My first hexies project

 I might have mentioned that I have recently started making hexies. I think watching an episode of Quilt Monkey finally did the trick and got me started.

My first and so far only finished hexies project uses lots of Lotta Jandotter fabrics from her Echo collection. Yes, one of those collections I have had for ages but haven't used much at all.

I do love this quilt a lot and am very proud of the quilting too. I decided to quilt in very small meandering stitches in the negative space and then do a freehand flowery pattern on the hexies.

Next time I make a hexies project like this I will cut away the background fabric behind the hexies. I found they ended up quite bulky but I didn't want the quilt to become less safe and stable if I removed the fabric behind the hexies. I am a bit paranoid that way.

I have now cut out thousands of hexies pieces, smaller than in this quilt, and have started making hexies at out monthly Leeds Modern Quilt Guild meetings. I have to take the train and don't want to move my sewing machien around. It is not in the best condition and not safe for travelling anyway. Besides, it is very loud and I don't want to annoy my fellow quilt members. That's why I have been concentrating on hand sewing.

I will show you those hexies soon, btu I think it will take me another x years to actually make something and I am soooooooo sloooooooow at it.

Lots of love,
Nadine

More cushions

      

Have I shown you these yet? No? I honestly can't remember. Well, I did make some more cushions a while ago in an attempt to use up my scraps and I really like the result. The patterns are fairly simple and similar to other cushions I have made years ago.

I do have to say, I am constantly trying to think of things to do with my scraps. So much so that I end up using the same fabrics over and over again in order to reduce my pile of scraps but then I never actually cut into my precious collections of fabric.

As you already know, I have a fabric addiction of humungous proportions but I can't get myself to cut into my complete collections. I tend to buy Fat quarter bundles of collections I really like and I store the collections together and often use fabrics from one collection for a quilt which means I don't mix collections much. I know, big mistake. But maybe one day I will overcome this.

So here are my cushions, I believe they are all about 18 x 18 and I used fleece on the back. Can never be too soft, eh?

I hope you like these. I am sure I will make more and I will also have to come up with some other projects using up some scraps. I recently got into EPP and have been making hexies like mad (will show you in another post). Maybe I can cut my scraps into hexies sizes and use them up that way, hmmm, that is not a bad idea.

Love, Nadine

Quilting Mojo: Lost .... and Found?

Hello everyone,

I can't believe how long I haven't written a blog post. I think it's probably a pretty obvious sign that I had been struggling with my quilting and that I have not beeing very productive.

I had lost my quilt mojo completely, questioning why I am doing this. The shop is pretty much dead, nobody is buying anything and I honestly have no time to invest in some serious marketing which is probably what it would take to make some sales at all. And even if I had some time to work on the shop I wouldn't even know where to start.

And I think all of us quilters ask ourselves sometime, what am I gonna do with all these quilts? Of course some of us have large families and constant birthdays and celebrations to make quilts for but everyone I know already has at least one quilt or more and many people are just not that keen on quilts, they are maybe not modern or trendy enough to show off in a home and I can understand that my family and friends just roll their eyes if I present them with yet another quilt.

Besides, only quilters really understand what such an item is actually worth. Of course, everything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But considering the amount of money we spend on the materials, the sewing machines and the hours upon hours upon even more hours we spend on making our quilts, not having our work appreciated is heartbreaking. I guess it isn't always obvious how much goes into a quilt.

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to make a quilt for her unborn baby. She sent a specific image of a quilt set she found on Argos and said she can't afford the 75 pounds they are asking for that quilt (plus bedding, sheet etc. - the poor quilter who made that set was what I was thinking but I kept my mouth shut). In the same sentence she said she would of course pay me the 'going rate'. Ha, I thought someone had punched me in the stomach. I guess she had never seen my shop and the 'going rate' I normally charge. I guess that puts it all into perspective. When our own friends think a quilt might be worth 20 or 30 pounds and we invest a lot more than that in fabric alone not even counting how much our time is worth, then we need to reevaluate. But it's not their foult how would they know, right? I keep telling myself that all the time.

So you can understand I had taken it quite slow lately with quilting as I have so many, and I mean SOOOOOO MANY quilts already and don't know what to do with them. I was getting to the point where I thought I needed to find something to do that does not cost so much money time and effort and I need to stop creating things, large things that take up lots of space in our tiny house.

So that was my frame of mind, you see I was not in the best quilting moods, and then Katy Jones of ImAGingerMonkey came along and asked whether I'd make something for her new magazine Quilt Now! And bang, all of a sudden I felt I had a purpose again.

I am sure you've seen the magazine, it is gorgeous and taking the quilting world by storm right now. Issue 3 featured the first cushion I had made in years out of Kaffe Fassett scraps. I love how Katy posed the cushion and how nicely it fits into the magazine amongst amazing quilts and features on quilters and designers I have admired for years.

I was ecstatic, as you can imagine and dare I say it, there might be even more of my things in future issues, maybe. :) I am so proud to be featured and it has given me my passion for quilting back. I have been working on a number of projects since and will show them to you in good time.

So please go check out the magazine, you won't regret it, it's awesome.

Lots of love and happy crafting.
Nadine