Customize!

 As some of you might remember...

... in March I made the Classmate bag by Terry Atkinson!

I immediately put it to use when I began my "hexie" adventure.  I enjoy having something dedicated to organizing a specific project ... especially a long range project like my hexies ... one where there are no concrete plans!  Hee-hee!  Everything I need in one place ... easy to take and go ... working on a whim!       It is the way we roll here in dillydallydom!

The bag has more pockets than I have needed for my hexies ... but it became inconvenient to take packages of needles and pins in and out of a pocket!  I decided to customize the bag by adding a needle case.  I put this old noggin to use and chose a location.  Rummaged through my limited felted wool stash and found a small piece of blue ... that sort of matched the focal fabric. 

I wanted to protect the use of the pocket behind this area ... used pearle cotton to hand sew the wool felt in place ... it was somewhat difficult to accomplish, but completely doable!

I created a cover for the needle case.  I didn't want anything catching on the needles and pins.  I used a remnant of "timtex" to give the cover the stiffness I felt it needed to have.  The button loop was made with a hair tie ... I wanted to be able to close and secure the needle case.

A hidden slip stitch was used to tack the cover in place securely.  Again it was a small space to work in,  but most things are possible in dillydallydom! ;-)

Applied the button ... added the necessary pins and needles ...

... I'm pleased with the result!  When I make my next Classmate bag, I intend to include this feature and will be able to add it easily by machine.

Suffering from Basking in hexie fever resulted in a bit of online shopping.  Last summer, while contemplating this journey I had purchased a package of 100 hexagon templates.  I panicked when I realized that I would only have enough for 14-15 flowers!  Who knows?  I might want to make thousands!  So I ordered a package of 1200!  Yep, I am an optimist! ;-) That amount should keep me busy for a bit!

Paper Pieces also had an acrylic ruler in the size I needed!  I had been using one I made.  It is much easier, faster and accurate to use the acrylic one!  By the way, the 1 inch hexie template fits perfectly on a 2.5 inch strip!

My noggin did not fail me on this idea!  I love the result!  Now my classmate bag is perfectly customized for my purposes!  And ... that is what the dillydally lifestyle is all about.  Customizing our lives so that we can dillydally!

Do what you love.  Customize! Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Dillydally Goal Met!

Sunday morning ... Flicka and I got serious about our dillydallying.  We had a dillydally goal for the day.  I took my position in front of "Her Majesty" and Flicka took her position as supervisor.  Our plan of attack ... to finish piecing the Seasonal Table Runner!  You can tell by Flicka's expression that we were on a serious dillydally mission! ;-)

  We had to finish piecing the flying geese units.

Flicka kept a watchful eye on my progress.

Oh-oh!  Someone found it necessary to manage the sewing tools ... they were getting out of line.

Whew!  All the units were finally complete!

Time to remove the paper ...

... that task takes a long time... napping was required for the supervisor.

Next ... time to turn the units into blocks!

Flicka was back on the job ... closely monitoring my progress!

Almost there!

Assembly complete!  Ya-Hoo!

And ... it received the Supervisor's approval!  Mission accomplished ... dillydally goal met!  Time to party or ....

... celebrate by hitting the stash to start another one!  Hey ... no explanation required ... it is the dillydally way!

Do what you love.  Meet your goals.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

A Bit of Stash Busting!

In 2010 I made this quilt (read about it here) using floral prints from my stash.  The remaining yardage was in a tote ... I added other florals that were in the sewing room ... and last month I brought those fabrics back to the Home Ec room for our open sew day.  The dillydally winds were encouraging me to do a bit of stash busting!

Our guild has an AccuQuilter.  It is wonderful!  I decided to cut all of my floral stash into 2 1/2 inch strips.  There are gazillions of patterns that use strips that size, so I was confident that I would find multiple ways to use them.

I spent the entire day cutting ... it would have taken me weeks to cut all of this by hand!

When Bonnie Hunter was here ... she showed us how to use the AccuQuilter to create "strings".  I hadn't done any string quilting prior to that conversation, but have fallen in love with that technique since.  I am excited to come up with plans for this pile of fun!

Pic by Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville.com

Bonnie's pattern, Scrappy Trips, has gotten a huge amount of press recently.  Many quilt groups have had "quilt-a-long" events using her pattern.  I have come across them all over the internet...very inspiring!  Bonnie's pattern is free ... you can find it here!

Time to begin ... my "leader and ender" squares are in position ... what fun!

I have such a variety of strips ... I gave up on having any color placement strategy ... am just grabbing strips from each color pile and sewing!

I neglected to take pics of sewing the strip set into a tube, cutting it into rings and then ripping out the seams that result in the pieces above.  But ... this isn't a tutorial ... Bonnie's instructions do not need my assistance! ;-)

A finished block!  Quick ... easy ... fun ... and completely scrappy!  Such fun!

An ender ...

... both the leaders and enders add up quickly!  Love accomplishing two things at once!

Flicka inspects the first seven blocks and picked out her favorite!

Even though she isn't in all the pictures ... Flicka is ever present!  And she is happiest when the sewing table is super messy!  There is never a dull moment when we are quilting!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Hexie Update!

Between teaching and traveling with students, there has been a very limited amount of dillydallying going on here in dillydallydom.

4.17.2013 - 6:00 am

Mother Nature continues to allow...

4.17.2013 - 6:00 am

... Jack Frost to maintain his residence here in our remote corner of the planet.  We had 6 inches of fresh snow yesterday!  I must admit that it is hard to complain when the view is this beautiful ... but most of us here in Cordova are ready for spring to arrive!

Exactly a month ago, I began my Hexie Adventure.

 I love that even though my life has been crazy busy ... when I have only short periods of time ... I can easily pick these up and hand sew a seam or two.

My snoopervisor is always willing to help out!

Flicka likes to rearrange my notions to meet her approval!

Bet you didn't know that hexies make a great "Sit Upon"!

And a second hexie is necessary to use as a "Paw Upon"

Together ... two hexies make a great "Nap Upon"!  Who knew? ;-)

A few dillydally moments here and there ... and a helpful kitty ... can result in a little bit of progress!  Even small amounts of progress feel great!

Do what you love.  Make progress.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally 

Retreat with Guild QBees!

Before I had a blog ... in 2008 I took a class from Judy Niemeyer at the Valdez Quilt Festival!  It was my first class with a "Quilt Rock Star".  She was absolutely wonderful ... I learned more in those two days than I thought was humanly possible!  The pattern I did during that class was called "Raindrops".

This past weekend, our guild held their annual Spring Retreat!  We had Sue Wilson from SewFish come and teach Judy's techniques.  Sue is a certified teacher for Quiltworx, Judy Niemeyer's company.

Sue lives in Ohio for most of the year, but she and her husband live in Soldotna, Alaska during the summer months!  Yep...she completely understands our Alaskan lifestyle!  She taught in public schools for 30 years, before making quilting a career.  She is also certified as a Cotton Theory instructor!  Many talents!

It was so great to get a refresher course on Judy's paper piecing techniques!

Sue has made multiple Quiltworx patterns and willingly shared her experiences with us. She also brought with her some samples of other designs she teaches.

My heart skipped a beat when she unfolded this one!

A closer look...

... a light section...

... and a close up of a dark section!  Yep ... I am getting the pattern and will start collecting fabrics ... now! ;-)

This Wedding Ring Star is a pattern that I have been wanting for some time now.  Sue showed us this bed runner of the same design.  It was beautiful!

Sue was great about letting us pick her brain ... gleaning as much as possible from her experiences.

She was so generous with her time, talent and expertise!  I love those traits in a quilt instructor!

I am nearly finished with all ten of these sections ... then it will only be a matter of piecing them together!  It was a great retreat ... quality instruction ... time with the QBees ... great food ... and piles of fun!  What a wonderful way to dillydally!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

To see the amazing projects by other local guild members check out the blog here!

Blondes ... having fun!