Thursday, September 01, 2011

Now where did the past five months go?










I just can't believe it is over five months since I last posted



I haven't been totally idle in that time



I've done precious little machine sewing - the twins' baby quilts are still to be quilted (and the babes arrived ages ago)



But I have been industrious with a trusty needle and thread



A friend of a friend promised me an assortment of Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics when we were away together on a weekend in Budapest almost six years ago



It transpires she used to work for them in the dim and distant past and had bought loads of their remnants for little money



I thought she'd forgotten all about it as they never materialised



However we were at a party for a mutual friend back in May and from the boot of her car she produced two bin liners of crammed full of the promised fabric



What treasure!!!



So I have been very busy since then playing with little teeny hexagons



They measure 1" from point to point



The cerise fabric was the only solid in the bags so I used it for the diamond centres and found some lovely ivory on line to use for the background (that was my birthday money well and truly spent!)



Here is the progress so far - Louise is 5'2" and is stretching to hold it fully extended so that gives you an idea of scale

I must credit Libby for the design layout as I pinched the idea from her blog but can't find the relevant post to show you her picture



Another reason for little non-hexagon production was the state of my sewing room - it was so messy I couldn't bear to sew in there so the alternative was handwork elsewhere in the house - hence the hexagons



I am naturally a messy worker and tend to push the clutter to the sides of the work surface and create in the little oasis of calm centred round the sewing machine



Unfortunately two or three years of detritus were doing a great job of overwhelming the oasis - I know it has been that long because Nigel has been nagging me to clear it each school holiday for easily that length of time and I've always been 'getting around to it'


We're currently hamster-sitting for 'Tiger-Lily' who belongs to a friend - thank goodness she didn't escape - if she'd ventured into the sewing room who knows when we'd have found her again!



So the onslaught to clear the mess started with Nigel rummaging through and putting away the countless bobbins of thread that were intermingled - how ever did I think I had no blue thread - I now have a small drawer full. I guess he thought if he made a start it would encourage me to continue - he knows me so well it was just the catalyst I needed



This was enough to spur me on and it took me a full three days to methodically go through everything and put it into its relevant home - none of this 'shove it into a container full on indiscriminate contents and stuff it away out of sight' Every one of those containers, and there were many, many of them were gone through and all contents distilled into their correct locations



These are the before photos - and this was after Nigel's initial trawl through



And - proud quilter moment - here are the afters


I've even prepared a basket of 2 1/2" squares to use as 'Bonnie' style 'Leaders and Enders' to keep the production line flowing (the picture was taken in very poor light so apologies for the yellowing)



My UFOs are all bagged, labelled and placed in labelled containers so now I know where everything is and can choose to work on whichever takes my fancy



From the UFO's stored neatly away the set of blocks Sarah made for her Duke of Edinburgh Award have shouted loudest to me from their tidy home in the cupboard so that's what I'm working on at present



Along with those teeny hexagons of course


And yesterday Louise and I spent a little crafty time together making a birthday present for her friend - amazing what you can make with a little leftover curtaining, some wadding, some heavy duty string and a few pearl buttons

13 comments:

Clare said...

Can I borrow Nigel please?

Those hexagons are gorgeous. What a wonderful quilt.

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Welcome back! Glad to see you've been putting your time to good use...albeit a rather crazy endeavour...1" hexagons! Msdness!!

Your sewing space looks fab...I think if my DH helped me sort my sewing thigns...everything would be going to the tip...so well done to Nigel for showing restraint! :o)

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Your sewing room looks great! I have been working on trying to organize our my space as well. It does add some orderliness to things. Your hexagons are just amazing.

Libby said...

Hexagons! They are just gorgeous - I love, love, love your top!

McIrish Annie said...

Nigel is a very brave man and should be commended. My DH would have thrown the hamster into the room.

Your time was well spent and your room looks lovely. Personally, if given a choice of teeny hexs and cleaning the sewing room, i'd have dived into that room! LOL!
hex quilt is just beautiful. Carry on!

sewkalico said...

Amazing job on both the hexagons and the sewing room transformation. I wish I could get mine looking like that!!!!

Nancy in MT said...

Welcome back, you've been missed.
Nancy

Chookyblue...... said...

glad to see you back..........that is a huge effort in the hexagon quilt......

Gill said...

Welcome back Anne!
Good to 'see' you again!
What a fantastic haul of Liberty fabrics - well worth waiting for!

AnnieO said...

Hi Anne! Lovely to see you poke your head out again :) Congrats on getting your room all organized. That was nice of Nigel to give you that push. I love Libby's hexagon quilt and cannot believe you have gotten so far in five months--amazing!

Plum Cox said...

Wow and wow and wow! (That's the hexies, the room and the little heart hanging). Well done to you all, and welcome back to blogland, although please don't let blogging slow down your prodigious production of hexagons!

Tanya said...

Nice to see you back! Your sewing room looks fantastic now! And your hexagon quilt is going to be a show stopper! (Are you going to show it at a show? You should!)

Berglind said...

Your sewing room looks amazing after the make-up! I really didn't notice the beaufitul window in the "before" pictures but now the window is truly lightin up the room! Have fun sewing in your new "heaven" :)