Here is just a small sampling of what I’ve been working on lately, and what I’ve been posting on InstaGram. I am itching to finish most of these projects and I can’t wait to share them with you all here!

Well, I’m only about 1/14th of the way there! This is turning into my forever project. That project that you just keep working on until the day you die. Seriously though, If I keep going at this speed, I wont be finished for at least 5 years. YEARS! I’m ok with that though. Since it’s mostly made from my own scraps, with a few donated by friends, I will be able to look back at each hexagon and think of the project I made or the friend that gave me the fabric. It’s basically my quilting scrapbook! Maybe I should rename it?!?

I have been trying to keep this project under control by making 18″ blocks first and then piecing them all together in the end. As you can see above, I’ve finished one block and have three almost there. Each of the semi finished blocks is from a different level of the house or a different bag. I have project bags or boxes everywhere so I am never short of hexies to piece. That one on the bottom right for example, I pieced all of that in the airport this past weekend and a little on the plane. I did it in three sections to keep it manageable (and to not bring attention to myself) and then pieced the sections together at home.

This system really seems to be working for me.

Above you can see one of the storage systems I have been using. Nicole over at Modern Handcraft originally posted about these a few months back on InstaGram. They are Sterilite divided bins from Target and they can only be found in store. The little bins inside come out so you don’t have to have this huge bin on top of your table or wherever you are working. This seems to work best for me when I’m sitting on the couch actually. For any other situation I have little zipper pouches.

I’m leaving for ANOTHER trip very soon and I’m thinking a pouch or two will be stashed away in my backpack, just in case I have free time, because I would love to finish this faster. It’s going to look so neat!!!!!

Keep an eye out in the next few months for yet another update on this thing (hopefully), and in the meantime I have some other Hexagon projects in the works that I’m also excited to share with everyone!

In the meantime I started the project above. It’s a much smaller hexagon and enables me to use up the enormous amount of scraps I have accumulated over the years. Plus I can trade for more scraps because a lot of people hoard them too.

When I first started this project my plan was to just make a pillow, I nice 18″ square pillow. Though once I reached that size I just didn’t want to stop, plus I had a lot of hexies leftover. So I decided to keep going and make either a twin size quilt, or a 90″ square lap quilt. So just like the first hexie quilt, this will be a long term project and can only progress when I find more scraps or buy small amounts of fabric. Which I’m fine with.

The best part about the random nature of this quilt is any fabric goes. It can be super simple, super weird or just plain solid color. It all goes together!

I also love how I can be a little silly in where I place certain pieces too! I’ve been enjoying combining phrases with illustrations of people and animals. Like the examples above! I’ve been holding onto that “I’m With Stupid” fabric for many years and never knew what to do with it. I also have this awesome food truck fabric with a bunch of word bubbles that I use throughout.

I’ll need to make over 3,000 hexagons so I get loads of chances to mix this little easter eggs in.

Yet again though, since this is a long term project I still need to keep my hands busy while watching tv at night, which means there is a THIRD & FOURTH hexie project I will be sharing with you all soon. I just have to quilt them both, which means they are mostly DONE! (Yes, I am a crazy lady)

Have any of you started one of these projects because you saw my progress on here or on Instagram? If so, please share!!!

There’s a process called English Paper Piecing,  EPP or Foundation Piecing (it gos by any of these names), where you take the pattern you want to make and have the pieces cut out of paper. You then cut out fabric larger than each piece, pin the paper to it, fold over the fabric and baste stitch (like my orange stitches shown in all of these photos). When you have enough pieces for your project or block, you then whip stitch them all together and take out the paper pieces. After all of this tedious work, you have yourself a quilt top.

There are loads of proper tutorials all over the internet. Heidi posted a tutorial and template for mini hexies this past week, and there’s a bunch on Pinterest. Plus if you search YouTube, I bet you’ll find some great instructions. Also, if you just want to start small but have an even bigger impact you could try something like Rebecca’s patchwork tote bag! (her IG feed totally made me want to start this project!)

This type of project is perfect for downtime, like watching TV, waiting at the DMV or when being a passenger on a road trip. I myself started it because I am being forced to rest a bit more. Plus it’s a quilt that I don’t have to sit at a sewing machine all day to make. My poor back needs a break from that.

I will admit now, I am NOT a strong hand sewer, and I am seriously not looking forward to whip stitching all of these together. For now I try not to think about it and just dream of what the finished quilt will look like… If I ever finish it!

I want to make a 70″ square lap quilt, and by my calculations, it is going to take 800+ hexagons to make. That’s a lot! I am able to finish around 30 a night, so if I work on it every night then it will take me a month. That’s a scary number to me btw, so I may just call it quits at 400 because I am also dreaming up a quilt that is just half hexies and the rest is solid colored gray. I guess I’ll decided when I get to the halfway point.

I’m happy I went with the 3″ size too! Because if I had done the normal 1″ size, it would have taken 2500+ hexies to finish a quilt. SCARY!!

Have any of you made one of these? Or are making one? Any helpful hints?

The first piece I’ve tested out is shown above. They are hand cast plastic “Home Sweet Home” banners. Hopefully the first in a series I’ve been dreaming up. I want a full range of colors before I add them to the shop, so it might be a week or two before I get proper photos.

What are your thoughts? Any colors I NEED to make?

The originals were hematite rings. The kind you get at the beach for $1! I’ve always loved them, but they never lasted long on my finger. I would end up breaking them on some hard surface within a few days. Hematite isn’t the strongest mineral.

The mold making was the hardest part really. The casting was super simple. I used a slow curing plastic because of the blended pieces I was trying out, so there’s loads of bubbles in this batch. I really don’t care though, since these are for fun. Tests. I’ll be keeping most of them, and a few will be sent out to my product testers (I have a small group of girls who test out my pieces and send me feedback). I’ve also sent a few to loyal customers already too.

So now a question… Should I sell these? Or are they only worthy of a gift in large orders? I’m not quite sure if there’s a market for plastic rings in weird colors. I guess this is something I should look into!!

Well, Yesterday I decided to lug out all of my beading supplies and try my hand at some new necklaces. I had the idea of mixing my original style Juxtapose Necklace with my new Fragmented Necklaces while I was sick. It stewed in my head the entire week!

Apparently I designed the fragmented pieces in the same form as my Juxtapose Necklaces because it was really easy to combine them! I finished about five before running out of wire. I’m hoping to photograph them tomorrow and have them in the shop by the end of this week. I’m excited!

Do you like the new pieces? Are there color combos you would like to see? Feedback is always welcome!!!

I’m naming her Dolly. I know, I know, It’s suuuuuch an original name! Ha. I’m happy with her as my first try. She isn’t perfectly flat or square, so she’ll give me a little bit of a challenge when it comes to making a mold and casting her.

I always have extra plastic casting supplies lying around, just in case, so I was ready to make a mold right away. I’ve been casting for about nine years now. You would think I’d be perfect at it by now, but I only ever made molds of items with flat backs. I tried my hand at a two part molds years ago, but I got super frustrated and gave up pretty quickly.

This time around I researched A LOT! I watched loads of YouTube videos and I even passed on a teeny bit of my knowledge to someone else to try it out first. I felt ready after it all.

The mold did NOT come out perfect, at all!! The first half did, but then I made the horrible decision to do the second half at night when I wasn’t feeling 100%. I think I didn’t spray enough mold release, or it had gone bad, I don’t know for sure. When I went to take the two halves apart I found that they had melded together as one large silicone chunk with my figure inside!!!! I cut Dolly out as gentle as I could, but along the way I did accidentally break her head off. No worries though, I glued it back and it’s drying now!!

The mold wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, BUT it was in working condition. Cutting a slit in the silicone to get figures out is actually another way of making 2 part molds.

So I tried to cast an example to see if it worked.

I love watching the plastic go from clear to white (or whatever color I used).

The first piece I cast had a few bubbles in the hair flip area, but the second one came out pretty much perfect!! Which seriously made my day. I thought I had put so much work into something and screwed it up, but I didn’t.

I’ve cast about seven already today and have enough plastic for a few more. I made mostly white ones since I’m planning on painting them all, but I did make two neon pink ones too! One for me and one for CT (who also stole the first white, bubbly, one too). I’m now researching the best primer and paint to use. Once I’m finished I’ll share the absolute finished pieces!

I’m so excited to be working on these. This whole process has been on my to do list for years! Oh and I’m nowhere near done working on it all, I want to perfect it. I also want to try some other ideas out. I really can’t wait.

As you can see, casting plastic is very messy!! ha, a huge colorful mess!

I’ll be back with more photos tomorrow!!