Hexagon Flowers aka 'Matilda'

This past week, I pulled out my ongoing hexagon flowers project that I have been appliqueing to pieced backgrounds.  I knew I was close to being finished, but not really sure, so I laid out all of the blocks - 35 - to see where I was at.  I needed to piece one more flower (the blue dot), applique that one on and two others.  

I laid them out, decided on placement and stacked them ready for webbing.  On the block corners, I will applique a single green hexagon.

 

The hexagons were a gift from EJH back in 2022 when she was going through some of her stuff she didn't want anymore.  There were a few flowers already made, not many and I've been plodding away on them, in bursts over the past couple of years until a few days ago when I decided it really was time to get it to be ready for making into a flimsy.

I am quite excited by this project again.  My friend J dropped in while the quilt was out on the table and she gave her seal of approval. 

So I set myself to completing this little beauty and let me introduce you to... Matilda.. 

Not the best photos, being taken indoors on a bit of a dull day...  

I really love the backgrounds that I chose - a range from Emma Jean Jansen called Classics with the iconic Melbourne Trams, Kangaroos, Gum Leaves and a nod to our indigenous peoples.  (I can't remember the name of the symbol right now).

Quite a satisfying quilt top to finish.  For now, Matilda has been bundled up with her backing and binding until I can get her quilted.

I think I might even turn her into a quilt pattern - it's been a loooooong time since I've made a pattern - think pre-covid era....  hmmmm...  food for thought.

KQ 2026 Mystery Quilt - Parts 1 & 2

This year I have decided to take part in the local quilt group mystery quilt-a-long.  As an added challenge to myself, I have decided to only use stash fabrics - you know, those bits'n'pieces that are left over from previously completed projects that we all have.

There are no fabric requirements being given out, only a finished size and what the element needs to be.  The instructions are very minimal, which I am loving because my creative muse can come out to play.

Month 1 had to include red.  Bring out a Baltimore Applique book and look at the papercuts.  I love this frame on the animal print fabric.

Animal print fabric is circa 2025 and the red is from 1998.

In the two photos below, I really love the monkey and the tiger peeking out from behind the applique.

Month 2 is curves with repeated elements.  I had ideas of circus tent stripes when I first read the prompt in the group newsletter.  It has taken me most of the month to figure out the fabrics and design while I went about my normal life.  In the end, a piece of leftover 'quilting made easy' border roll was the answer.  I cut it out along one side and then traced the pattern onto the cheddar fabric.  An afternoon of quiet hand-applique and it was done.

The green and yellow fabrics are circa 2012 or thereabouts.  It's "all the things" in this quilt.

I am excited to see what the upcoming June prompt will be.  While I wait for the next prompt, I am contemplating how to make this 'quilt as you go'.  I am not sure if it will work or not, it all depends on what I think up for the next prompt design.  Right now, my brain has plenty of ideas for quilting in and around the applique.  I will ponder this before I jump in with both feet.

Smart Sofa Station

All folded up, this looks like a purse or evening bag, but for people who hand-sew, it's so much more useful!

Using a pretty floral fabric, I quilted the main pieces together before making the rest of this sofa station.  

As you can see, it has pockets for patterns, a pleated piece of felt for needles, as well as spots for scissors and threads.  

In the above picture, you can see two red circles, they contain magnets in them so that you can easily remove the pincushion and threads bin.

When the sofa station is placed on the arm of your lounge chair, it will hang down either side and you can easily access the pockets.  Hopefully no more pins stuck in the arm rests or lost scissors down the side of the chair!

I made the sofa station for my gorgeous friend, Maryanne for her very special birthday.  And... as you can see from her cake, she is also a quilter!  

Pattern used:  Smart Sofa Station by Arabesque Scissors.

*Note to self - make the binding wider than what the pattern says because there is quite a bit of bulk around the corners and it is hard to pull the binding over the cover the stitching line.

Paper Doilies, Log Cabins and a very quilty week...

Last week was so very, very quilty!  Lots of sewing time to be had. 😊

It was a wonderful week. Tuesday was 3 hours with a group, followed closely by Thursday which was slow stitching at a local shop for 2.5 hours.  I took an English Paper Piecing  (EPP) project.

My "doily" so far.  There's still another round to attach,
but I haven't chosen the colour yet.

The diamond spaces are left blank for the
background to show through.

This is my "Paper Doily" project which I started in 2019 at a class with Leesa Chandler.  I attended the class so that I could learn something new.  I had never realised all the other possibilities before of using paper pieces to make up patterns like this.  I had always attached them to each other and thought that was it.  Once the final round is attached, the whole piece will be appliqued onto a background.  Such a fun thing to do with some stash fabric and paper pieces.

Friday was the day for my local quilt group.  I had plans to take my machine and continue working on Specky Stars, however, other things called me away and I didn't get there.

On Saturday, 29/02 - Leap Year Day - I attended a 10am-10pm sewing day with a group 1 hour away.  I took a scrappy red/white log cabin of my own design to work on.  I spent quite a bit of time both before and after Christmas cutting into my red and white leftovers from previous projects (scrap) stash.  Being 100% cut out and having lots of chain piecing, which is very repetitive, was a fantastic thing to do while catching up with friends.

I stood up and looked over the back of my machine
for this shot.  Lots of chain piecing.

Plastic tub with each piece cut and in piecing
order from the centre out.

With a bit of luck, this log cabin quilt will hopefully be published into a pattern.  It's been quite a while since I last ran a class and wrote a proper pattern.

On top of pattern writing and making the relevant quilts, I have a self-imposed goal of completing 9 quilts by the end of July and 4 of those quilts I plan to exhibit.  A couple will become gifts, 1 is for a class and the other 2 I am not sure where they are headed to yet.

I'm feeling as 'pleased as punch' right now.  My goals are on track and I've spent some very precious time with some very special people.   Life is good.

Now I can share! - 1718 Simplified

Ahhh, the major exhibitions are over, for now and I can finally share my 1718 Simplified Quilt story.....

My excitement which I shared last year can now be shown as photos and I can tell the whole story of my own amazing personal journey.

The 1718 quilt had been a “want to make” quilt for me for many, many years, after I first saw a photo of it almost 20 years ago.  The chance to make my own version of the 1718 Coverlet and to travel to the UK from Australia with my quilt to visit the original quilt was truly a dream come true.

It was a picture, a very small picture inside the front cover of a patchwork book.  Interesting shapes and designs, seeming to be both logically placed and then random at the same time.  A conundrum.  One that I wanted to solve.  It was 15 years from when I saw that first little photo until I could start to make my own quilt.

During 2014, I chanced upon a brief advertisement, the quilt I had been coveting in the picture was being faithfully reproduced and a book was to be published.  In early 2015, I became the owner of that very newly released book...  The 1718 Coverlet:  69 Quilt Blocks from the Oldest Dated British Patchwork Coverlet by Susan Briscoe.

Getting there....

For a long time, it seemed like I wasn't really getting anywhere with the blocks.  I would prepare some applique blocks, put them into a zip loc sandwich bag and take them in my hand-bag for filling in waiting time or while on travelling.  When sewing in small stints and then changing to the next block, I lost where I was up to.  It wasn't until I laid all the blocks out on the floor, that I realised how far I had progressed.

I would often have little machine sewing sessions where I would make a group of blocks, say, all the square in a square, then maybe the hourglass blocks.  I found by doing this way, I could match things up a bit.  The 1718 Coverlet is symmetrical from left to right, but not top to bottom.  This was something I did not realise by looking at the book, but only picked up on when I was laying out the blocks.

There were many techniques used in the making of this quilt, including applique, piecing, english paper piecing, templates, fussy cutting and more.

Adding in the centre

A true labour of love - taking 3 years to make, with lots of hand and machine work.  Each block was carefully made, pressed and trimmed to the correct size. 

Completed centre panel.  Just love it!

I used a very, very fine wadding, called QuiltLite.  It was like a fine interfacing, but with a bit more give in it.  With so many seams and lots of applique, I wanted my quilt to hold and have a little bit of body to it because I wanted it to hold up to handling and hanging during the exhibitions.

Detail showing quilting with 100 weight invisafil thread and a 60/8 needle. 
The thread is a fine line, about the thickness of hair running down the needle shaft.

I used a very fine #100 weight thread to quilt each block to closely mimic the "coverlet" style of the original quilt, which it to make it look like it has no quilting over the patchwork.

Blocks after quilting before trimming and assembling.

Assembled blocks after quilting

Detail showing how the quilt as you was assembled without cover strips.

The method I chose for quilting allowed me to use a whole piece of fabric for the backing, with some stitch in the ditch on in the seam lines to attach it to the front with no sagging.

Not all blocks were easy to make, but all were very rewarding.

Ta Da!  A fully quilted, bound and labelled quilt.  Totally elated!

The coming together of this quilt was a complete joy.  Every block was wonderful to make, except the ‘cockerel’ (the block must have known that I don’t like chooks in general!!!).  My quilt has been called ‘1718 Simplified’ because I did not piece the applique backgrounds, allowing the unique shapes to be highlighted.  I used modern piecing and quilting techniques.

In June 2018, I was notified that my quilt had been accepted as part of the 1718 Exhibition at the Festival of Quilts, in Birmingham - a huge event that is well renowned on the world quilting calendar.  Of course I had to hand deliver it!  Off I went, with the quilt carefully packed into my hand luggage.  An incredible experience where I got to see the original 300 year old coverlet -WOW - attend lectures about the 1718 Coverlet; meet others who made their own versions of the coverlet and get my book signed by the author.

At The Festival of Quilts

1718 Simplified has been exhibited at and appeared in:

• 2018 - Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK - part of the special exhibit celebrating 300 years of the original quilt.

• 2018 Nov - Axedale Antics (local paper).  Article I was asked to write, telling my story of how and why I made the 1718 Coverlet.

• 2018 - Quilt Mania magazine - issue 128 Nov-Dec 2018- Celebrating 300 years of Britain's oldest dated patchwork coverlet article.

• 2019 January to May - with Grosvenor Shows, UK, as part of a travelling exhibition highlighting the 1718 Quilts throughout England.  Newark 18-20 January;  Ardingly 25-27 January; Harrogate 22-24 February; Duxford 8-10 March;
  Exeter 29-31 March; Quilts UK Malvern 16-19 May.

• 2019 July - Victorian Quilters Showcase, Melbourne, Aust. - entrant in the mainly pieced, amateur, single person category.  Received an Highly Commended Award.

• and is slated to appear in one or two more exhibitions during 2019.

Quilt Hanging in Melbourne at Victorian Quilters Showcase

My winning ribbon!

And.... would I make a second one?  Yes, I would.  

1718 has been the most interesting, at times challenging and
most delightful quilt that I have ever made.  

Thank you to those who supported me for your faith in me,
especially my Aunt Libby, who just "gets it"
and my husband Baden for his never ending patience and love.

Buttons and Loose Ends

Sewing in loose ends and adding buttons has been on my radar this past week.

While looking for some hand-work to take along to sewing groups, I decided to dig into my knitting basket.  I found several items which simply needed ends sewn in and buttons and embellishments added.  They were actually sewn up, just not totally finished.

Here is what I worked on (and completed 100%!!!) these past 10 days while sitting, chatting and drinking coffee with friends...

Blue Green Vest

Knitted with Morris & Sons Quartet 8ply. 70%wool/30% soybean silk

Pattern:  Sirdar Escape DK #9263

Lovely soft yarn and super warm.  Perfect knitting on the very cold nights.  I am lucky there is still cold weather left to come so I can get some benefit wearing it this year.

Little Cardigan and Hat (to fit 6 months)

Knitted with Creative Fibres hand-dyed 100% New Zealand wool 8ply

Patterns:  Cardigan - Sirdar Snuggly Kisses DK pattern #1835

          Hat - from Big Baby Book 5 by Sue Batley-Kyle

Delightful, fun patterns to knit.  The flower just adds a touch of whimsy to a pretty cardigan for a little one.

Triangle Scarf

Knitted with Bendigo Woollen Mills - Bloom 100%wool

Pattern:  Bendigo Woollen Mills #8338 Murano

Once, I got 'into the groove' of the knitting, because you knit partial rows to make the triangles, it became very easy to knit.  Thoroughly enjoyed this one, even though I had a couple of goes at it while trying to understand how to start the pattern.

Hat

Knitted with Patons Jet and Patons Souffle

Pattern:  Wondoflex Yarns Ladies Wool and Mohair Garter Stitch Hat

A super fast knit with an extremely easy pattern.  Incredibly warm too with 12ply and 8ply yarns knitted together.  The mohair gives a lovely softness.

Textured Baby Jacket

Knitted with Heirloom Jigsaw 4ply  75%wool/25%nylon

Pattern:  Sirdar Snuggly 4 ply #1989

Simply delightful knitting.  The Heirloom yarn is so nice to touch and have in your fingers.  The pattern was lovely too with the changing textures in the knitting and the variegated yarn just added to the overall look and feel.

It has been very nice to find some space in my knitting basket and to get these few things completely finished.  Most of these will go into my gifting basket, except for the blue green vest, which is for me.

And... the long quilting list in my last post?  I am slowly working my way through it.  I have completed one item and worked on the others, but I think I may have been a tad over ambitious when I made that list.  However, it has given me good focus and for that I am grateful.  Slow but steady wins the race - or so they say! :)

CCQ - Central Panel - B13

If anyone had asked me as little as 3 years ago if I would contemplate hand-appliqueing a quilt, I would have told them that they were crazy - me? - hand applique? - never!  I was a machine person through and through. 

About 2 years ago, I found myself unable to sit at my sewing machine because I broke some ribs.  I could not use my machine for several weeks until the ribs healed.  In my boredom I did what all bored quilters do - I spent my time searching the web to see what was going on in the quilting world.   That was when I stumbled across the Chester Criswell Quilt.

There was some explaining to do on my part when my local fun group questioned my sanity as I announced I was starting a hand applique quilt, with every intention to complete the entire quilt.  I then promptly asked them to teach me how to hand applique properly, since I didn't really know how to get nice edges on my needle-turn.

Now for some showing off, bragging, or whatever you like to call it - here is the central panel of the Chester Criswell Quilt.  Just finished last night, I have been staring at it a lot, not quite able to believe that I hand stitched it.

Wow!  It's still blowing my mind.

I have completed several other blocks since I started CCQ in Jan 2013 and I'll be showing them off here over the next few months.

CCQ = Chester Criswell Quilt

The pattern for Block 13 of the Chester Criswell Quilt is available from here.