September Sew and Tell

Can you believe September is more than half way over already?  Where does the time go?  Last month I moved into a new house and boy, the unpacking takes forever.  I see moving as a chance to become better organized and it always seems to take me a while to decide furniture placement and all that fun stuff.  Plus this house has a pool, so I have probably been treating myself to more down time than normal.  Its lovely to be able to enjoy the water right in my own backyard.  My nephew-dog Max likes it for sure.  Katie is part golden retriever, but she is not a water dog so she stays a few feet back.  Silly pooch.  Here's Max enjoying the sun after romping with the lizards.

My sewing room is still a work in progress, so I've set up a little sewing space on my desk in the living room.  Last night I got an itch for a quick project, so I made my first Granny square.  I'm a little obsessed with orange and turquoise / aqua / teal as a color combination these days.  It seems very Florida, between the orange for the obvious local citrus and bright blues for the almost always sunny skies.  They don't call it the Sunshine State for nothing!  My lil Granny is made with 2 inch scraps and a white border of about 2 inches as well.  Finished out at 9 inches square, with cross hatch quilting on the block itself, and some square echo quilting in the border.  Super simple and I finished it in one sitting.  Talk about instant gratification!  This will either go on the wall of my sewing room, or I may use it as a mug rug or a place to rest my iron.

 

I've also been working on some hexies.  This lime and orange one uses plastic templates that I bought at Joann's.   More citrus colors!

 

 

This one I started a long time ago using paper templates.  I definitely prefer the plastic because my hexies are more consistently shaped that way.  I'm not sure if I cut them out messy or if its because the foundation of paper is so much more flexible, but I seem to do better with the plastic.  Also, I really need to work on my seams.  I tried both ladder stitch and whipstitch to put these together and you can see most of my stitches in person.  Phooey.  Looks great in a photo though. ;)

 





Those little trees from Erin McMorris are so cute!  This one is appliqued onto a large scrap of purple waves and it is destined to become a zippered pouch for my hexies-in-progress.

My other project in the works is a jelly roll quilt with simple squares.  Once the cutting is done and you've got all the block components put into piles, chain piecing makes these blocks a breeze.   The fabric is Frolic by Sandy Gervais and as I work with it, I'm loving it more and more.  The colors are a great combination. I would never think to add in brown with the cheerful coral and turquoise and yellow, but I think this combo really makes the fabric pop.

 

 

Next on my to-do list are some X and + blocks for my circle of do.Good Stitches, and something fun for the Wicked Blog Hop next month. 

 

I'm linking up with the lovely Amy at AmyLouWhoSews with her Sew & Tell Friday.  Hop on over to see what other projects are out and about!