Hexagon update

Pic by Mr Tacc.

End of the weekend, and I thought I'd better drop in with an update on the progress of the hexagon quilt. It's been cold and sunny, misty mornings, and there has been a lot of sewing on the train recently.

Last weekend, I laid out all the squares with Karen's help, and we decided that they would look lovely and sunny if each one was surrounded by a white or off-white ring of hexagons. In for a penny, in for a pound, or a bushel, or an eyestrain or something (if a bunch of sheet is a 'flock' and a bunch of crows is a 'murder', then a bunch of hexagons should surely be 'an eyestrain of hexagons', right?)

Well. So I'm up to number 38. And one with a nice white surround.

But I've run into a little problem. Not the eyes, not the fingers, nor the scraps of fabric falling out of my bag onto the floor of the train. I've got to check my hexagon template and probably re-cut some of my recent-est pieces. (That's a word. Trust me, I'm an editor. Ha.) It seems I may have fallen into the age-old trap of letting the paper template get a little trimmed on one corner, and now the latest pieces don;t fit together so well, not without some jiggery-poggery.

So it's back to cutting paper templates, and re-sewing the pieces onto them, and then maybe I can finish the remainder of my May target of 45 hexagons towards a little quilt.

Hexagoning, humming and hawing

So, the hexagons were unearthed from somewhere third-drawer down. We've had a few visitors, and that meant that some of the recently unpacked stuff got hurled willy-nilly into drawers and suitcases, and ignomiously shoved under beds. I think this weekend, with showers forecast, is going to be the time to sort out the front room, aka the sewing room.

I've had a little fling with the hexagons on the train, and I think I've made another six. Idly mulling while I stitched, I worked out that if I can make 2.2 hexagon flowers per train journey, that would be 92 in a month. Of course, I've got reading and proof reading to do on the train too, not to mention a few nice little naps like this morning's cosy snooze (I do like these big comfy quiet country trains) -- so let's set a reasonable challenge of 45 by the end of May. Ha. Let's see!

(Image of an antique doll's quilt from Fiber Fantasies)

This all brings to mind pleasant consideration over what sort of layout to use. I'm thinking that once I have 50 flowers I may go back and add an outer ring: I really like the double-ring flower garden patterns I see out there on the web. But then again, maybe not: I also like this antique quilt style of layout, too.

(image from article about historical quilts)

 

Mine is definitely a scrappy unplanned colour scheme. There are pinks and dusty greens, shocking orange and some wild large prints. I didn't love the look when I laid the single florets side-by-side, so maybe they need the unifying influence of a second ring to each flower in a coordinating colour. I'm thinking of choosing a soft green or two, or a petrol blue and navy. We'll see. It's a work in progress!

Country crafting

We're getting used to living in the country. It's taken a while, but gradually the heap of boxes has receded and we can see the windows again.

We're spending some time indoors and a lot of time out there, exploring this new place. Kookaburras in that tree, incredible mushrooms over there. Cold mornings, frosts and quickly lighting the fire in your jammies, then sunny afternoons and quick dark to night. Stars. Mist.

Why didn't we do this earlier?

I've unearthed the sewing machine, and with all this cold wind and with mornings and evenings on the train, I think there's going to be some crochet happening. We'll see.

Exciting sewing stuff

Well!

After my sewing frenzy (way back at Christmas), followed by the incredible illness (boring), and the working too hard February, I finally got back to the sewing machine on Sunday night.

And just in the nick of time!

Look what showed up in the mail yesterday:

MM-hhm! I had been hearing about Ottobre magazine online for a while now. Lots of sewing bloggers rate it very highly, so I quietly put it  on my Christmas list, and my lovely parents got me a subscription. Just the women's clothing magazine; I don't have kids to sew for, but I love what I've seen of the patterns and wanted to give it a try.

You can preview what's in this issue on their website.

I can't decide what to make first! I'm not likely to make the cover top, but look at the preview to see the retro trousers and tops, and my favourite, the blue silk and linen ensemble. I think I'll need to practise before attempting the delights of the blue tulip-skirted coat.

Yippee! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Can you help your national library?

If you are in Australia, and you're hanging out in op shops or other vintage-treasure hunting spots, you might want to have a look at this plea from the National Library of Australia.

Quoted from the National Library eNews for February2010:

"Wanted: Missing Issues of The Australian Women's Weekly

Are there any old issues of The Australian Women's Weekly gathering dust in your shed or under the bed? If so, we want to hear from you.

The Library is digitising issues of The Australian Women's Weekly dating from 10 June 1933 to 15 December 1982. We have checked our holdings and identified missing copies - we need your help to fill these gaps.

The Australian Women's Weekly has been published for more than 75 years and offers a unique insight into the social fabric of Australia.

In association with Australian Consolidated Press and the State Library of New South Wales.

Visit The Australian Women's Weekly Digitisation Project homepage to view our list of missing copies."

 

Note to self: buy a bigger sketchbook

 

Sometimes it's annoying when you hit the edge of the page. 

Still painting, still sketching. Stomping the streets, sketchbook in hand. 

This is the first layer of watercolour for a portrait I scribbled tonight. It might stop there, as it's so delicate I rather like it...

For Zachary

This one's for my little nephew, just turned one.

I've been keeping up with the plan to draw something every day (or almost), which cuts down on blogging time a bit. And still some days I'm out there wandering the internet, looking for inspiration.

One of my favourite places for a bit of fun and a reminder of all the wonderful ways the world can be drawn, is Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty. This blog is a Dad's postings of his kids' drawings, but boy, these kids can draw. It's a fun place to hang out for a few minutes to see what they've been doing. A year or so back, before I'd found the site, they posted a challenge and asked any ilustrators out there to respond to their drawings with a version of their own.

So my challenge that day was set by a four-year old. I had to draw and paint something inspired by her image.

Here it is:

Seems to me they're having a great deal of fun!