In love with hexies? Confession: They are easily made with these simple steps!

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Hello friends,

Fall has officially arrived in Central Pennsylvania! Overnight it turned blustery and a bit chilly and I actually had to put on a sweater! Oh how I love this season! Walking the dogs with the leaves falling and the smell of the wood fires burning just brings me all the hygge feels! Time to pull out the quilts and light the cozy candles! Good thing we had a wood delivery just last weekend....I might actually start a fire in our fireplace tonight :)

Waking up this morning and feeling a bit frozen reminded me that I really need to finish a bed quilt that I started more than 2 years ago as part of a sewalong.

Our current quilt is a store-bought one, and it has served us nicely for probably about 15 years now, but it starting to turn to tatters, and besides that, it is really kind of shameful that we do not have a homemade quilt to grace our bed! So the new quilt is waiting to have the backing sewn on, because that is all I have left to do. You see, on almost all of my bigger quilts I use the Quilt As You Go ( or QAYG) method, and my quilt has been pieced and quilted and has been waiting and waiting for me to get back to it for a while now. ( if you would like to learn more about the method I use, search for QAYG in the sidebar).

And speaking of projects that have been waiting for me to get back to them...I have SOOOO many! It seems that I am great at cranking out the quilt tops, but not so good about finishing them up. I know I'm not the only one here, who else is guilty?

To top it all off, I have been totally and completely obsessed with a new love these last few weeks...

HEXIES! 

I have been cutting and basting and sewing together all these lovelies and having so much fun! In the evenings I can't wait to sit down by the TV and start sewing on these. I am using some very sweet prints from my stash and am having fun picking and choosing which ones to combine.  And the prepping has been super easy with my Accuquilt die,(click) because I can cut my fabric and my papers at the same time!

My process is very relaxing ( much more relaxing than needle-turn applique~ ha!)...I simple place a dot of glue on my paper, glue on a fabric hexie,  then fold and baste my fabric just at the corners:

Before I know it, I have a huge pile of hexies, ready to be sewn into rosettes! 

Look how cute! 

I have no plan for these as of yet....I am just sewing them together and enjoying the process. And every once in a while I Ooh and Aah over them and make my hubby do the same ( have I mentioned that I am married to a VERY patient man?? :D )

One of these days I'm sure I will return to some of those other projects... I have 2 quilts waiting to have the binding sewn down, and at least 2 quilts waiting on some hand quilting, not to mention the quilts that just need a backing or some applique finished. All in good time...when I'm ready.... ;)

Until next time~happy creating!

Monique

P.S. If you stumbled across this blog and would like to receive future ones as soon as they come out, please email me and I will add you to my list: farmhousequiltsinLancaster@gmail.com

Flowers and quilt blocks ( please click here to view this post in your browser)

 Hello friends, 

Although there has not been a whole lot of quilting going on at the farmhouse these past few weeks~ with our two older boys having graduated and spending a lot more time hanging out at home ;) ~I do have a few fun updates that I want to share this week. 

Remember those GIANT hexies I have been working on in the evenings? I have mostly been sewing them into flower shapes, but this past week I just needed to start sewing those flowers together. I don't know if you have sewn hexie flowers together, but it is a bit of a tricky process. I suppose I could have sewn my flowers into rows, but that's not how I roll. So instead I am working from the center out. The fabric is all flannel so I think it is going to be quite heavy and hot as well. This sewing together might just have to wait until Fall or Winter just for that reason :D. 

Just to give you an idea of how big these are, here are some laid out on our coffee table!

The other quilty project that I got back to this week were my happy little tulip blocks ( you can read the original post by clicking here). I was down to my last few blocks to hand stitch so made myself a fresh supply :). 

These blocks are so much fun to put together, because every one is a little different, plus  I get to pull out all my blue scraps. The original pattern used more Delft Blue-like colors, but the day that I wanted ( NEEDED!) to start this project I really didn't have many of those kinds of blues. So I decided to stay with the blue theme, but include every shade of blue. 

 I did question my decision a few weeks later and asked fellow Instagrammers their opinions about whether to start over with the Delft Blue color or to keep going. The majority of people told me to keep going with my current color scheme, and when Susan Smith~ author of the book and designer of this pattern~ said she hoped I would keep going, that sealed the deal for me! So stay tuned for updates on this project, because hand stitching all these little tulips is going to take a while!

Apart from these few quilt projects, I been spending a lot of time in the garden, planting, weeding, and watering. I can honestly say that that is very HYGGE for me.

hyg·ge

/ˈh(y)o͞oɡə,ˈho͝oɡə/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).

So, of course I have to share some of those pictures:

( we have some nesting Chickadees in this little birdhouse)

( bunnies love to sit in the middle of this Sweet Woodruff patch!)

( a little bee habitat)

( yay, I have a Columbine blooming!)

( one of our new apple trees, being totally overshadowed by the showy bush!)

( isn't the teacup watering dish so cute? Made by a local girl)

And, as I mentioned at the start of my blog post, our two oldest boys graduated from college on Mother's Day weekend. It was a proud moment for us and we are excited to see their futures unfold! 

( our middle son and his girlfriend)

( our oldest boy and his girlfriend, who also graduated from Engineering)

(I made a pillow with PSU colors ( and all recycled materials) for our son who was heavenly involved with the climate group while in school, and a t-shirt quilt for our son who was an RA ( resident assistant) for many years while  studying.)

(Our oldest boy graduated with 2 degrees: His undergraduate and his Masters in Architectural Engineering, that  is why he has the colorful hood)

Are you still with me after that photo-heavy post? I am impressed! 

And now for some final words.....

For quite a while now I have published blog posts on Saturday mornings ~ some "expert" somewhere suggested that a consistent blog schedule was paramount to success ( They also recommended putting out blog posts 2 to 3 times a week....what would I possibly have to write about 3 times a week?). Anyway, I have decided to do things MY way from now on. So my blog posts will be appearing when I have something fun to share. If you are subscribed to receive my blogs via email, no need to do anything at all~you will automatically receive each one when published. If you are not a subscriber, but would like to not miss out on posts, send me an email with the address where you want blog posts sent ( I promise not to do anything nefarious with your info! It will only be saved by me and will never get sold or send to anyone else!) Here is the email address and please put in the title "blog sign up": farmhousequiltsinlancaster@gmail.com. Thanks, and until next time~ happy creating!

Monique