my tomato powder.  The other jars are quarts, the first one is 5 pounds of carrots!  I was shocked at how much they dehydrated.  The next jar is 2 bags of celery, mushrooms and tomato slices.  I also put more jalapenos in the freezer. 

 That's all for now......