Thursday, 24 June 2010

Love it!

I thought it was time to show you an update on my hexagon quilt which, I have to say, is now so lovely it makes me want to sing and cartwheel around the garden shouting yippee at the top of my voice. Of course, I am much too much of a lady to do anything so outrageous...and besides, I would probably seriously injure myself in the process and then where would my lovely quilt be then?
So, at the beginning of the week I had neat little piles of 6 hexagons, and by midweek they then became rows of 18.

As I explained in my last post, I was really struggling with the layout of the quilt. I just couldn't seem to get it right. I decided that I did want it random after all and just joined everything together and crossed my fingers. This afternoon I rushed home from work and took the plunge. I have very little floor space, so decided on the bed as that is where it will end up.

In the end, it was easier than I thought it would be. I only had to swap a couple of rows around to avoid duplicates, but essentially, it just fell into place and I have to say I Love, LOve, LOVE it! YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what do you think, go on be honest, do you like????????? Please say that you do. I still have a way to go yet sewing all the rows together and then actually quilting it. I haven't decided on the material for the back or the binding yet. First things first as I still have a lot of sewing to do..and on that note, I'd best make a start.

Dev x

Saturday, 12 June 2010

Dilemma!

Such a Dilemma with a capital D am I having over the layout of my new hexagon quilt. I have cut out 324 templates and tacked/basted 324 pieces of scrummy fabric and now I am ready to sew them all together one by one, with tiny little stitches into something that is pleasing to the eye. The only problem is.....How!

I started by picking them out of the basket in a totally random way....The first half dozen look like this and I wasn't very happy with it....

Next up, just place them side by side randomly and see what happens.....
Don't like this either. Next idea was to put them in piles according to colour and see if that inspires me....

Nope, definately nothing happening at the moment. So I know, I will make flowers shapes up in each colour and put them together like that......
This started to make a bit of sense, so I made some coloured piles....
The problem with this idea is that I don't have enough different designs in some of the colours to make them up as I have several repeats...AARRGH!

Who would have thought that it would be such a difficult thing to do. I just want it to look right and at the moment it doesn't. Maybe it is just a case of laying it all out on the floor and playing with it until it fits. So, where do I go from here? Anyone out there who has made one of these who can offer some advice......Well, I am all ears!

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Now, this quilt on the other hand just feels right. I am making two, simultaneously by the way, because Littlest Fairy also needs a new one apparently!
This time, 308 templates cut out in a slightly different hexagon shape. This one is smaller and more elongated.
What is strange about it though, is that I am using mostly the same fabrics for this one as mine..and yet this one just looks so much nicer....mmmmm....can't work it out? I have my next quilting group on Tuesday, so will ask for their advice I think.
What do you think?
Dev x