Miami vice hexies

Sorry, no Crockett and Tubbs shots here - I just got into the habit of calling this unfinished quilt 'Miami Vice'.

When I have finished quilting my other little charity quilt, this one is next on the list. It is made with Oakshott cottons and I love the simplicity of it. 

I have been thinking about my Tula Pink hexies and my anxiety about doing hand applique. Adrianne gave me some helpful advice which I am going to try out, but decided it was sensible to start small. I made a few hexies a while back with some of the Miami Vice quilt fabric. I never really loved them, and finally realised that it was their centres that were bothering me.

Once I've finished changing the centres, I'm going to see if I can manage a modest cushion :-)

Charity quilt {finished}

Every time I have thought about taking a photo of this quilt it seems to have been a howling gale outside! I finally managed to scoot out yesterday after work and get a shot or two. I like the way this little quilt worked out - I used the Cluck Cluck Sew pattern 'Bizzy Kids' but added a border so that I wouldn't waste any of the batting Helen gave us to make the quilts with.

DUDQS

Recently I joined my first every quilt swap on Flickr - the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap. I figured it couldn't go too horribly wrong if it was a friendly swap amongst us Antipodean types! I confess to feeling a bit nervous now though - there are some very talented people in the group.

I decided I would feel a whole lot more ready to meet the challenge of this swap if I had a design wall that wasn't the floor so off I trundled to Bunnings to get some tape and hey presto, job done!

Basically to make this quilt I built some blocks then spent ages trying to figure out how to get them to go together - both in a design sense and in a construction sense. You'll see that I couldn't resist putting in one of my Starburst blocks :-)

I'm going to put it away now for a few days and see if it is 'finished' when I look at it again. Hopefully the answer is yes!

Sewing therapy

Yesterday was a BAD day (cue moody music). First my car had to have some major surgery which cost big bucks and then I received an email letting me know that my thesis was not sent to my examiners until 5 weeks after I submitted it. This means that rather than the examiners' reports turning up any day now (which is what I was expecting) there is more anxious waiting for me until the beginning of November, and the high probability I won't get my oral exam done before the end of the year thus dragging a stressful process out even longer. Grrrrrrr.

What to do? I felt like sewing to unwind, but it had to be something easy-breezy-covergirl-like. I decided to start a new charity quilt using my favourite block - the 16 patch. I love making these because of their sweet little interlocking seams (cue birds singing).

And then there is the satisfying squareness of them, clean and simple. 

Do you have a favourite block to sew when you need some cheap therapy?

Auditioning

School holidays seem a great opportunity to pull out fabric and experiment. Thanks to all the lovely people who made helpful suggestions about my becalmed Tula Pink project - enthused by your suggestions I pulled out any fabric that I thought could possibly work with my hexies and made an enormous mess on my lounge design floor. I didn't have any 'perfect minty green with a white spot' (if you know of one, I'm all ears) or any purple on hand to try, but I haven't ruled them out. Here are today's contenders:

Architextures,

A blue/grey from my stash (I think its a Kona - more detective work required),

A cream on cream spot:

Luckily whatever I decide I still need to make lots more hexies so no urgent decisions need to be made!

Keeping it real around here

I always look forward to the first Monday of the month when our Monday Modern group meets. It is informal and stimulating at the same time. Last night conversation got around to the topic of how many projects people have on the go at one time. I realised for the first time how much of a multi-project person I am in my hobby life. Like many people, my work life is dictated by tight deadlines and the need to always prioritise, finish one thing then move straight onto the next, so I think this is why I love doing the opposite in my down time.

So, in the interests of keeping it real -  a peek inside my work basket reveals two quilts waiting to be quilted,

quite a few blocks that represent half-formed ideas, or gone-off-the-boil ideas for bigger projects,

and problems that I don't yet have a solution for. Like these Tula Pink hexies and feature fabric. 

I lost my sense of direction with this and don't really know where to head. I suspect with TP less might be more. If I could find a great background fabric I think that might kickstart the project back into life, but the colours are a little tricky. White is definitely a no go - but  here so you can't see my manky carpet.

I have no sense of urgency to complete any of these projects, and lots of choice on any given day I have time to sew, and that makes me one happy little crafter!

Learning to be {scrap} happy

I'm slightly addicted to making my Starburst blocks - probably because they are teaching me a few useful lessons. Things I have learnt so far:

1. If you don't like a block, make another one. Surprisingly the world won't end and sometimes the outcome will make you smile.

2. If in doubt, cut the pieces you plan to use and lay them out. This will help you avoid unintentionally channelling Halloween if its not your thing.

3. A block that starts out looking like it is going to be a bit ho-hum can be unexpectedly pleasing. I can't really identify why I like this block so much but I do. 

Now I must away and try and get my charity quilt basted. I've been successfully avoiding crawling around on the floor for days now!