...another Hexy MF update

On Friday night I sewed the last (with the exception of a few for the borders) of the flowers. There are 70 there - seven in each of the fabrics.

For those that are mathematically minded interested (I am sure the minded can work it out for themselves) that is 490 basted 1.5" hexies and 8820" of hand sewn seam. 

I spent some time at the inaugural Sew Shells event laying them out on the floor and mixing them up until I was happy with the placement (there were a couple of changes after this picture was taken but it is the one I am working from)

The background is ordered (Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen in Beige) along with some samples for the stems and leaves.

Better get to adding more columns to these to then!

...N's quilt - Cog and Wheel

I took the fabric and the recently cut templates for this quilt to the first Sit and Sew Day for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild I went to last year, in April.

A year later I have finally finished it! After I was inspired by this stack of fabric sitting on the table near this pattern and coming to the impossible to forget conclusion that this fabric and this pattern were a match too good to pass up I worked on the top almost exclusively at the sit and sew days over the next few months. I finished the top in about September but was stalled there for a little while as I tried to find the right green solid for the back. My Kona Color card said Bayou was what I needed but it was a discontinued colour by the time I started my search and I couldn't find enough.

In the end I have gone with a different shade altogether - Green Tea from the Spotlight Prima Homespun range - but N seems to like it. There are a couple of extra scraps from the front fabric in there too to bring it all up to size.

I chose to quilt it as described in the pattern - this was not my original plan but I think if a quilt designer goes to the trouble of suggesting a design there must be good reason for it. I know when I plan a quilt I almost always consider the quilting design at the same time as I plan the patchwork and fabric choices.

The one change I did make was to follow the marked line with my walking foot rather than hand quilt the design. Despite the need for some fairly heavy duty pushing and pulling through the rather small throat of my machine, and the related puckers on the front, I think this was the right choice for me.

I like to quilt my own quilts (like in the planning I think all the stages of making a quilt are equally important and I'd feel a little like I cheated if I got someone else to quilt my top for me - but I know and respect that is not the same for everyone) but sometimes my lack of machine space is a little annoying, especially as I usually choose to make twin or queen sized quilts. However, unless the machine fairy decides to come along, these are the parameters that I need to work within.

...not one with perfect photos or sewing spaces

My house is never showroom worthy nor the photos on my blog wonderfully styled but I like to think that a lot of the time both are passable. Today is not one of those posts!

Yesterday morning I woke up early, not that unusual for me as I do every weekday, and given the looming Christmas deadline and the list of things I want to make beforehand I thought a tidy up of the sewing room was well in order in the quiet of the morning.

OK so this is actually the before and after picture but you get the idea. Lots of small projects on the go at the same time and this room looks like a bomb or tornado has hit it.

Initially it all went quite well. I usually start at the left of the table near the bookcases and work my way across, putting things away and sorting as I go and initially this is what I did. Then I got to the right of the cutting mat and found my stack of Prima solids from Spotlight that were waiting to be
a) sampled to add to my improv colour chart, ie actual samples cut and pasted to a printed copy that showed the colours poorly
d) cut to make the rings in a baby-sized Single Girl quilt.
In the same area were the already cut centres and backgrounds for said Single Girl and the printed colour chart from Spotlight.

It was a perfect storm. To tidy up in my usual way I had to make both items. I couldn't face stuffing them in the cupboard only to have to pull them out again at some time in the, probably distant, future.

So the stack of fabric on the floor (still there by the way despite today's early morning) is what is left after all the arc pieces were cut and the 1.5" squares were taken for comparison with the colour chart.

The colour placement was chosen with a coloured diagram and cut using these acrylic templates. Made it so fast and accurate...compared to the traced plastic templates. There are still 36 of them.

Soon I had a stack like this.

(See the stack of fabric on the sewing machine...that is one of the gifts I should have been working on.

And after a visit to a relative in hospital and a detour to Spotlight to match the colours to the chart that did not scan at all accurately I came home and stitched the last 3 quarters together.

I was surprised how quick this was to make. The arcs were all cut and the whole top together in 7 or 8 hours.  I am comfortable with curves which no doubt made it quicker than someone who is doing it for the first time and the templates did speed things up dramatically but chain piecing all the arc pieces for one quarter at once meant I sped through.

Now I have this top

and it will go in the cupboard until after Christmas when I have some time to quilt it and to work out who gets it!

NOTE: I reversed the print and the solids from how it is printed in the pattern as I had read several comments that the large amounts of negative space were a turn-off for many about this design and as this was to be sized for a baby I thought the more print to hide the inevitable mess and spills could be a benefit. I was worried about the pattern and how it would look at the centre of the circle joins but I think one spaced as this is can carry it OK.

As this was a sample before I tackle a queen size for our bed now I am wonder how I want to place the fabrics for ours.
I can think of three options
1. Prints for arcs and solids for backgrounds...the way it is written.
2. Tone on tone prints for the arcs (white or cream probably) and a single print for the background like I have done here.
3. Tone on tone for the arcs and then many prints for the centres and "corner" backgrounds (the centre of this quilt) so that area is all the same. I know what I mean, I hope you do too but it is early and the laptop needs charging...


Fabric: Rocket Scientist from Robert Kaufmann (2009)
            Prima Homespun from Spotlight in various colours

...for Nan

My  Mum and Nan came to visit a few weeks ago for the night and we sat on the couch in the evening, Mum knitting some socks for me (still waiting on them Mum),  Nan knitting a blanket for a great-grandchild, me quilting my Bakeshop project and Nik looking like he wished he was anywhere else (or wondering how he ended up in the 19th century).

On their return home I realised Nan had left her knee rug behind and sent it back to her with the idea I would also get to sewing her a lap quilt not too far in the future.

This quilt ís the result. It was made, in the majority, in one weekend including the hand quilting. Small quilts are good like that. In fact the thing that took the most time was getting it photographed before posting, including washing it after I dropped it in dirt and almost falling in the lake when I finally got thd pictures I was after.

All the fabric is the Spotlight Picnics and Fairgrounds and the solid is Homespun in 'Sand', also from Spotlight.

...supplies for a quiet Sunday morning.

1. A foot massager
2. An audio book
3. A ball of perle cotton
4. A needle, thimble
5. A basted quilt
6. A seat near a slightly open window.

A new project - Moving on up the list

Do you ever find a pattern and a fabric range that have probably never met but couldn't be more perfect for each other?

I bought the Denyse Schmidt Cog and Wheel pattern a few weeks ago and then walked into the sewing room and saw my collection of Cogsmo prints, a 2008 or 2009 collection from Cosmo Cricket.

If I had been in a cartoon a lightbulb would have lit up above my head and I would have stuck a finger up in the air.

I have added the last couple of prints I didn't have to my collection after some careful searching and can't wait to get started after I finish of another couple of almost complete projects.