My Hexies–OH SO CLOSE!

We had long long drives on our bus in Bali – and bringing little kits for everyone to try their own hand at English paper piecing was SUCH a life saver.

Travelers with busy hands are happy travelers! I was amazed at how quickly my last hexagon section grew while watching the passing countryside outside of my window.

Memories of rice paddies, of swarms of motorcycles, of driving on the “LEFT” side of the road up narrow windy mountain roads --- ((Oh that took some getting used to, we kept trying to enter on the WRONG side of the bus, the doors were on the left..LOL)) Commenting on shrines and temples and architecture. Watching Balinese life continue on outside of the protective air conditioned bubble of our bus – we sewed away!

About half way through the week I took this picture on the floor of my hotel room. I’d sewn from Greensboro to Houston to Los Angeles to part way to Hong Kong before falling asleep. I sewed from Hong Kong to Bali….and I sewed on the bus.

Throughout the bus as we traveled could be heard the sounds of “Who has the thread?!” “I need the scissors!” And whoever had it last would pass it forward or backward depending on where the request was coming from.

On the way home….we stopped in Hong Kong ….and had to go through security two more times before we could board our flight to the US.

Do you remember me saying “The problem isn’t getting OUT of the country with scissors? It’s getting back IN!?”

I was indeed stopped and searched in Hong Kong – they saw something in my bag and went digging for it!

This little bag was the culprit!

I bought this at one of the little shops in Ubud, and stuffed it with just a few fabric hexies, papers, needles, and thread because I was sitting bulkhead exit row all the way home and didn’t have a seat in front of me with room underneath to store a carry on bag. This I could keep in my lap with everything else in the overhead bin.

In the small bottom zipper compartment were these:

The Hong Kong TSA agent pulled them out – showed them to her supervisor, who said they were “OKAY” and I was allowed to put them back into my bag and off I went.

These are the $4 manicure scissors with the rounded tips I bought at Walmart before leaving on the trip. If these are safe for TSA from Hong Kong – they are pretty much sure to be safe for EVERYWHERE – but I did worry there a bit! It’s always a bit unsettling to have law enforcement going through your bag!

And it’s a good thing I got these. One of our other gals had brought a pair of children’s fiscars – but they had pointier tips. They confiscated hers. It’s not the price of the item they keep that is the problem, it’s the inconvenience of not being able to sew. I’ve tried the medallion thread cutter. Hate it. You can’t thread a needle after using it without a needle threader. Same with the dental floss container idea --- I know – I’ve tried. You are toast at threading a needle on a plane without then having to use a needle threader. I like scissors! So these are my new travel pair --- we’ll see how far they go with me!

Back to the hexies --- how far did I get?

I’ve started on the short section!! WHhhaaaahooooo!

There are only 5 rows left to do!!

And these are short rows that decrease with each row…I am SO ALMOST THERE!

As this posts, I should be close to arriving in Aiken, SC for my workshop with the Carolina Pine quilters!

I’ll get to hug on one of my Bali travelers! Sharron will be there --- oh, it’s amazing how much I miss this group of people. It felt so disjointed picking up our luggage at LAX --- and all going our separate ways. We were from everywhere – Oregon, Virginia Beach, Canada, Illinois, Nebraska – and everywhere in between. I’m really missing everyone! So it will be great to see Sharron and catch up a bit.

She sent me this pic this morning of me with an armful of fabric at the batik warehouse:

Oh yeah, that’s a happy girl!!

If you are just arriving, you are going to want to check THIS POST! We are in the midst of a give-away for my friend Mickey’s new book, Pieced Hexies! And – here’s an incentive – she said if we reach 500 comments she will give away THREE copies! So leave a comment on that post – be sure to include your email address if you don’t have it linked to your blogger account, or are signing in as anonymous. No address means we draw again – so don’t forget!

We’ll be drawing winners on Sunday evening when I return home!