Liberty Pillow

I was not satisfied with my LIBERTY pillow. Laziness never pays : I had not quilted it and it looked flat.

Neither was I pleased with the back of it, done with a basic cotton instead of a Liberty one. 

As regards the sewing of a zip : for those like me who have difficulties with this step, there is the solution of linking the two parts of the back of the pillow with strings, as shown on the last picture. The result is lovely.

Now my pillow looks perfect! 😃

Giant Hexagons Quilt

So happy to start again a new project after 10 months disability! The good thing is that I had all my time to mentally prepare it! So I had decided for this new quilt to only use fabrics from my stash, choosing my favorite hues (pink, blue and brown), among my reproduction fabrics.

I assemble hexagons, using the half hexie technique. It's a very quick and efficient method. I will write a tutorial in a next post.

This early stage is quite encouraging, I am very pleased with the appearance of these hexagons on my design board...

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Large Hexagons

 

When I opened this lovely bundle of Liberty fabrics, I had the good surprise to find  that they were all different from the ones of my own stash! I am going to use them to complete my hexagon pillow. So happy to have such pretty new fabrics!

The tutorial to paper piece the hexies is here.

Hexagon Tutorial Paper Piecing

Cut Hexagon papers at the size of your choice.

You can find them easily downloadable on the net.

Or you can buy them ready in quilting shops.

Put one hexagon paper on a plastic or cardboard and cut it 1/2" larger.

If you use transparent plastic, you can center a subject on your fabric.

Put your plastic template on your fabric on any side, it does not matter.

Draw a thin line all around.

Cut on the line.

Take one of your paper templates and place it on the WRONG side of your fabric hexagon.

Fold one side and attach it with a paper clip.

Sew with big stitches all around.

Your hexagon is ready.

Hexies and Evening Mess

Last Sunday afternoon I decided to go on with my hexagon pillow, and to move in the dining-room. Sometimes I don't like to be isolated in my studio, especially when it is for hand stitching. I prefer to have life around me, to hear the sound of the TV... The drawback is the mess left on the dining table when dinner time approaches!

Hexies and Strawberries

Last Monday, our quilting meeting took place at my home. Slowly but steadily I progress with my hexagon pillow. 

I tried a new recipe :  midway between tiramisu and triffle, with a chocolate sauce... at the end of the meeting nothing was left... it was well appreciated!

Here is my own "interpretation" of this no-bake cake :

2 pounds strawberries

9 oz fresh cream

9 oz mascarpone or Philadelphia cheese cream

1 sleeve or more, I am not sure, Graham Crackers (we don't have this here, so I used one pack Digestive biscuits)

Cognac or rum

3 tablespoons sugar

Wash the strawberries. Cut them in slices.

Whisk the cream until it becomes "Chantilly".

Mix well the cream cheese (that should be at room temperature) with the sugar.

Add to the Chantilly and mix again for 1 mn.

Lay a small part of this cream in your dish, add a layer of biscuits quickly dipped in the cognac, then half your strawberries, and go on this way until you finish. (For my dish, I had two layers). Put in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. (I put it overnight).

For the chocolate sauce, warm abt 3.5oz fresh cream, add abt  4.4oz bitter chocolate and turn with a spoon until the sauce becomes smooth. Don't refrigerate, it would become hard.

Breakfast and Hand Piecing

Pouch and Flower Garden block

Breakfast table

Black tea

Breads

Lavender - Rosemary - Verbena

Lavenders

Bumblebee on a lavender

Verbena

Wild olive tree

Breakfast time is my best time of the day. I love to wake up early in the morning, and to sit down in the garden, in my favorite corner, on the kitchen side. There it is very quite, you hear nothing except the birds. Everybody sleeps. It's 7 o'clock and I have the whole day in front of me. I enjoy a very strong black tea (Yorkshire Gold brand) with breads and marmelade. Having my second cup of tea, sewing can start, for about one hour.

It's such a happy moment and I feel blessed to be able to enjoy the lovely view, the fresh wind and the quietness. 

Enjoy your breakfast!

Christine

Flower Garden Second Part

Summer time is Flower Garden time! I took the boxes of this project from the shelf to see what it is about...

Ok, first thing : I am rather pleased to find a quite good organization!

Second thing : not very pleased to see that I did not progress so well! Little by little as it goes, it seems another 10 years will be necessary to finish this quilt, especially that I intended to make it Queen size and have it handquilted... I may review this point... maybe a single bed quilt will be alright!

Well, let's not be discouraged and let's start : I have first to cut 216 paper hexies and 216 muslin hexies, then baste and piece them around the 12 unfinished blocks. When this will be finished, I will have done a great step forward!

Enjoy your quilting!

Christine