...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!

...Hexy M(ini)F

It is Mini because there is only 2 so far!

I've finally started, what feels like weeks after everyone else.

I got my fabric chosen just after the papers arrived in the mail. In the end I went back and bought the fabrics from this post that I really liked, rather than those I thought I needed to co-ordinate, and then took this bundle to Amitie during the sale to add the extra 4 prints (or more if it turned out one I chose wouldn't work but that didn't happen).

Somewhere in between the first fabric purchase and the visit to Amitie I came across this series of posts - I found the one about bundles interesting but it wasn't so helpful in the store as I looked at shelves of fabric with a feel rather than a picture of what I wanted in mind. I also chose the chartreuse from Dear Stella for the flower centres, I didn't catch the name of the colour on the end of the bolt.

I made a start at the Sit and Sew evening on Friday night and now I have a couple of flowers sewn, all the centres basted and all the petals cut.

I have cut my strips at 3.5"and then cross cut at 4" to give me a 3.5"x4" rectangle - and then cut this into hexies with a template Lisa made me with the 3/8" seam allowance I like for EPP. Cutting this way I was able to get all the centres cut from just over 3/4 yard of fabric.

Katy has given a couple of different basting methods. My preference is to secure the fabric to the paper with a circle of glue to hold it steady (I find pins move or fold the papers) and then baste through the paper with a stitch at each corner and one in the centre of each side. Leaving the knot at the front when I start makes it easier to remove the basting threads later.

There are 74 of these flowers to make - I'm labelling them as I go.

...a finished top - entierly by hand!

I almost can't believe that I had the patience and persistance to finish this quilt top - and that I still am enjoying it so much that I am already planning the quilting to be done soon - and by hand as well.

There are 32 'star' units in the quilt as well as 6 half 'stars' at the edges, 62 hexagons, 16 half hexagons and 10 half diamonds to form the edges. Each one was basted by hand and hand sewn into the top and then all 304 paper shapes removed. Well almost all, I have left the edge ones in for now and remove them at basting time.

All that adds up to 1592.5" of whip stitched seam. I was glad of a thimble.

The top measures 45" x 56" so it it pretty firmly a baby-lap sized quilt - and leaves me with nothing but admiration for people that can made a full sized quilt in this way - and using much smaller shapes!

I've started on the backing - ready for basting soon. There are 'spare' hexies (basted when I was going to make a multicoloured bacground) joined and then hand appliqued to the backing to hide the seam joining the two backing pieces together. There is a random spare star to be appliqued on the back as well - but I need to wait for after basting for placement. Confused - I'll explain in pictures later!

 

The next job will be to prepare the batting - as this quilt is part of the Scrap Attack Quilt Along I thought I would continue with the scrap theme. I have an (overflowing) box of reasonably decent sized batting scraps and will piece two of these together to get the batting for this quilt!

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap - Sent and Recieved

The Scrappy Mug Rug Swap round one was a smallish affair but obviously struck a cord with a whole bunch of people because the flickr group is now huge. And I can completely understand it because the finished mug rugs are
1. cute
2. useful
3. can be finished in a night or an afternoon.

A satisfaction guarnteed, reasonbly quick project.

The current round of the swap, the third, was my second. I made the tops of these two mug rugs and couldn't decide which to send so I made both (rather than a top and a bottom because they had come out different sizes) and sent both with a little extra surprise.

Sent:

and on the very day I posted mine off to it's new owner and home I came home to find this one waiting for me in the letterbox.

Recieved:

Thanks to Lethargic Lass, for this one!

Hotel Sewing...more hexagons

Being back in Sydney this week has meant the third hotel in as many weeks. Perhaps this should be re badged as a travel blog?

Hotels, of course mean more of the Matilda's Own Hotel Hand-sewing project.

The past few weeks being what they have been for me has of course meant the batteries in my camera have gone flat and I can's show you the three I have made this week.

Instead, I have gone searching for the three template sets I am missing from the (now known to be) set of five.

And since I am without a car and working on my finishing up to do list like crazy this has only been on the Internet.

I have found the three missing are,
The Curved Star


http://www.matildasown.com/templates/curvedstar.html

 The Whirligig

http://www.matildasown.com/templates/whirligig.html

and The Pinwheel


http://www.matildasown.com/templates/pinwheel.html


As it turns out I have had trouble finding them, except on the Matilda's Own site, which does not have a shop function. I have printed out the stockist list of the stores near my new home but I fear they may not have them in stock. Hopefully disproving this fear is a job for this weekend!

Have you seem them? Especially anywhere in the SE suburbs of Melbourne?

* Ok, apparently there are more, a whole new range of sets out for 2010/2011. Obviously some more investigation is needed.

Handsewing in the Hotel - Hexagons

I'm nothing if not a girl of contradictions. After not long ao declaring I didn't enjoy hand sewing now I've started a whole hand sewn project!

Generally, I’ve been busy the last week or so, the house was finally packed up and loaded on the truck, cleaned and then my Dad and I drove down to Melbourne with my dog to join my partner. Since we got here we have been looking for a house and signed a lease on Saturday for a house with room for a dedicated sewing space, I’m so excited!

Remember that ‘no new fabric until I’ve moved’ pledge? Well I almost kept it. As soon as the movers left I went down to the Remnant Warehouse sale. I justified it by needing something to do while I didn’t have access to my machine. I got some precuts and two different packs of Matilda’s Own Hexagon templates. I have since discovered there are a series of these (and am on the lookout for them) that each make 8.5inch hexagons across the widest point. They are designed to be used for machine or hand piecing but I have used them to make some English Paper Piecing templates and constructed them so far.

All of the pieces for each of the blocks will fit on a sheet of A4 cardstock and I have been cutting them form sheets of Whimsy layer cake I got in the sale. From 3 sheets I can get 2-3 blocks.

I completed this one first, I need to do another two of these with each of the colours in different positions but all the tiny triangles and diamonds are difficult to do and I can only get the point ‘pointy’ enough with the hair straightener method, but the tiny sixe leads to some burnt fingers!

These two were made with the same teamplate set but the templates offer two variations. Where as the first block took a week of short sessions these two came together in an evening. The bigger peieces certainly make the blocks go together more quickly but it is much harder to keep the pieces flat while basing when the edges are so long.

The plan is to keep these as a short hand sewing project, use up the layer cake and then see if I have enough blocks for a lap quilt.

My Hexie Box!

I don't usually have the patience for extended hand sewing. It seems like a good idea to me in theory but I never seem to enjoy actually doing it.


Until I started making little hand sewn hexies, that is.

I think it has a lot to do with having something to see for my efforts. Maybe not a completed project but a happy little stack at the end of the news.

So, in order to have everything to hand quickly I put together this kit in a cheap compartmentalised box from a $2 shop.

I made a little pin cushion to go in one section,

and a little thread and waste bin in another. I have sewed some plastic table cloth in the bin section to make sure things don't get stuck and empty out easily.

I also have a hole punch to for the card stock hexies to make pinning more easy and a mini hair straightener I got free with my last hairdryer. It really helps with making the corners nice and crisp, although I can do without it I'm not near a power point.


Now I need to work out what I cam going to do with all these little hexies....