Hexagons!

Hello, all, sorry I've been a while getting round to posting but I've been quite busy on the domestic front, and have been waiting for an email from a quilter/blogger in Australia-  more of this later.

Above you can see a photo of a quilt block and border strip which I have been working on/thinking about for ....erm....a couple of years now! Admittedly I have completed other projects along the way, but this has been hanging about for an embarrassingly long time. Mainly because I've had  a blank spot about how I'm going to continue with it. I know I'm going to surround each appliqued block (pattern from an old book by Jan Patek) with strips of squares - how many rows I haven't yet decided. But what next?

 The solution came from Blogland, as so many good ideas frequently do. There are two Australian blogs I've been reading for quite some time now, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. The first by Elizabeth of Broderie and the second is by her friend Jean, of Linen and Raspberry -check them out, you'll love their style. These two friends have been involved, with others, in quilting workshops with an eminent Australian quilter/tutor, called Margaret Sampson George, who I first heard about years ago when I saw her work in an Australian quilting magazine. I was instantly hooked by her fabric choices, and her use of naive style appliqué.

These small quilts were inspired by Margaret's quilts - her use of naive baskets, her border treatments and layout.

I designed my own baskets, or copied as well I could (you know my standard of drawing!) from pictures of antique naive quilts. These I machine appliqued at the time, and I wish I had stitched by hand, now, but I am still very fond of these little quilts.

It was also when I began stipple quilting by hand, to give that lovely antique look.

 So a big thank you to Margaret - and she is still inspiring quilters with her unique approach and great designs. She herself has been inspired by some old English medalion quilts - what goes around comes around! Elizabeth and Jean are currently working on quilts taught in Margaret's workshops, and have given me permission to reproduce their photographs here. The first photographs are demonstrably from Elizabeth's blog, though not all are of her own quilt top.

I was stunned to see that almost all the appliqued motifs are composed of hexagons, which are then appliqued to the background fabric - hence the ongoing work is referred to as The Sheet! I love it!

The hexagons are built up into differently shaped larger motifs, arranged on the ground fabric and stitched down. A lot of hand-work involved, but I am getting further and further away from enjoying machine work these days, which is why this method really appeals. It isn't fast, but the leisureliness of cutting and hand stitching each hexagon really appeals.

I love the fabric choices, and some very clever 'fussy cutting' going on here. (Fussy cutting is where you select a particular area of the fabric because the design on each hexagon contributes to an over-all effect. It's not an efficient use of fabric, but it does give great design opportunities.)

Never seen hexagons used so beautifully! See how differently the hexagons can be arranged.

 The following eight photographs are from Jean's blog; they are not all of her own quilt top.

 I love the way the old "Granny's flower Garden" lay-out has been transformed by adding units in different ways. So there we have it - my decision is made. Once I  have surrounded each of my applique blocks with the squares, I shall cut out my border strips and then spend some peaceful hours making my hexagons, designing the motifs and deciding how to place them on the background. This quilt isn't going to be finished any time soon - but that's ok, I'm into 'Slow Cloth' anyway - but I'm going to enjoy every step of the way. Thanks Elizabeth and Jean, you have cured my 'Quilter's Block"!