[ What I'm working on... ] this week...
[ Organic / Eco-friendly Fabric Love ]
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posted on May 30, 2011, at 9:33 am I know! Just when you thought I’d finished them all! Well I’d taken all 58 blocks plus all 104 triangles and all the half hexxies and all the half-triangles over to Mum’s house last week. She let me use her floor to lay them all out so I could work out the placement of all those blocks, and I realized that I actually wanted the quilt to be a smidgen wider. As it was, with 56 blocks (remember I’d done 2 more than I needed? so even thought I had 58 blocks, I really had 2 spare) it was going to be just that little bit small for our queen-size bed. I buy doonas, blankets and flat sheets in king size; we like them to have a bigger over-hang. To make sure I end up with at least some of the covers on me when Moshe turns over and pulls the entire bedding over with him and off me! love you darling xo So, when I laid it all out on Mum’s floor, I ended up putting down one full column of blocks more than I’d originally planned, and that meant I needed four more blocks. I already had two made (contingency plan worked!), so I needed to make up two more, for a final count of 60 full hexagon blocks. Perfect really, because I got to use the beautiful fabric from my blouse for these blocks, and I already had the stunning pink fabric, I just hadn’t been able to find a match for it that I was happy with. Now, it’s all, like I said, perfect! Take a look…
 block no. 59  block no. 60 And assuming I get to go to the MMQG Sit and Sew Day in June, I’ll take all the blocks along, with an old king-size sheet that I can lay down on their not-so-squeaky-clean floor, and be able to stand back – can’t really do that at Mum’s, the room’s too small – and organize them all. Can’t wait!
posted on May 23, 2011, at 1:30 pm I’ve just come home from the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild’s first Retreat, and I have such a blast! Nine of us went, and although I cannot tell you all the details (what goes on Retreat, stays on Retreat!), I can tell you that we all had such a great time, and got so much done! For a start, the house itself was brilliant! The kitchen was fully decked out, with every utensil, pot, plate, pantry item you could possibly want for cooking or preparing pre-cooked meals. The bedrooms were gorgeous, with really comfortable beds, the entire place was freshly painted, bright, light, airy, gorgeous. Everything was so well thought out, it was obvious that Bev had really done the planning and thinking to have it be just everything you could ever hope for in a retreat house. The company was delicious. We all got on so well, it was a fabulously relaxed atmosphere, and we indulged shamelessly in chocolate, biscuits, cakes, food, … yes OK, wine too. And music. Aren’t iPods and iPhones fantastic?! We watched movies too. Can you guess which ones? Friday night… You’re terrible, Muriel. We gave the appropriate tribute to the late Bill Hunter. Saturday night, we watched another movie, one that’s a tad older, but the leading lady had the most beautiful violet eyes. A Place in the Sun. Beautiful! Although I wasn’t happy with the ending. We had to wait a long time for the final outcome, and it wasn’t that desirable. Still, it was good viewing material. And I did get my hand sewing done.
Here’s what I got done during the almost 48 hours we were there. First, I finished two whole panels of the quilt I’m making for my friend. I called it the Eureka quilt last year, but I don’t like that name. I’ll come up with a new one. It’s looking rather good I think.
 panels 1 and 2 This was my room at the retreat. Not bad, right?
The second thing I want to show you is my Liberty Stars half-hexagon. It’s the last one!!! That’s it, I’m done making hexagons, and its now time to put them all together. Rachel came up with a grand idea with regards to working out which block goes where. I need a huge space to be able to lay it all out, and I don’t have one. She suggested I take a king-sized sheet with me to our next MMQG Sit and Sew Day, and lay it all out there. I can even use one of the other big rooms if I need to, we’ll be at South Melbourne in June, so there’ll be plenty of space. Here are the blocks. Thank you so much, Marg, for swapping Liberty fabrics so I could finish this!
 half-blocks nos. 7 and 8 Next, ta-dah! Here’s my blouse all finished:
 it's perfect for under my black tunic! pics later  Next up is my new little Slouchy Make-up Bag (pattern by flossieteacakes):
 looks nice in Kaffe Fassett fabrics!  here's the lining This was a test run before I did one for my niece. I picked up some gorgeous fabric for hers on our way up to Hepburn Springs. We stopped in at Mill Rose in Ballan, and oh my! What a gorgeous store! Unfortunately, no one had any heavy interfacing, so I couldn’t make a second bag, but that situation will soon be remedied! I was so happy with how this one came out that I’m going to get onto my niece’s right away, now that I’m back in Melbourne, with Spotlight only a stone’s throw away.
And finally, I got more of the quilting done on Gita’s Chelsea Quilt:
 I'm quilting in a blue Perle 8 One last thing to show you. MJ made me a little threads bin. I love it!!! Very spesh!
 threads bin made for me by MJ So, enjoyed myself thoroughly, and can’t wait for the next time I get to go.
posted on May 4, 2011, at 3:33 pm Another pair of half-hexagons done. Only one more pair to go! YAY! Must ask Devorah to cut up my large triangles on her fancy Italian machine for me so I can take them all to our Quilting Retreat in a couple of week’s time. Can’t wait!
 half-blocks nos. 5 and 6
posted on April 22, 2011, at 5:14 pm After a day of waltzing in and out of my bedroom to stare at the fabrics, and the another day of having them fabrics laid out across my dining table, with hexagons going this way and that, and asking my daughters for their opinion, oh, and asking my husband who’ll be sleeping under this quilt in summer what he thinks, and getting the response, “Honey, when are you going to get that you’re married to a straight man! I don’t care! Pink, blue, yellow, it’s up to you! I really, really, don’t care!”, I’ve made up my mind.
 warm honeycomb caramel golden brown It’s the warm, honey, caramelly, honeycomb, golden brown. Every time I moved towards the blue, as lovely as it is, I just kept returning to the gold. Devorah put it beautifully, when I asked her what she thought. She said something like this:
“On the blue, and I do love the blue, it’s like all the hexagons stand out too much, and each one of them is like, ‘look at me, look at me’. With the gold, it’s more like they’re calm, settled, at home, happy to be part of the whole fabulous crowd.” I completely get what she means, and I agree. Couldn’t have put it better.
I spent the afternoon at Gita’s house, the two of us quilting and watching episodes of “The Wire”, and when I showed her the blue and the gold, without telling her what everyone else had said, she said, “The gold, gotta do the gold Mama!” Sarah has been saying that the whole time too, and I’m really happy with my choice. It’s the first one Trish picked, and the moment we put it with the hexagons, I knew it was perfect. I was the one who had complicated things by bringing in the blue. Nevermind. I’m sure I’ll find something wonderful to use the blue for, it just won’t be my Liberty Stars!
Thanks so much for all your comments, I really appreciated knowing your view of it all. Now, I’ve gotta cut out 104 full triangles and 16 half triangles in that gold, and begin sewing the hexagon blocks together. Probably won’t get to that till after I’ve completed Sarah’s Triangles Quilt. And my friend’s quilt. No problem though, don’t need it till next summer. Plenty of time. It’ll make a wonderful Spring project, when the seasons change again.
posted on April 13, 2011, at 9:26 am Next two half-hexagon blocks are done, and I am so happy I get to have these two fabrics in my quilt! The green floral has been such a problem! Each time I tried to tee it up with another fabric, it somehow dragged it down, drained the life out of it, but with these beautiful dragonflies, it works perfectly! Ah! Happiness.
 half-hexagon blocks 3 and 4
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