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]

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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.

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!

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.

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.

Having a break from my research for a future blog post which has proven both time consuming and informative.

My copy of Kaffe Fassett’s Quilt Romance came from Amazon.com today. Kathy devoted a blog post to the book here. ….her post has photos of the projects too! I adore this book because it is photographed in Portmerion....where my favourite china originated. It is a village in Wales where quaint cottages and buildings are painted in the most glorious colours.

I popped out for a while to get fresh veggies for dinner and on the way popped into Vinnies where I found the cute sewing basket. While it is a tad small for my sewing needs its perfect for my evening beading. It will be perfect for my pliers and findings and wire etc. I also found the as new skirt which was exquisitely hand tailored…you know with the seams sewn with a top stitch not a zig zag. Pity to cut it up…but don’t worry I won’t lose any sleep over it…it will be perfect for my LibertyV Quilt. I need masses of blues for that and also it will be good for the mosaic one below….still looking out for Liberty fabrics for that one!

Okay off to watch television for a while..then more research!

This week’s POTW  [photo of the week] on FPAQ on flickr is by rOssie. The way Rossie has photographed this quilt is sublime…the shades of colour in the background…in the branch…echo the subltey of the colours in the quilt.

This quilt really has to be seen large to appreciate the detail. The quilting is exquisite, as is the use of the itajime resists which Rossie sells in her etsy shop. Rossie learned about this process from Malka of a stitch in dye.

Rossie actually has this quilt for sale here in her etsy shop rossie.etsy.com where she explains a little more about the dye process.

She also started the flickr group Fresh Modern Quilts where many hours of inspiration is to be found.

Found today at Vinnies for three dollars a trio!

Whoops …will have to practise if I want to  continue to use the mosaic quilt as a centre piece for these photoshoots…ever so slightly crooked as you can see below!

I was really excited to find these Japanese trios as they go so well with the three Lustreware ones I found late last year. Those were ten dollars each…the story of how I found them is here.

So now I can have mix and match tea parties!

International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene was launched onto the world today …

with a quilt by our very own Sarah Fielke on the cover!.

This is a part of the Quilting Arts range of magazines and I am told it went worldwide today.

As you can see it is exquisitely photographed…although the above photo was deemed too country for the first edition…how times have changed since I first started quilting nine years ago…country reigned supreme then! And you guessed right…that is a quilt by Brandon Mably and Liza Prior Lucy!

Read for yourselves the background to the photoshoots here on Pokey’s blog...its really worth the effort!

Can’t wait to get this magazine!

All photo’s are the intellectual property of Interweave and Quilting Arts, thanks so much for the use of them.

Kotomigd Yamamura makes gorgeous jewellery.

My favourite piece [above] for Winter 09. Her work is exquisite and original.

A lot of her pieces are made using pieces rescued from old and rare jewellery pieces from the past…..

the one above was sold in a cancer charity shop in London.

One of my favourites…I adore her crosses. Kotomi is involved with Project Revamp which upcycles old clothing and jewellery donated to charity shops etc and turns them into wonderful new artisan made works…fit for a queen or…..you and I!

I am so excited because The Ted Noff’s Foundation ..the wonderful youth empowerment charity here in Sydney is starting something very similar for young designers. So far it is for clothing but I imagine it could extend to jewellery if there are enough talented young jewellers and artisans out there. BTW I did send this information to the relevant person at St Vincent De Paul some time last year but as usual they did not even acknowledge the email or anything to do with it…very close minded I thought…and rude…wonder what manners were taught in the homes of these top sales executives? Or maybe they just decided they were above answering pesky emails from staff members wives..who knows? Their loss!

Kotomi’s work can be found here on flickr and here on etsy and here is her website. Thankyou Kotomi for your committment to upcycling and to saving the wonderful jewellery of the past…something that is very close to my heart.

On October 24 and 25th Kotomi’s work will be on display at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, New Molden, Surrey. In aid of La Quila Earrthquake appeal.

21st and 22nd November there will be an exhibiltion and sales event at Visage 56, Surbiton.