Projects for 2012

I've been doing a stocktake of the projects I want to make this year, or in some cases finish this year and I think if I record them here that perhaps I will feel more drive to finish them rather than get distracted with pretty new things!

Up first is finishing off these placemats for my mum.  I managed to finish off 4 before Christmas which were given to her for her early January birthday, but I need to finish the other 4 so that she can have a full set of 8!  The fabric is Bryant Park from Anthology Fabrics, paired with Kona solids.

 For once I've actually saved my selvedges, and I would like to make a pouch of some kind featuring them.  Hopefully that will come together quickly!

This is a bundle of Nicey Jane that recently joined my collection.  My friend Jenn and I went halves in some fat quarters, so now we both have a set of fat eighths.  I think we will do some kind of "challenge" with these, I already have the design in my head, but I won't start until Jenn can start too.

Late last year I showed you this stack of fabrics, which have become this neat little pile of squares.  This is going to become a quilt that I'm calling Sunset Plus.  As soon as I have time to layout all the squares I'll show you a sneak peek!

Also on the list for finishing this year is my Candied Hexagons.  I think I have less than 10 blocks to go now, and then the little edge pieces.  I doubt that I will get the top finished, the quilting and binding done, but I would be happy if I can finish the top this year.

Finally, and using my newly learnt Machine Quilting skils, I would like to quilt these two tops which have been waiting around for some time now to be finished off.  I've always wanted to quilt them myself, so I think this will be the year.

That's the list to start with!  What about you?  What are you making this year?

Candied Hexgons... the ongoing project

Last night I took a couple of minutes to lay out all the blocks for my Candied Hexagons.  By my count I only have 11 full blocks to go, and then the side ones to square it up.  I did rearrange a couple of the blocks, but for the most part I'm pretty with how it's looking. 

It's going to be a riot of colour, but I really like that!

W.I.P Wednesday

Lee over at Freshly Pieced does "W.I.P. Wednesday" which is going to give me a chance to list my current WIPs. Some of them you are already familiar with - but this is a more comprehensive list - all in one post - this could be a long one!

1) Hand sewing
Up first - Candied Hexagons - English Paper Pieced - 15 or so blocks to go, then insets and borders.  Feeling not at all guilty about this one!

 Celtic Applique - all scroll work basted down, but in need of being appliqued into place.  This is something that I tend to go back to when I'm looking for some hand work that is a little different to the hexagons!

 2) Piecework
Odd Fellows March blocks - all fabric cut for this quilt, including borders.  I haven't worked on them for a long time though and should probably get back to them!

 Asian Circles - I've done all the cutting for these and have a vague tickling of an idea of how I want to lay them out but need to find time to sit and sketch it out.  Sewed a few more of these blocks over the weekend and will hopefully get the the blocks finished this weekend.

 3) Completed tops
Urban Couture - this top actually doesn't have a name yet.  I've been calling it "Urban Couture" just because that is what the fabric is called... I would like to use this for free motion practice - but just not sure how to quilt it.

The "Sultry" quilt - another top with no name - other than it's fabric name!  I want to free motion this too, and I have a kind of swirly flower design in mind - but just can't figure out how to get from one flower to another. 

Placemats - these are going quite well - all the binding is made for them, and I've machined it on to 3 of 8 placemats.  I'm hoping to get the machining of the binding finished off this weekend.

I also have two other tops that are in need of quilting - both have actually been basted but I haven't been game to get started! 

Now that I look at the list, it really does seem that perhaps it is the lack of maching quilting experience that is holding me back.  I'm hoping to go to a free motion class later this year, so hopefully that will help!!

Work(s) in progress

I thought I would give you all a quick update on some of the many projects that are in progress here.

First up - what does 89 English Paper pieced blocks look like?? A little something like this!

 I've been really enjoying watching this pile grow, especially as I've never hand sewn a whole quilt before, so there is a real sense of accomplishment with this one.  I'm also quite happy that this project hasn't gotten sidelined by other projects!!

So here is a little look at all the blocks laid out.  I needed to lay them all out so that I could figure out what I need to do for the remainng blocks.  I'm quite happy with how this is coming together, the colours are working quite well, and I only have about 15 blocks to go before I can start stitching them all together!  I'm really glad that I did lay them out, I've actually made one change to the positionings since this photo was taken, there are two blocks that are nearly identical quite close to each other... so I moved one!  Can you spot it??

My second update is on the placemats that have been in progress for a while.  They're all quilted, and late the other night I made 480 inches of binding (yes, that's right 480!!) and started sewing the bindings on.  I've done about half of them and then I'll have to stitch them to the back.  It's going to take me time but I'm getting there!

The Lazy Blogger

So I'm clearly a very lazy blogger. I got back from my Christmas holidays (I went away and had no laptop!) and discovered there were more than 200 items in my google reader! Everyone was so busy over the holidays. I am in awe of you all!

I hardly did any sewing over the Christmas break, but I did take a couple of hours out while I was at Mum's place to lay out all the blocks that I've made so far which meant that I could figure out what blocks I still need to do.
So far I have made 83 of 103 blocks - and that is what they look like together! I'm busily working on filling in the gaps and then I will be nearly finished.

I was also a very lucky girl this christmas (I must have been on Santa's "good quilter" list last year) because I was given two beautiful books for Christmas
City Quilts by Cherri House from my Mum - full of wonderful modern quilts, and lots of fabulous ideas for using solids
Japanese Garden Quilt by Karen Kay Buckley from my sister. It's a gorgeous quilt - it will be a great challenge!

Then when I was on holidays....
I found Kaleidscope from Melly and Me which I've looked at tonnes of times - but just had to have this time! :)

I'll be back soon - I have an idea for a weekly post - but I'll get to that tomorrow :)

Candied Hexagons continued....

Hi all,

As many of you know there is something of a groundswell in Australia at the moment for a quilt called "Candied Hexagons".

I've been working on mine for just under a year now, and I'm quite pleased to give you a progress report. So far I have sewn 74 hexagons out of a total of 104 (in case anyone is counting, there are only 73 in the pile, but I finished another hexagon after I took these photos).

I really love this photo - on the left is the hexagons that I've sewn, and on the right are the "cheat" hexagons - that is the ones that are made of a single fabric (the feature floral). All you really need to do is baste them, that's why I can't help but think of them as the "cheater" blocks!

This is my favourite block to sew, which I was very surprised about - but I love the way the pieces all fit together like a puzzle. The original quilt (by Kerry Dear) was actually sewn by machine, but I was looking for a hand sewing project. A number of the women at my quilting group were doing it by hand, so I decided to give it a go. I know in myself that I don't have the discipline to sew a whole quilt with only the sem allowances marked - so I'm paper piecing it.

I've never paper pieced (or hand pieced for that matter!) before, so I did a lot of reading online first (there are a couple of really great bloggers who had step-by-step photos!) and then sewed one block, and trapsed off to the quilting group the next month to check that I'd done it properly!!

Since then I've just been sewing away - matching colours as I went along. I also asked some loved ones to choose a block design and colours for me - so there will always be a block designed by my Mum, a block designed by my sister, a block designed by Sir Pinkying... it's kind of nice to feel like I'm sewing my "family" into the quilt!
Because I'm starting to get close to "the end" of making the blocks, I put aside randomness for a while to make up the "sets" of blocks that are featured in the original pattern. These are ones like the three blocks above where the positioning of the fabrics and the designs of the blocks create a secondary pattern. LOVE them!

I already know that I want to do another hand project when I've finished this one - but I will FINISH this first!!

Where have I been?

Hi all,

Once again, despite my best intentions, it has been far too long between posts... and where have I been you ask? Well, we've been away we went here:


we also saw a bit of this


spent a couple of days driving through scenery not unlike this...
enjoyed a lovely boat trip through here

and were constantly in awe of natural wonders like this

so, has anyone guessed where Sir Pinkying (he's not Mr Pinkying - but he's my knight in shining armour!) and I have been??

We went to New Zealand! All I can say is if you have never been, you really must go. We loved every single second of the trip. So many photos, so little time!

I did pick up a small bundle of Maori styled fabrics, which I will post a pic of soon.

While we were away, I had intended to sew 15 blocks for my Candied Hexagons, which I had cut out in preparation for the trip, but I only got as far as doing the basting! I have made some progress though (which I will post later too!!)

Happy Quilting!

Candied Hexagons

Today I thought I would share with you a little bit of what I'm working on at the moment. My main project at the moment is Candied Hexagons by Kerry Dear. I was inspired by a number of ladies from the Sydney Scquilters group who have made different versions of the quilt. Di over at Snippets 'n' Scraps has a great summary of the history of this quilt, and you can see fantastic close ups of Janet's version at Quiltsalott.

The design by Kerry Dear was published in Quilter's Companion magazine, but the edition is now sold out. I was lucky and Kerry herself forwarded me a copy of the original pattern. The feature fabric used for the individual flower blocks in Kerry's version is a Kaffe Fassett print called Flower Lattice, which is also no longer available (or at least I couldn't find any!!) Instead I am using a Kaffe Fassett print called Bekah in Orange.

The pattern by Kerry Dear is machine pieced, but I was really looking for a portable project that I could take with, so I decided that I would hand piece the quilt. I should 'fess up at this point that I've never hand pieced a quilt before. Never. Ever. Oh, and I decided to do it by the English Paper Piecing method!

I have to say that I'm enjoying the whole process, I really love the paper piecing, and I'm managing to do a couple of blocks a week. Here is a sample of my blocks so far


Much to my surprise, I'm enjoying the process so much that I already know what my next paper pieced project will be, but I've promised myself that I'm going to finish this quilt before I move onto another hand project. There are 104 hexagons in the quilt, and including the "whole flower" blocks, I've made about 40 so far, so I'm nearly halfway there!

Until next time... Happy Quilting!