Shot of the Day.

 I must say I was pretty pleased with the Photo
Especially seeing it was taken on an iPhone 6s without my Moment Lens

(Or my Glasses!)

And considering this was within a few meters from our home
 - it might be one of "Our Girls".

Hexie Headaches

I haven't been too concerned about placement of fabric patterns when cutting the Hexagons.  Most patterns have been fairly random - until now.

With the next row of Flowers I needed a Medium Dark fabric and the one DH chose (Both in the Shop and for this section) needs to be Fussy Cut.

So the first task was to count how many circles I had.       Was there 144? 

A pin in every 10 helped me keep track!

Just to keep me on my Toes 

NOTHING aligned!

Every piece has to be individually marked, measured and cut.

With just ONE medallion to spare there is no room for error!

Yet another headache awaited...

The pattern could not be read from the back of the fabric, so placing the papers became the next challenge.

Using a lightbox didn't work.  I had to place the papers behind the fabric with my work light behind.

Then a pin into the FRONT of the work.

(A tip I picked up from Leesa Chandler who picked it up from ......)

I am now Good to Go with tacking these down.

* * *

And just a bit of Nostalgic Fun.

The things you find "In the Bottom Drawer"

I have no Idea when I bought these.

  

I suspect it was from the Local Haberdashery Shop that closed down circa 1970 and sat like a time capsule untouched for the next 20 Years, when it was bought "Lock, Stock and Barrel" by a Couple who had no idea of the Treasure Trove they had purchased!

Making Life easier?

I have been working on a Mystery Hexagon Quilt since before Christmas.
It is my first attempt at a "Real" Hexie project - So I have a LOT to learn.

I bought fabric in lengths that could be divided into 2 1/2" squares and then learnt that my Hexagons are actually cut at  2 5/8" x 2 1/4" (65mm x 56mm)

Which shouldn't be a problem only that some of my fabric wasn't cut quite ... to size.

I found I could get more use of my fabric and sometimes more Hexagons if I cut them 'Points across' rather than 'Points down'.  

I can cut 36 pieces one way and 42 the other from this piece of fabric.

So I had to find an efficient way to measure and cut my strips.

Eventually I hit on THIS idea.

By sticking an actual fabric Hexagon to the back of my ruler (With the ever trusty and removable double sided tape) I not only achieved a regular size to cut to in either direction

Trimming each piece became a lot easier

and

It also made my small ruler -

Non Slip!

Tool for a Job

 They say "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" 

and I needed to come up with a Cheap and Easy replacement for these!

At $15.00 (AUD) for a pack of 12 they are out of my price range for something that doesn't last all that long.

Also, having to go out and source them or wait for the Postie... when I was on a roll with my Hexies I needed an alternative fast.

So - what do I have in the Sewing room?

Double Sided Sticky Tape from my Scrapbook Project. 
($1.00 a Roll from most $2 Shops.)

And Some Faux Suede and or Leather offcuts that date back to when I was making Soft Toys.

(Also just a few $$ if you buy a minimum cut or a Craft Square.)

It certainly has done the Job.
No more Punctured fingers!!

The Suede is soft enough to not notice I am wearing the Pad, and the tape peels off easily and is re-stickable.  
And when it does stop sticking, I just replace the pad or the tape!

Now if I could just convince my Hand Model to finish those Flowers......

Not quite Hexies

 As if I didn't already have enough to do I've started a new Challenge Project on Instagram this year!

"Focus cutting" is a project that sets a Block constructed of Half Hexagons each week that follows a Theme.

January - Pantone Colours of 2021 Yellow and/or Grey.

Week 1.  The Brief was an Identifiable Motif.

Fairly simple and I had fun doing it and then I realised that finding prints with enough clear space around them for 1 1/2" Half Hexagons was going to prove challenging.  

So - I downsized the blocks to a "hopefully" more achievable 1" size.

Week 2.  Obscure Sections.

Take a Fabric and cut it so that you cannot tell what the original fabric design was.

No one guessed that my "Butterflies" were actually Ballerina Tutus!

Week 3. Pattern Matching.

The idea was to match a pattern across the seam. 
I suppose I could have taken some of my Bugs from Week 1 and marched them around the block - but decided to pattern match an entire motif instead.

Week 4. Freestyle!

Focus Cutting on all 6 half hexagons.  Whole motifs, Central motifs, Pattern matching, Sections or a Whole scene. 

The choice was Ours.

I chose pretty flowers from a fabric I  would not normally buy to create 'Sunshine and Rain' for my Block.

The Focus Cutting Sewalong is Hosted by UK Quilter Naomi Clarke

If you are Interested in joining this group or seeing what the other talented quilters are producing - You can 'click the link' above or Go to Instagram and Search

#focuscuttingsewalong Hosted by @naomiealicec

 

Jemima's Mystery Update

 I haven't given up on Quilting!  I have actually been quite busy since I last did a Quilt related Post, so time to do an Update.

Jemima's Quilt Part 1 took me out of my comfort zone with both fabric choice and committing to a large EPP project and was completed back in December.

Part 2 was an easy Six piece block turning Part 1 into a Star. 

Part 3 was a bit more interesting with another different shaped block.

In the lead up to Christmas
we were given an easy Block for Part 4

It was good to see the Quilt taking shape once all the parts were stitched in place.

Part 5 was a familiar flower design but came with a whole lot of problems starting with running out of Fabric.

I needed to wait until the Shop opened after the Christmas break before I could get more to continue with the required blocks.

And then while happily stitching the flowers in place, alternating fabric patterns in the light centre hexies, I discovered I had stitched TWO blocks in the wrong order!

Once these were carefully unstitched and repositioned the next section was completed.

Looking forward to Part 6.

If you are interested in this Mystery
Check out the Clues at www.jemimascreativequilting.com/blog Hexagon Quilt Along

Out of the Frying Pan?

After my last Post - you will be forgiven for saying 

"What the heck are you thinking?" 

This project has been on the back-burner (or rather still in a box in the bungalow) for a couple of years.  And around here, things have a habit of bumping themselves up the "To Do" list.

This one came about 4 weeks ago, when my DD rang and asked "How's your Flow Hive Going?"

I knew it could only mean One Thing - We had a Swarm to Catch and rehome. 

Fortunately they had settled on the side of a Tree Pot in the Garden of a friend who lives close by.

Unfortunately - we had no idea whether the Queen was under the rim of the pot.

If we could have picked the pot up and shaken them into the Swarm Box it would have been a lot easier, but it was firmly rooted to the ground!

Bee swarms are normally quite docile as they are full of honey for the trip - however scooping up handfuls of them was a strange experience.

We left the Girls to settle into the Box overnight and came back the following evening to transport them to a new location which had to be more than 4-5 km away (or else they could return).

Which is HOW we ended up with our own Bees.

While they settled in to Life at Our Place....

We set about Constructing and Sealing our Western Red Cedar Flow Hive 2 for them to live in.

It went together very easily, with everything we needed including the tools and 'some extra bits in case you need them'.

With the Hive ready, it was time to place it in position. 

Even though the Hive has TWO inbuilt spirit levels - DH just had to check with his own before he was satisfied it was correctly levelled.

Now to Check on their progress and move them into their new "Forever Home".

They seem to have a calm temperament, all looks good - And we have new Brood.

A final check this evening showed us that they have happily moved house.

Our hope now is that they will go up into the Flow Super and start working in there - I am sure it will be more preferable to building in the rafters.

So we just need to 'Leave them Bee' to get on with what they do best!