Hexagons on the Sofa

I (finally) finished the latest round of hexagons. The light rounds are the least fun, cos there’s not as much colour to play with, but I know they are needed to give the eye somewhere to rest so I plod on . The patchwork is now big enough to just about cover our two seater sofa as you can see:

The next round will be a round of medium value colours, so I get to play with oranges, pinks, greens, blues…fun!

Sewing Plans & Progress, and a Beautiful Fabric Book

First up, the beautiful fabric book. I was lucky enough to win a Alex’s giveaway. Alex is a wonderfully gifted textile artist – check out her blog here. The book is made up of pages of gorgeous kimono silk, and has the most beautifully stitched cover. What an amazing tactile experience holding this little treasure is:

Alex said in her post “It’s a pretty miserable time of year here in the UK so I thought it would be nice to have a giveaway for my little wintry book.” It has certainly cheered up an otherwise cold and miserable week here for me

Next up, the sewing progress. My good friend Paula gave me an old Sew magazine which had a dear little hexagon patchwork journal case project in it. I have nearly put together the patchwork piece to assemble it. I was only slightly delayed by the fact that I didn’t pay quite as much attention to the instructions as I should have . The hexagons should have had 1 1/4 inch sides, and I used 1 inch hexies so my patchwork obviously was going to come out too small & I have ended up having to baste and piece more than I thought. Anyway, it’s coming together now and hopefully will make a lovely gift for someone (not sure who yet!):

And lastly, sewing plans. I am itching to make another doll after enjoying making Maud so much and recently bought this rather wonderful book:

The only trouble is, I want to make so many of the dolls that I can’t decide where to start! Should it be with Supergirl?:

Or maybe Frida?

Or what about Fleur?

Or should it perhaps be the tattooed man?

How on earth shall I decide where to start?!

Another sewing plan I have in mind is to make my mother-in-law an apron. A while back she arrived early for a lunch I was cooking, and I still had my pinny on. She admitted that she didn’t own an apron, but probably should as she was always covering herself with stuff when cooking! I am planning to make her an apron for Mother’s Day (which is on Sunday 10th March in the UK) and have selected this pattern to use:

I just need to get some suitable fabric and decide whether to go for the full or half size. Pockets are a definite requirement, of course!

Halfway Round Again – Hexagon Update

I braved the cold to take this picture for you, dear readers.

Hexagon Update

Time for an update on my hexagon quilt! 16 rings completed, who knows how many more to go! It’s getting a bit big for a flat shot, and luckily is big enough for me to hide behind:

Ongoing Pyjama Saga

After I wrote about what I thought was a terrible cutting out error when planning Waif’s pyjamas, my mum rang me up to say “don’t do anything rash, your pieces are right!”. And she was right. It seems it doesn’t matter whether your fabric is wrong-sides together or right-sides together when you cut the pieces! So, I set to work sewing the trousers together. I sewed the inside legs and the crotch seam. So far, so good. Then, somehow, when sewing the outside leg lengths, something went awry and I ended up with this:

No offence to MC Hammer, but this wasn’t quite the look we were going for! !

Out came the seam ripper, and I resewed the seam the right way, and yay – I had an item shaped a lot like a pair of pj trousers! Unfortunately, when I called Waif in to show him, I thought “uh-oh” because I realised that these trousers looked much too small. Yep, they were a couple of inches too short in the leg, and in the crotch!! It seems that using the waist and hip measurements of a child to work out the correct pattern size only works when said child is not a skinny beanpole .

Luckily, my very capable and creative mum came to the rescue again, with her suggestion to add a waistband to the top of the trousers, thus solving the problem. This being somewhat beyond my current skillset, I handed them back to her and here they are:

All I need to do is sew the elastic into the waistband, and hem the bottoms and (fingers crossed) Waif should have a wonderful new pair of pyjama bottoms. Phew.

In other sewing news, things have been a little more straightforward. I have completed the embroidery and quilting on my “What a World” quilt panel:

And completed two more sides of coloured hexies on my charm quilt:

It’s tempting to say I will stick with patchwork and quilting in the future…but I do like the challenge of learning something new, so I am not going to give up with the dressmaking yet!

Fourteen Times Around the Stars

That’s 547 hexagons sewn together. Approximately 33000 stitches hold them together. About 45 hours work so far, by my reckoning. Patience, patience.

See how it grows…

Slowly, steadily, but surely.

(for the history of this quilt, read here)

Halfway Round Again

Just a little progress report on my hexagon charm quilt.  I am halfway round the latest ring of light colours:

I don’t know why it had never occurred to me before but this quilt is something of a mandala. Starting from the stars, the centre of the universe and slowly adding ring by ring of colour and beauty. Slowly. Patiently. Meditatively. It grows organically. Ah.

469

469.  That’s how many hexagons I’ve sewn together for this quilt.  Phew.

I love the soothing, meditative, repetitive nature of making this quilt.  I feel a connection to women from the past, ancestors.  So it’s only fitting that I should photograph it in sepia tones I think

Twelve Rings of Hexagons!

Phew, I have completed another “round” of hexagons on my English paper pieced charm quilt.    It’s too big to photograph indoors now, so I took it outside and pegged on the line to take the pictures.  It was a bit blowy, so didn’t get a full flat shot, but think you can get the idea

I love how this quilt is evolving. For those new to this blog here’s how it has progressed:

August 2010:

September 2010:

October 2010:

July 2011:

August 2011:

September 2011:

November 2011:

As you can tell from the dates, I haven’t worked consistently on this, but have stuck at it. It’s certainly not fast sewing, but I find it relaxing and therapeutic, and I love seeing how it slowly evolves and changes with each ring of hexagons. Next round will be very dark fabrics. But don’t expect it any day soon