Teenie Tiny Love

Believe it or not, I did do more than take pictures of everyone else's work when we were at the cottage.  I always have a hard time trying to figure out what to take with me, so I take too much, and this time was no exception. I thought I was all packed and ready to go and yet minutes before I got into the car I was running around the house like a madwoman tossing even more projects into bags. What's with that??!

I did some cutting for Betty and for Jane and then I took the plunge and started cutting strips for a new project. Yup, I've started making my version of the antique hexie diamond quilt that I showed you a little ways back.

The piece are tiny so I needed to figure out a consistent approach to sewing each block. I started by sewing one edge of each of the hexies that circle the centre hexie so you have a bit of a loose flower and then I sew the seams between each of them. That gets pressed and then it's not pressed again until everyone is attached.

I finished the first block at the cottage and have put 3 more together since then - it's great hand stitching when sitting in front of the TV. They are adorable - I'm totally smittne. This quilt will take me forever but I've decided that I can't focus on that - I love making the blocks so I'm choosing to think of it as one that will get better with age.

I wanted to stay true to the scale of the original so my hexagons are 1 inch finished - if you measure across the hexagon - so I'm cutting 1.5 inch strips and then cutting the hexies from that.
I've realized since drafting my template that hexies are usually measured by the length of the unfinished edge but I didn't know that at the time.










Each diamond has 25 hexagons in it and they measure about 9 inches in length and will be 5 inches across. Now I need to sew 4 diamonds together and then put another colour all the way round the larger diamond. Thank heaven for Jane and her stash - she let me cut several strips to add to my collection.

I still have no idea what this quilt is called so I need to come up with a name for it; any suggestions?

I also tried a new recipe for Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tarts from Sweet Paul. DE-LISH, and oh so easy. The crust is made frozen puff pastry; it seemed a waste not to use it all so I went for a more rustic look and didn't bother to trim the dough to fit the tart forms. They looked great and it's faster that way too.

The only other change I made to the recipe was to add the garlic just for a few minutes rather than carmelizing it for 10 with the onions to avoid it becoming burnt and bitter.






Serve it with a tossed salad and you have an easy, fabulous lunch. Give them a try....M