Shhhhh…..it’s a secret…..

 

I have been sewing and creating like crazy these last few weeks.

Four different projects! 

And all are to be kept under wraps.…..well not all…. so finally I have something to share.

I have teamed up with Quilting on the Square in Holton Kansas to design a Block of the Month Quilt.   Last May during my visit Mark & Mary (owners) planted the seed of an idea and in June I sat down and designed “Moxie Girl”.

Last week I few out and spent 3 days with Mary, Connie, Becky & Jo pulling fabrics, auditioning fabrics, and sewing…sewing…sewing.   It was a lot of work but it was fun.  And watching Moxie Girl come together was thrilling for me. 

The first colorway (I have been told there will be 3) started off with Mary suggesting a lovely orangey yellow Kaffe fabric.  It is understated and to me it just screams a 40’s bark cloth print.  And that was exactly what I had in mind. 

Pair it up with a yellow polka dot, another Kaffe, some civil war prints, throw in some traditionals and a  dash of batik, shake well and you have “Moxie Girl!”.

Moxie? you ask what does Moxie mean?

 

 

Yes there is an east coast soda named Moxie…but we are thinking attitude.

Moxie is a slang word from the 30s that means adventurous, pep, vigor, backbone, grit, guts, gumption…..you get the picture.

 

We were so excited by what was coming together in front of us that Mary caved (we love ya Mary!) and said go ahead and share.   I couldn’t hit the send button fast enough on my phone and put up a sneak peak pic on my facebook page.  (note we have since changed the center fabric choice)

And then I went to bed.  And when I woke up my fb inbox was jammed with inquires about Moxie Girl.  Apparently it was well received.

Here are a few more sneak peaks.  

        This quilt combines Pieced Hexies, Paper Pieced Hexies, traditional piecework and paper piecing and either machine or hand applique (your choice and easy peasy shapes).  It has everything in it in small amounts so it will be a lot of fun as a BOM project as each month will be an adventure.  Kinda “Moxie-ish”? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I designed the spikey paper pieced hexie and Mary designed the rose colored paper pieced hexie…so this is truly a joint designed quilt!

The borders are being worked on as I type and hopefully we will have a completed quilt up for you in a week or so on the Quilting on the Square website. Mary has set up a page for Moxie Girl under the BOM section and if you want to get in on the information email blasts that will go out alerting you to new colorways posted, cost start date etc. then fill out the form on the page. You can bypass the credit card info by simply hitting pay by check. There is NO CHARGE this is simply for information there is NO OBLIGATION.

Today I will be quilting another secret project…who knows what might be released to my FB friends over the weekend…. 

 

p.s. I never did get back to the Hexie House in Holton with a book…I most definitely will on my next visit…which I suspect will be sooner rather than later!

p.p.s.  You can always find out what I am hexing on my Facebook Fan Page “Pieced Hexies with Mickey Depre”   come join us!

It's a Hexie House!

THIS BLOG IS A FEW DAYS OLD...GUESS WHO FORGOT HER BLOG PASSWORD WHILE ON THE ROAD.  New blog tomorrow. 

Quilting on the Square
Holton, Kansas

That's where I am for the next few days sewing away with friends until my booking signing event on Saturday.

This morning I walked the neighborhood in search of this very special house that Mark & Mary (QOS owners...and the nicest people) showed me last night. 

A Hexie House!   My Blogger app only allows one phone upload per post so check out the Pieced Hexies Fan Page on Facebook for more pics.

I think I need to leave a book on the front porch! 

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Another shade of gray

 

I buy a lot of gray fabric. 

It’s a hard color to find. Most shop owners overlook it.  Or carry just a few. And when I find it I usually buy it as most times it is a print I hadn’t seen in a shop prior.  I know the fabric manufacturers do make it.  I spend hours looking at fabric company swatch pages.

I love gray.  It can really pump up the softest of pastels and tone down the most outrageous of oranges.  

So I went back to my stash and pulled out my black/gray bin and set off to make another colorway/style option for the previous Dresden Plate idea.

Ta-Da.   SPARKLE Pieced Hexie in the center!

 

Please ignore the basting stitches.  Yesterday I had one of the “glitch days” in life where nothing was gelling.   But I got the rosette done and wanted to share.  

This really sings to me. 

So I made a quick mock up of the block in a quilt setting.

 

Oh couldn’t you just picture this with a wide dusty purple-gray border and some lovely applique.

…or maybe some more Pieced Hexies around the edges.

Now that Pieced Hexies is out and about….

 

 

 

 

 

Boy these last few weeks have been a flurry of activity.  

First I had the honor of having Bonnie Hunter blog about Pieced Hexies…that threw my email into a tizzy.  

But a good tizzy!

 

 

And then the book itself arrived last Wednesday.   I had all the shipping labels printed, attached to the correct shipping packaging (Media Mail, First Class (for my foreign orders) and Priority Mail) along with packing slips.

So all I needed to do was sign away.  Then Paul put them in the envelopes, sealed and ran to the post office twice so as not to wait to the last minute with 100’s of envelopes!

Of course Molly held down the floor and we worked so hard we forgot to feed her at noon! YIPES!

We have since made it up to her…trust me.

Note…the blacked out areas are shipping info that I blacked out for obvious reasons.

And than I sat for two days on pins and needles literally waiting for the first reviews to come in.

In this world of instant communication feedback is also instantaneous.   I pretty much didn’t sleep.   It’s like sending your child off to the first day of school.  Anxious at 3pm to see how they liked it and if they got along out there in the big world without you.

And then the first post.  “I love it”.   I could breathe again.

Now I can begin to share some of the ideas I have for using Pieced Hexies here on my blog.

When putting together the book and realizing we were fast approaching the 96 page mark it was decided to not put projects in the book just give the people the method and designs.  They can be applied to any Hexie pattern already out there.  If we went the project route we would have to cut the number of designs in the book most likely in half.

As I have said before your entire quilt does not have to made with Pieced Hexies.

They can be used as applique to enhance a quilt.

And then this idea hit.

We have all have orphan blocks in our stash.  Most of mine are odds and ends of blocks from the 30s. Yes I love those feedsacks.

So rummaging thru my orphan pile I found a set of three sister Dresden Plates.  About 15” in diameter.  Perfect for my demo.

Nice block on it’s own.  But let’s be honest.  No pizzazz.   Plus I like to tweek things and make it my own.  Add my own flair. 

What if…..

 

 

Here is a TUMBLER Pieced Hexie done up in fabrics that aren’t truly marketed as repro prints of the 30s but do the job.  These fabrics are out there in our local quilt shops.  You just have to be patient and keep your eyes peeled on the shelves.  Unless I have been there first and snapped them up!  LOL!  So this is nice and it warms my 30s loving heart.

 

 

But what if…..

A SPIKE Pieced Hexie in solids.  Now that really pops.

Now if I had a set of 12 blocks I would make that Dresden Plate quilt.  Wait…I do have a set of 12 blocks (well 8 are finished…but I have the makings for the rest…that I picked up for $10!)  Yep get over to ebay…they are there!! I think I will put piecing the other four on the big wipe board of “TO DOs” in the studio.

But wait what if…….stay tuned for a blog on Wednesday with at least one other option.

Paul likes to Share

Paul has shared his headcold with me.  Such a gift....not.

So while I wait for the UPS man to deliver the cases of Pieced Hexies tomorrow I am going to spend today reading.

The Real Elizabeth by Andrew Marr is my current read.

I am about 100 pages in and already I have learned so much about Elizabeth's life and what shaped who she is today.

I recommend.

Enjoy your day...it's time for my cold tab and a nap.

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Mini Hexie Update

Testing out the Blogger App on my phone with this snapshot blogpost.

Today is a rainy stormy day...that means it's mini hexie project time.

I have rounded the corner of the halfway mark....

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Glorious Autumn Block Party

 

Maybe you noticed the new logo on the side bar of the blog. 

Yep this one.

Click it and enjoy and all fun going on at the Quilting Gallery website!

• The Party runs from today, September 4, 2012 to December 13, 2012
• 45 designers creating 12” quilt blocks and tutorials... yes.. 45 quilt blocks!
• Designer GIVEAWAYS! (mine is further down... yeah!)
• Designer profiles at Quilting Gallery
• And a Super Deal for the day at the Quilting Gallery each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the hop!

 

I’ll be posting my block in mid November.

Hope you will join in. 

Here is a teaser of Pat Sloan’s block.

Eddie’s Wildflowers

 

I teach a workshop titled Charm Pack Wildflowers.

It is based on my pattern Wildflowers.  I have always been a bit reluctant to teach a “pattern” workshop as I really want students to take my patterns and make them their own. I am all about that. I often worried that students would not want to do this in a workshop setting.

But as I become more and more comfortable with showing my “traditional quilt” side I am also realizing that my students do take these traditional quilt patterns and run with them.

This makes my heart sing.

I taught this workshop for the Arkansas Quilters Guild/ Little Rock, AR in February. 

I met Eddie & Melissa.

Eddie and Melissa are a great “husband and wife” team of quilters and couldn’t be more different in their styles.  They entered the classroom and quickly set up shop.  They were old pros and Eddie I hear makes many many quilts from Melissa.   I like this guy. 

Melissa pulled out her fabric….great bright prints full of stripes and polka dots.

Eddie laid his fabric out. A very unusual color way of Civil War pack of prints and said “I’m going to use these Mickey…what do you think?”

“What do I think?”  “I can’t wait to see it happen” I tell him.  It will be wonderful!

This pattern can be made in all different styles of fabric.  In fact if you have the pattern, open it up and you will find two more samples inside or you can see them on my website on the workshop page. (scroll down to the 6hr workshops…second one)

A few weeks after the workshop I received an email from Eddie with this pic.  Yes it’s been awhile since I received it.   But I have been very busy with the book and stuff.  I immediately asked Eddie for permission to share it with all of you and he said YES!

So here is Eddie’s rendition of Wildflowers.

I absolutely love it. 

And I also love his own personal flair with the flowers.

Thanks Eddie for sharing.

Finding Treasures

Yesterday was Kane County Flea Market Day in this neck of the woods.  Happens the first Sunday of every month, rain or shine, minus January and February which are obviously “no go’s” in the frozen tundra of the northern midwest for most outdoor venues.  We still sled.  We always sled.

Anyway….

Paul and I tromped out to St. Charles, IL and arrived at the gates of the Kane Country Fair Grounds just a bit after 7 am.

The outdoor vendors were a bit sparse.  The threat of Isaac arriving kept many away.  But still a very good time was had and treasures where found.

 

 

We added to our  “Miles Metal Art Collection” with piece number 3 from this Husband and Wife duo. 

They are the artists that made the giant dragonfly in our dining room, and the birds “Holly and Noah” in our gardens. 

 

 

Meet Jasper.   He is very special. 

His body is an old Kenmore (yes Bonnie you were right!) Sewing Machine. 

We have decided to keep Jasper in the house. 

Molly is not sure what to make of him.

 

Other small treasures were found.  It wasn’t an over the top day of finds.  UNTIL….

I spied this on a table. 

Now I love biographies.  And thus love scrapbooks as they give an insight into a person.

This blew me away.

 

It started life as a School Officers Record Book in 1904.

By dates I find inside it started it’s second life as a scrapbook in the early 1930s.

1920-1940s  Those are the decades that really sing to me on all levels. 

The pages are filled with poems and short stories clipped from various sources and paired up with imagery also from various sources.

One source is the Rural Progress Magazine.

 

It seems this was a very small magazine by a quick internet search. 

I will have to investigate further. 

 

But for now I will spend sometime just leafing thru.

     

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

  

 

 

 

                      Of course this image really caught my eye!

 

 

 

 

An ad for Raisin Maid.  Love it!

 

 

                            looks like a Rockwell to me.

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    This is my style.

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is extra special.  And I have plans for this.

 

Yes I have big plans for this scrapbook. 

Now I just need another 16 hours in each day.