Patchwork Progress

I have now struck a rhythm of stitching up and adding two rows of hexagons at a time to my quilt. I have a pattern of stitching one full row of 16 coloured hexie "flowers", then one full row of 17 black hexie "jewels". Then, as a reward, I embroider the centres of the coloured ones.

Finally, I stitch the two rows together and then stitch the two to the quilt.

I now have 13 rows finished - 6 coloured and 7 black. Two rows ago, I thought I might only need 27 rows in all, rather than the original 29 planned. After 13 rows I tried the work the other way around on the bed, placing it where I'd like it to end up.

I discovered I have already reached half-way. It will only need 25 rows, not 27 or 29.

I am, of course, overjoyed by this discovery - even though it means I have two spare rows of coloured hexies cut! It gives me a bit more flexibility in mixing my fabrics - and I am not even beginning to think what I can do with spare hexies!

This is a big incentive to keep my rhythm going as I go away for a few days break (with a supply of papers and fabric squares!).

Hexagon patchwork quilt progress

When I calculated and bought the black fabric I am going to need to finish my patchwork quilt I decided to cut from the black fabric the borders I would need for the quilt. This means I can have borders on the quilt without unnecessary joins and can then cut 2" black squares from the rest for the remaining hexies.

Having cut the borders, I decided to applique the first row of the quilt to its border now. This gives me an idea of what it will look like, and also means I can remove the papers from the first row.


Since then, I have added two black rows and a coloured row, bringing the total number of rows completed to 11 - out of a planned total of 29.

I am trying to work two rows at a time - to give myself a bit of variety as the black stitching is less interesting than the coloured stitching!  I am now in a position where I can keep adding two rows at a time without the thought of one more black row at the end.


 
I think there is a chance I will find that I only need another 16 rows (a total of 27). I don't want to fold the quilt over at the top to sleep under it - so we will see how it looks as I get closer to the top.

While snow and ice may make for good stitching in the Northern hemisphere, the weeks of temperatures well over 100F in southern parts of Australia have also meant staying inside and stitching. Stitching two rows together before adding to them to the quilt minimises the amount of time needed to hold the whole piece - much cooler!

More rows on hexagon quilt

In between embroidering the centres of the coloured hexagon 'flowers', I have progressed to four rows.

I tested it on the bed  and made a few decisions.

I had worked on the basis of the hexagons on the top of the bed and a plain border or around 12 inches overhanging. At this point I decided I wanted two more hexagons in the width (from 14 to 16 coloured ones) so there was one row overhanging on each side, then a border of around 12 inches - so there will be good coverage.

I also decided to finish each edge with a row of full black hexagons, rather than the half-rows I had before.

I then made the appropriate additions to the four rows to establish the new scheme.







By testing the 16 row width on the bed as the length, I decided that I would make the length 14 coloured rows, plus the border. I want this to be a working quilt, so I think I now have the dimensions that will work for our bed.

This has enabled me to make more accurate calculations about the number of hexagons I need - and additional black fabric I will need to buy. The numbers of 3/4" hexagons stack up to 2087 black, 128 red centres, 128 purple centres, and 1428 other coloured.

I had already identified and cut nearly enough coloured pieces, so have topped these up to the requirement and organised them in plastic bags for each row. I have bought the black fabric I need, and will gradually cut and add this to the bags, so each bag will allow me to progress one coloured and one black row.

I also figured out that Monica was right in suggesting my 300 papers are not going to be enough. I took on board the suggestion of another friend and managed to find (after quite a bit of searching) a paper punch that will make 3/4 " hexies. I have so far added about 200 papers to my supply and am recycling the 500.

So - all set for production!

Don't look now, but I think I am making a quilt

I got on to a bit of a roll with my hexagons. The pre-cut cards, the ease of cutting 2" fabric squares, the opportunity to use up so many of the scraps of previous projects (all saved, it seems, just for this occasion) has proved too much of a good thing. My swimming bag idea is rejected and my queen size bed quilt is now underway!

Am I a glutton for punishment? Probably.

Once I had eight "flowers" joined, I tried the piece on the bed, did some calculations, talked to Leanne at Hetty's Patch, bought a couple more metres of black fabric and got cutting.


I now have about 1300 2" squares of coloured fabric from my scrap basket, and a couple of hundred 2" black squares. I am recycling 300 paper hexagons.

I calculate I need about 1550 coloured 3/4 inch hexies and probably about 1800 black ones - depending on what I do around the edge.

Already, my family are recognising bits of their clothes in the section finished.

 
So far, I'm finding it soothing and easy to manage in the evenings or on the go. My only fear is that it will limit the other projects that I do - my urge to finish things is as high as ever - and I have quite a few things I want to make for Christmas.

I hasten to add I do not anticipate becoming a quilter. Even if I finish up quilting this (my intention at the moment), it is  the only quilt I am ever likely to make, and one quilt does not a quilter make!

Japanese Pouch Two

The pouch I made from David Pike's Japanese textile piece has been so useful, I decided to make another of the pieces up in a similar way. This piece wasn't quite square so I had to trim a strip from one side. I've set that aside to do something else with.

I used the same bottle green dupion silk to frame and line the piece, sandwiching some wadding between. As I hand-quilted around the flower shapes, I decided to pad them further to give a raised effect. This looks great, but it did give me uneven effects on the rest of the fabric, so when I quilted through the stems I got more ruching in some areas than others.

I decided to embroider the green edges with the  Papillon black/gold metallic thread  left over from Kris's Bag - it was easy to work with and very effective, especially in stem stitch, so I used it to outline stems and leaves similar to those in the gold fabric.

I edged the gold panel in black ribbon - tried green and rejected it.

The piece became highly malleable. I could shape it like a piece of heavy foil. I imagine this is a combination of the gold threads in the panel, the gold stitching and the dupion, which has a slightly stiff texture.

I ladder-stitched the sides into a pouch shape and decided against embroidering to cover the edges. Instead, I extended the leaf and stem pattern across the whole green area, partially covering the edges.

I really like the effect.

For the little triangular insert, I embroidered the shape of the flower (chrysanthemum?).

I stitched in a magnetic clip - the strongest one I had. It is still imperfect through a couple of layers of fabric, but the bag is so malleable the flap tends to stay where it is put.



I spent quite a bit of time trying various edging around the flap. I nearly went with a cylindrical gold webby one, but in the end decided I rather like it as it is. I can change my mind about that later if it doesn't seem to be wearing well.

Because it is so bendy, it is easy to close it to fit my iPad more closely than the earlier one I made. I even rather like the uneven effect on the back. It is proving perfect for the job.I'll use the earlier one for larger things.







I still have one more piece of this cloth. I am now thinking I might be brave enough to make another pouch, this time quilting it on the machine. It has been great fun playing with this fabric.

Japanese fabric iPad pouch

 In November I had the chance to buy some Japanese textiles from amongst those listed in David Pike's blog. I bought three pieces, without knowing what I would do with them.

They are woven brocade and Dave believes they come from temple ceilings, from constructions like this one.


I decided to have a go at making another pouch, this time padded to protect my iPad. I chose the one with the single medallion (chrysanthemum maybe?) because it was square to start with and required no cutting at all.

I bought some bottle green dupion from Eastern Silk in Adelaide and took the plunge.

I managed the measuring a bit better than I did last time. It is not, however, perfectly straight.

I lined it with the same dupion and put a layer of polyester batting in between.

I quilted the edges in shapes roughly mirroring the border pattern, using dark green Madeira silk thread and a fine gold metalic thread together.
 I quilted around every second petal in the flower using the dark green Madeira silk.

I then folded it and stitched the edges with cotton and embroidered them with a mixture of Madeira and Gumnut silks.

I finished it off with a corded edge and a button Dave had kindly sent me.

I am really pleased with the result. I works brilliantly for my iPad, even though it is square rather than rectangular, and provides good protection. It hadn't occurred to me until I began using it, how Christmassy it looks.

I will always remember when I made it.