Reflections
22 Dec 2009 2 Comments
in Life, Our Home, Personal, handmade Tags: Christmas 2009, David Jones Christmas Window Displays, our Christmas traditions, what Christmas means to me
I find myself very reflective at this time of year. Maybe it is all that is involved in getting ready for Christmas or maybe it is the excess that is so prevalent.
I have trimmed down my life to the essentials…my friends and my immediate family are what is important to me and my friends have indeed become my family. We live modestly and try not to overindulge at this time of year.
My son and I went to see the David Jones Christmas window displays earlier this month and I had almost as much fun watching the children and the parents and the grandparents faces as I did looking at the scenes myself! Maybe it is because as the child of migrants we had very little in the way of family…especially grandparents so I love to watch the interaction between them today.
My son has had very little actual time with his grandparents …he does not remember really the times when his British grandmother spent the holidays with us and my family…well let us say they would rather be with my brother and his family at Christmas…nothing new there.
So here is what is important to me…the nativity…and my own little family. Sharing in children’s joy of the time of year …school concerts and the delight they find in the lead up to Christmas. I also love spending time with my closest friends and their families…..but I also love spending time alone sipping a flat white and reading the fashion, art and design magazines at my favourite coffee shop in Randwick.
I love our tree decorations, such simple pleasures to be found in the decorations of yesteryear and in finding fabulous new hand crafted ones like my new found hand painted one above and the four hand painted ones my son gave me for Christmas last year.
I love sitting watching the reflections on the wall cast by the tree lights. I would love to know what Christmas means to you.
Oh by the way…if you look closely at the first photo…or click on it and make it larger on flickr you will see little old me reflected in the window…purple top….grey hair!
All photos courtesy of cjwriter [my son]
True to her Muse
09 Dec 2009 5 Comments
in Decorating With Textiles, Inspiration, Patchwork, Quilt Designers, Quilting, artisan/designers, handmade Tags: denyse schmidt quilts, inspired by denyse schmidt, modern quilting design, quilts as art
Leslie’s stunning Bricks quilt is a work of art in this room
as is Kimono and her namesake’s quilt below.
I like to see how Leslie’s inspiration develops…from these
to this fabulous spiderweb wip
I love looking at Leslie’s work as it is so refreshing and true to the spirit of her muse, Denise Schmidt while still being fresh and original. Leslie is blogless but you can find her on her flickr stream here.
Cooling White
22 Nov 2009 4 Comments
in Patchwork, Quilting, artisan/designers, handmade
As I sit here….sweltering in post 41 degrees celcius heat I feel slightly cooler looking at these images. Quiltfinger on etsy has these as well as other fabulous cushions on sale now in her store. I just love the tones in those two cushions above…perfect for that little corner of the patio or sunroom. The Chinese Coin one below would be great here for our summer…it is only spring here at present!
Half Hexagon Tutorial Part Two cutting and auditioning the hexagons
10 Nov 2009 2 Comments
in Magikquilter's Half Hexagon Tutorial, Paper Pieced Patchwork, Patchwork, Quilting, Tutorials@magikquilter.com, handmade, magikquilter's half hexagons, scrap friendly quilts, tutorials, wips Tags: auditioning the hexagons, different ways of sewing quilts, flickr, quilt, sewing for arthritis sufferers, sewing hexagons on the machine
Okay once you have the fabric make sure it is ironed….it is up to you whether you wash it or not. I wanted the starch to stay in mine so I left it unwashed. Cut your fabric into strips the width of the template you are using.I don’t know whether I told you all but I used scraps for my mosaic quilt…yes scraps…and I am cutting out more with… ..yes ….scraps!!!
But for this project I bought co-ordinating fabric …but in fat quarters…just to be difficult!
If you have your hexagon template you can now cut out other templates from template plastic or whatever you prefer to use. I personally do not use plastic templates and rotary cutters due to health reasons but understand that I am a dying breed! So the graphic below shows how to lay the template on whatever width half hexagon you are using. The templates Ruth drew up for us finish at 10cm…4in and 15cm….6in and they allow for the usual quarter inch seam allowance. The method of strip cutting really allows little wastage which is a very useful thing in quilting.
Okay now to my rather eccentric but painless way of cutting out templates…it is basically English Paper Piecing or Paper Piecing without the need to keep the papers in when sewing. This is a very accurate way of cutting out and also is useful to me as I have very little room in our flat to lay things out so I can do this on a collapsible craft table quite comfortably. I am all about the comfort!! To enable a really smooth and enjoyable time cutting out my half hexagons for my mosaic quilts….I currently have about three in varying sizes that I am collecting fabric for….I had my scissors sharpened and they then cut through quite a deep pile of hexagons! I was amazed actually at how blunt my scissors had become over time…yes I hung my head in shame as the repair person at Mr Minit examined the tools of my trade.
So I recommend if you are cutting templates the old fashioned way…once you are sure your scissors are sharp enough to cut off your little finger…..that you stack those strips of fabric! I defy anyone to tell me its not as much fun or as accurate as rotary cutting!!! I’m such a rebel at heart! You will need to cut out enough paper templates to fit the width of the fabric you are using, don’t forget.
Oh I forgot to say grab yourself a coffee or a beverage…..non alcoholic….you need your wits about you with those sharp scissors and / or those rotary cutters…not to mention all those angles!
Oh by the way I have found another method of cutting out half hexagons… this method involves using a clear 60 degree triangular ruler and strips of fabric. If you have the triangular ruler it would be an easy way of cutting out the trapezoids.
Now a word about fussy cutting…as you can see this fabric has a delightful….well I think so…pattern on it and it requires a bit of positioning of the template to ensure the seam will still align quite well. I like to use a few larger prints as it adds visual appeal.
So here we have a few trapezoids or as we call them half hexagons …these are only a selection….various people I have seen make these quilts seem to recommend at least twenty different fabrics. Variety does seem to help with placement I feel.
Okay so next…the auditioning of the blocks. Using some sort of design wall or design board….whatever works for you… start adding various pairs of half hexies until like Joan, you get a pleasing arrangement. If you are anything like me you will end up doing two quilts as you just can’t decide between mosaic quilts!
My random quilt for this tutorial is a work in progress…meaning I have to run up to Spotlight tomorrow to get more of those coloured ones scattered through with white that my son suggested I get weeks ago! Believe me more is more with this kind of block…variety just seems to work better, visually anyway.
Please let me know if I have forgotten anything. Next step is the sewing of the strips…an interesting adventure in which several of my friends and I reversed our first seam somehow…we have nnooo idea how and it never happened again!!! At least I was in good company!
I would again like to thank Ruth for her kind use of the graphics and templates.
Half Hexagon Tutorial Part One
09 Nov 2009 4 Comments
in Magikquilter's Half Hexagon Tutorial, Paper Pieced Patchwork, Patchwork, Quilting, Tutorials@magikquilter.com, handmade, magikquilter's half hexagons, tutorials Tags: addictive sewing, beginners welcome, easy sewing hexagons on the machine, sew half hexagons witth my tutorial
Choosing fabric from your stash...you will need varied strips wide enough to fit the size template you are using.
Buying fabric...for a quilt 180cm x 180cm you will need approximately 30 x 25cm strips or fat quarters.
A word about fabrics...smaller all over prints work best for this although fussy cutting larger prints can definitely work as long as you make sure the seam does not cut into the pattern too much….ie you do not want to join together the head of a monkey with the feet of a monkey…you need to really try to read the finished hexagon, when quilted, as if it were only one block.
The variety of quilts to make this way is simply endless……recently I saw a fabulous one made with alternate white hexagons.…. and another which would work with half hexagons is here. My friend Joan made one in an unusual layout …it is here.
My two finished ones so far are…..the mosaic top
and the grandmother’s garden above…modern style…still not sure whether that should be a cushion or a tote bag!
Part Two… cutting and auditioning hexies.
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