Hexie Heaven

Why baste just one quilt when you can do two? After Sandy had finished basting what I am calling Under the Sea she wasted no time moving along and putting Hexie Heaven on the basting table, another colourful beauty. Look at all of those hexies; a girl after my own heart.

During the last year, when she wasn't stitching little fish she's been busy turning her Kaffe jelly rolls into hexies - so colourful! She scored a terrific deal on three of them a while back and managed to find the last one, called Parakeet, online, so that made her really happy.

This project went with her to the lovely island of Male in the Maldives for a dive trip. All of that time in the air resulted in lots of progress. 

While on a stopover in Abu Dhabi she noticed that there was no shortage of hexie inspiration. Just look at that ceiling!

It's a mosaic tile structure; just look at all of the tiny pieces!

The backing is a Kaffe as well, this gorgeous Millefiore print in rich blues, the perfect foil for all those lovely hexies on the front. Luv.

Here's a better shot of the entire top.

She is hand quilting this one, wanting to keep the pattern simple and also maintain the outline of the flowers. There's still some thinking to be done regarding how to quilt the border. She seems to remember seeing a hexie quilt where they’d somehow managed to quilt it looking like lattice work, which sounds lovely, so I suspect that there will be a deep dive into Pinterest one of these days to see if she can find that again. In the meantime, she's enjoying all of those lovely hexie flowers....M

Under The Sea

About a year ago I got a note from Sandy showing me the beginnings of her latest project. It's now basted it and ready to quilt so why not take a look?

You will recall that Sandy and Ed are divers. While they were doing on-line shopping with the group that handles their dive trips, one of the destinations - Volivoli Beach Resort in Fiji - had a logo that just called to her, so she drafted a darling little fish pattern based on it and she was off. Her timing coincided perfectly with the Olympics last winter, a great time to have handwork at the ready.

She has hand pieced 22 7-inch blocks and alternated them with a tone-on-tone cream. Aren't they adorable? So reminiscent of the wonders they discover in the waters that they explore. 

This one will be machine quilted so she doesn't want the solid sections to be too unmanageable. She hasn't used her templates for a couple of years so no use testing the quilt gods more than you have to. Been there, done that!

Check out the fabulous backing fabric that Ed found! Could it be any more perfect? He found it on Spoonflower. I have a feeling that the mermaid in Jane will be a little jealous...

Here's a closeup.

This will be a throw for Ed (replacing/alternating with his Minions throw 😏). He is really big on diving so I know that he will love being wrapped up in it when he can't be under the sea.

Oh, and just to make you totally green with envy, this is a sample of the little pieces of heaven that their travels take them to. A lovely thought on a winter's day....M

My Worst Nightmare

For as long as I can remember I have had this thing about moths, and not in a good way. They creep me out so I try and avoid them as much as possible; it's just safer for everyone concerned. Jane, on the other hand, loves them. So much so that they are the feature of the latest quilt that she's been working on.

She started cutting back in September and then was off to the races.

The soft tomato reds and sage greens work really well together with the mustard, green and cream colours in the moth print, and a little bit of grey/low volume prints keeps everything nicely subdued.

It's a log cabin of sorts. She started making the blocks without seeing the entire layout of the quilt so she didn't realize that if you placed four coloured corners together they would work to make a circle . She has laid them out randomly, concerned more with the placement of the different types/colours of moths rather than the corners. 

A few bug prints were added to keep the moths company, of course.

Oh, and how about a few ants?

She was getting ready to add the last strip of blocks to it when I last saw her so it will be ready to quilt now. Fastest hand sewer in the west!

So lovely.

Sorry Jane, beautiful as it is, I just don't think that I could sleep under this one but I will be keen to see how you get it quilted....M

Stretching It Out As Long As I Can

My Christmas tree came down last weekend and I've been joking that I have now entered my official period of mourning (I'd be happy to keep it up until Easter!). Cookies will only soothe that ache so much so I headed out to the lake for a visit with Jane to enjoy hers before she takes it down. I stayed overnight so that meant being able to sleep under one of her star quilts and enjoy the glow of the tree one last time.

Over the years, she has decorated her tree in a variety of themes and this year went with a natural/wilderness vibe. Fluffy owls, pretty birds, and twinkling pine cones set the scene and this year she added dried orange slices and made these adorable decos from walnuts - two little mushrooms made from buttons nestled in a little glen. 

Beneath the tree she arranged greenery and several large toadstools, along with this pretty little winter bunny. She thinks of everything!

I also got to check out her latest Christmas quilt, Christmas Courthouse Steps. It was finished up just before the holidays began and she has been enjoying it draped over the back of her sofa.

Red, white and green are combined with the occasional gold/brown strip (Sandy calls these strips 'gingerbread') for a very festive throw.

And the the backing! SO great! It's a Norman Rockwell print (very Holly Hobby as well) with a variety of terrific holiday vignettes...

against a backdrop of sheet music and bundles of bells and holly. Quilted snowflakes swirl across it, making it so much fun.

It's bound with a swirling red paisley that has just a hint of gold glitter in it.

I suspect that Jane's tree has now been taken down too, but it did the trick, helping extend that little bit of magic that a Christmas tree brings each year. Thanks Jane!...M