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.

Quilts, Mums & Sisters

Did I ever tell you what a star my mum is? Machine quilting is not really my thing – call it a combination of back troubles, limited space, and erm…just lack of love for it. My mum, on the other hand, is an ace at machine quilting, and even enjoys it. So I was overjoyed when she offered to quilt and bind the pink quilt I have been making for a friend’s little girl. I’ve been waiting for a sunny day to get a picture of it, and here it is:

I will admit I didn’t really enjoy making this quilt as much as previous ones. It’s just a bit too conventional. And a bit too pink. But I think the recipient will love it, and that’s the main thing, right?

Moving on from my mum to my sister, H. H does stuff like sending a bundle of quilting fabrics over from the US (where she lives) just because she happens to be passing the Stitching Post . A bundle she recently sent included a fabulous map panel “What a World” by Jill McDonald. I have made it into a quilt sandwich and am having fun hand quilting with perle cottons:

I’m even using different embroidery stitches to quilt, like this buttonhole stitch:

and herringbone:

straight stitches:

And – look! – there’s even a little Buddha on there:

What a World indeed!

And what a mum! And what a sister!

I am very lucky to have such wonderful family members

See how it grows…

Slowly, steadily, but surely.

(for the history of this quilt, read here)

Goodness Gracious, Great Ballz of ????

So, I thought I would give Jan Mullen’s “Magic Ballz” technique a go – as described in this book:

I pulled together some of my stash of bright reds and orange fabrics and came up with this:

No, I’ve no idea what it’s all about either

I don’t like it enough to want to make it into a wall quilt. I didn’t enjoy the process enough to want to make a whole quilt of ballz. And I’m not sure my hand stitching makes it robust enough for a potholder. Any ideas?!?!

Oh well, at least it’s got me back in the swing of sewing!

Quilts, Quilts, Glorious Quilts!

As expected, it’s been another busy week, culminating in a trip with my mum to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. And what a Festival it was! There were so many wonderful quilts to see – traditional, modern, big, small…and I am going to share a few of my favourites with you, dear reader.

First up, my absolute favourite in the show. It was an entry in the Contemporary Quilts category, by Tracy Aplin from Deal and it is called “Colourful Kaleidoscope“. I love the colours, the design, the rickrack, the hand stitching. Well, everything about it really. What’s not to love?! Here it is:

And some close ups:

On the way back on the coach, I mentioned to one of other ladies how much I liked this quilt and the way the circles had been appliqued with rickrack around, and she said something rather dismissive, along the lines of “she only did it that way because she didn’t know how to attach them properly”. Gah. Quilt Police. Yuck. I love this quilt, whether it is technically amazing or not. It sings with joy and makes me want to do the same.

Another quilt I loved in this category was Jenny Rolfe‘s quilt “Branching Out“. I love the different shapes of trees and leaves and the contrast between the subtle hand dyed fabrics and the bold black and white of the borders:

And some detail:

A third quilt I particularly enjoyed was in the Quilters Guild Challenge. The challenge was to produce a quilt on the theme of “Britain – What it Means to You”. It seemed that, to a lot of people, Britain means cups of tea . But I was particularly taken with this interpretation by Julie Mary Humphreys, which she describes as “The colour and richness which comes from welcoming immigrants to our culture – it is Britain’s hidden strength” Amen to that, and love this quilt:

The faces dangling from the bottom of the quilt are just super. So quirky and expressive! I particularly love the policeman

This year I was particularly wowed by the Miniature Quilts. These quilts would all be awesome if they were full sized, but to see this level of detail on something just a few inches in size is totally amazing. I have no idea how they do it, but it makes my jaw drop!!

Another highlight (as in previous years) is the exhibition from the European Quilt Association. This year they produced quilts 20 x 50 cm in size on the theme of “Crossroads”. I love seeing the different interpretations of artists from all around Europe.

Of the prize winning quilts this year, my favourite by far was winner in the Pictorial Quilts category, “Graceful Dance” bu Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga. It is beautiful, don’t you think?

As far as buying stuff this year, I was remarkably restrained, coming away with a small amount of fabric and just a couple of new books…but I have certainly filled my head with inspiration and a renewed enthusiasm for taking up needle and thread, and that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day

If you went to the Festival, I would love to hear about your highlights…