What I’m Working On…

Early Saturday morning Hubby and I were getting ready for a long car ride and for some reason working on my hexies (English Paper Piecing) didn’t sound as appealing as I wished….so I quick threw something else together.

Remember that I wasn’t happy about having to pack away my spider web quilt that I started at the retreat?  Well…I confession time, I didn’t pack it away.  I did set it side but not away-away.  A couple night I sewed enough on it to finish the pieces that I started at the retreat so that I could pack it away with everything put away neatly with notes of how many I had done and how many I needed to have done.  It makes picking up a project so much easier if I leave it nice.

Well I really don’t want to pack it away but I have four projects that I NEED to do for gifts so I need to just put it away..but it’s so hard.  So it’s still not put away.  What I thought of to do instead of my hexies on Saturday morning was to grab my spider web supplies.  I had all the papers and the glue sticks I just needed the fabric kites cut….so I opted to forgo straightening my hair and cut kites instead.  It only took a couple minutes as I have a super easy method.

First off, Kelli and I both had “kite” templates cut.  There is a glass shop in Decorah that cuts templates for us all the time.  These were about $3 each to cut.  Kelli cut the template using Bonnie Hunter’s directions that can be found here.  (sorry about the reflection of my ceiling fan in the template)

I cut 4 1/2″ strips of my fabric.  Then I stacked 8 layers of fabric and cut away.  I line the top edge of the fabric to the top edge of the “kite”.  I cut around it and slide the template down to cut another.  As you can see the template fits really well on the 4 1/2″ strip.

It took me just a really-really short time and I had 80 kites cut.  I didn’t take more time as Hubby was almost ready to leave.  I figured this many would take a bit to glue into place.

I loaded a little pop flat with my supplies, grabbed my purse, pop and phone and was on the way with a simple car project to do.  This is what sat on my lap as I rode.

I had the papers cut into squares but no into triangles so I folded and cut them, then glued the “kites” into place.  I also took with the basket so that all completed pieces could be put in the basket.  That is all completely ready for the sewing machine.

As you can see I am cutting more kites so I am ready for the next road trip which is happening today.

I am super excited at the prospect that this quilt isn’t dead or hanging out in the UFO pile.  It might have to go there after I get this step done but for today it’s making progress even if that progress isn’t happening at the actual sewing machine.