Ok, thanks. Please explain why this and the other hexagon quilt are ‘brave’ choices?
I honestly thought they’d be easier since the basting folds don’t get in the way while I sew them together (the ‘other quilt’ is the heirloom one, over 2000 pieces and only half done - doesn’t count as a charm quilt because the fabrics repeat.)
I’ve got the ‘all I can see are the faults’ feeling about the finished one.
Because hexagons aren’t square! 
Did you have to do a Y seam? Those scare me too.
Maybe I should challenge myself. I’ve been thinking about doing this one but it not only has a bit ol’ hexagon, it has triangles. I’m always stretching triangles.
That looks neat. Way beyond my skills right now, but it will make a beautiful quilt.
All I do with the hexagons is sew them into circles (grandma’s flowers) or diamonds- I’m hand sewing so it’s all very controlled, as I finish each edge, I bend the cardboard insert (they all end up with three folds connecting opposite points). To paraphrase Henry Ford, no process is complicated if you break it down small enough. The major quilt is building one 2cm seam at a time. I’ve got to dash out, but I’ll try and post pics of the quilt and my workings later on.
That is just stunning! Just Stunning! Is it a kit or did you design it yourself?
all it needs is a ninja in the background.
WOW. You’re first quilt is full of awesomeness!
My MIL is a master seamstress. Like Edward Scissorhands with material. (Though her ability to actually pick material that isn’t on sale or covered in novelty prints is impossible.) She invested in a serger ( loves it) and upgraded her trusty old singer that she first bought when she came to the US with some newer model.
The newer model constantly gives her problems. The 40 year old model, though slower, has never given her a minutes problem in all these years.
It also helps that when she was a child in Germany, because her mom was a single mom ( divorced) and there was no one to help her with her daughter, my MIL went to work at the shoe factory with her mom every day after school. By the time she was 10 she was working a machine and learned how to break them down, completely clean and oil them and put it back together.
I know! I really really really wanted to start on it last night but managed to stop myself. It’s a holiday project for my holiday! I ended up putting it back into its bag and put it with my suitcase so it wouldn’t keep tempting me…two more sleeps then I can get started! 
I’ve been knitting a watch cap and in the exciting part of the Land of knit stitches for a bit and now is the time for the decreases. ( which I love doing.)
I should have recounted how many stitches I have on my needles because the decreases came out uneven. I need to frog back one row, recount and figure it out.
It really isn’t a big deal as I learned a valuable lesson of needing the exact numbers of stitches divided by how many decrease seams = happy ending.
Wow! That’s beautiful. I love the colors.
Hell no, I didn’t design it myself. It’s not a kit, but it’s a Mary Hickmott design. I bought a bunch of her New Stitches magazines off of Ebay, so I now have enough potential projects to last me the rest of my life.
There’s a chandelier in the pattern - the ninja could be tucked into that.
Since you were kind enough to lead me down a primrose path you sadist, I would like to show you some of the japanese craft books that I’ve recently bought.
All of these. Try to resist ALL of THESE!!! I bought three last month and I can barely embroider. Imagine what YOU can do!
Thanks, for the kindness - the recipient is very happy with it too. As I said before, all I see are wrinkles, bad corners and where I had to keep changing the pattern because I’d underestimated how much material it would take.
My mum’s machine is a Singer too! Good old Singer. I have a 1930’s (working) black and gold electric Singer that I keep for show, but I might drag it out and use that instead of the ‘better’ machine.
Mum bought her Singer in 1964 and paid it off by sewing clothes for women in her apartment block. By the time I was born, she was an expert. We just found out (at her funeral) that one of my great aunts used to sew the display pieces for several fashion houses in Melbourne.
I love looking at the beadwork and emroidery that are showing up here, conurepete’s anklet is stunning.
Auntie Pam, here’s a quick rundown.
I start by working out the pattern - I’ll do the boxes one for a friend as the classic optical illusion, but the same frame could end up as zig-zags or stars dependng on the fill colours used in the diamonds.
next I do the standard template and basting. The last template in the row has the lines where it will fold. Right sides together, I’ll sew across seam one, then fold the striped piece against itself so that the new piece is RSfacing the black piece and sew along seam two. The next piece will fit on seam 3 and so on, making up a row of flowers on a black backing, that then gets sewn onto this.
Counting up, it’s only 930 pieces so far, but I’ve got another 70 in that line in the previous pic ready to go on. It’s going to be hard getting back to this after the lovely quick (only 9 weeks) baby’s quilt.
Psst…piece by hand and as maggenpye said, it’s all under your control. Stretching? Bah–only if you need it to.
I have a couple of baby quilts in the works but no pics yet. One is using Olivia fabric–what fun!
I don’t think I have the patience to hand sew, but I sure like the results. But it’d be a good project to work on in between easier/quicker things.
I bought a half-finished grandma’s flower garden at an estate sale. It was beyond my ability and I gave it to a friend’s mom. She took it apart and started over, using lots of the original fabric – 30’s stuff – and some new – that 30’s green. It turned out gorgeous.
Those quilts are beautiful. I thought quilting was a dying art until I started watching a quilting show on tv. I am particularly attracted to the various “art quilt” stuff (though I really consider it all art).
Do people still hand quilt or is it mostly done by machine?
I can embroider, and now that you’ve introduced these to me, I officially declare you EVIL!
Or enabler, whichever you prefer.
I have to giggle. I just got back to the apartment after getting a slice of pizza at the food court in the Prudential Center in Boston. Sitting at several pulled-together tables were about seven people of all ages and both genders knitting away. Go you crazy knitters go!
Was Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson the show? I love that show. Eleanor Burns though – Quilt in a Day – gets on my nerves, what what that huge grin and tossing fabric all over the place.
I do the tops on the machine and the quilting by hand, but I’m not very good at it. I can do tiny stitches – well, fairly tiny – but only in straight or wavy lines, and I can’t work with a hoop or a frame. I do like doing it, when I’m in the mood.
I think most quilters around here have their quilts professionally done by someone who has a long-arm machine. It costs about $100 for a twin to full-size quilt in a basic “meander” pattern, and two or three times that if you want special designs.
My best friend bought a long-arm machine, the Gemmel floor model ($16K). She’s not ready to open a business yet, but we’ve been told by local quilters that there’s more than enough business to go around. One long-arm quilter said she’s backlogged for 4 months.
This is a different sort of craft, to be sure, but here goes:
What, you got a problem with giant bipedal jungle lizards? 
Really cool! What material did you make those out of? Did you design the creatures yourself?
Here is a pen I made Sunday on my grandfather’s lathe. Not too sure what type of wood it was. This is the pen in detail. I thought that picture was the best representative of the grain.
I must note that these pictures were taken on a camera phone in less than wonderful light.
I made the pen for the outgoing president of the local Rotary club; his term ends the first of July.
