Monday 17 October 2016

Stitchery wonderful stitchery!










Sewing small pieces of fabric together
gives a peaceful heart and a quilt
to wrap up in with love buried
in each tiny stitch!










As you can see I am back, having had a really great week with really great friends from across the pond.  We adore their company and when I say we laughed until we could laugh no more because it hurt, you will understand our time together.  They loved our fair land and what we did and I can not believe that is it for another year... We met up with other people as well and have had such fabulous time.  Bath was a huge hit being that the history in that city is vast and the buildings and architecture are with out doubt stunning.  The river and weir of Putney Bridge is so beautiful and I watched their faces as they stared at it.  It was so lovely to see it through other eyes, I never tire of it.  Also we took them to our favourite little wine bar at the back of a wine shop.  We always pop in there when we go to Bath and they loved it ...   So much fun and laughter!


 It has done me the world of good and although I did take some stitching with me for our times in our hotel room I did not take a sketch book but  took the camera and have captured things to sketch and to design from ... so I guess I am always thinking needles and threads! I was pleased of my stitching survival kit and got some stitching done every day.  It is quite amazing how a few stitches in the morning and evening add up ...

Well Autumn is truly here with all its glory and I am hoping for some crisp not rainy nights to sit by the fire pit and have drinks outside and look at the stars along with pizza on the b b q and impromptu dinners and memory makers with friends....  So to keep the old chin up with the move front and the Winter season that will be upon us soon enough I have decided to make the very best of great evenings and with lots of stitching and designing done by day!

It was strange every morning not to be talking to you all, very strange indeed and it is lovely this morning to be getting back into a routine.  As you know I made up a couple of project baskets before this mini break so I can indeed start this week of with a needle and thread in my hand.  I also cut out some hexagons to be stitched and I tidied my stitching room a bit before as well.  So all is ready for me to start my week the way I mean to continue on.

I want to be able to look at all my photos as well and do some light sketching onto paper with ideas written down so that I can do some designs for me to stitch, even if they end up being ideas for next year or magazine work.

I have been looking up old sayings, quotes and poems to write in my journal for ideas to stitch on to some the gorgeous antique patchwork panels that I have bought recently from America.  Just a simple saying and a button as a full stop and framed will, I think, look just the ticket.  I am going to do quite a few and I will be selling some as well, so if you are interested please let me know. I finished one completely whilst away ha ha ha!

Being a lover of history as well as stitchery I decided to learn a little more about the paper piecing hexagon quilts.  Its roots it seems are around the 18th Century and it was immigrants who brought the pattern to the Americas.  There have been some that were found to be dated as early as 1770!  This has led to historians to believe that the hexagon pattern might be one of the oldest pieced patterns. The picture above left was found on google as an example of the Grandmothers quilt garden pattern.

Other names it goes under is Honeycomb, six sided patchwork,mosaic and Grandmothers quilt garden. Hexagon quilts were usually made in the Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern. These contained a centre hexagon circled by six colourful printed or solid hexagons with another row of 12 hexagons around that. The centres were sometimes yellow to represent the flower's centre. Between each flower was a row of coloured solid hexagons to represent the background. A green background might have been the garden while white could have been a white picket fence. It has been so very interesting looking in to this history!


It really interested me and of course these days the paper piecing patterns come in lots of other
designs and as long as they fit together to stitch them, any shape goes ..... there a box shapes, flower petal shape and triangles but I have to say my personal favourite is the simple but effective hexagon!  I stitched some of those whilst away as well and now they have been added to the bag they are all happily sitting in, I can report that there are quite a few.

Personally I am going to stitch with the original and hope that by stitching several of an evening through the colder months that I can gather enough to make something wonderful and pretty with lots of different antique fabrics from different decades and merge them together to look really beautiful.  I am more and more convinced that I love the Grandmothers quilt garden pattern and with the ones that I am cutting from plain antique linen I think it might look lovely.  Also doing my little bit of embroidery on some of them as well.  So a plain piece of vintage linen cut out in a hexagon shape.  Before I stitch around it onto card I have stitched a little daisy in one and another I stitched a heart and another just a word .... some of the linen ones are just plain.  It will be great fun in the end when I tip out the bags of them and start to put together a pattern of Grandmothers Garden and see how it all looks.... It should at least keep me busy in the darker nights that will soon be upon us.

I am going to continue today with the quilt pieces and I will be able to show you some by the end of the week I hope.  I am excited as they are looking really lovely I think.

Well that is it for my first day back in a week, It is lovely to be back and I hope that you have enjoyed having your daily read back as well.  Have a wonderful day and as always Happy Stitching! XX





8 comments:

  1. Lovely to have you back Sarah. You've had a wonderful time by the sound if it. Love Dawn xxx

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    1. Hi Dawn

      Thank you, good to be back. Had a really lovely time and it was quiet wonderful seeing things that we take for granted through our friends eyes. They adored all that we showed them ... including the Jurassic coast, Lyme Regis, Corfe Castle, New Forest, Bath and the sights of London.

      Now it is back to quietly stitching away and blogging.

      Sarah xxx

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  2. Thanks for the inspiration. I have some hexagon patchwork I did 30 plus years ago and made into cushion covers. I long since cut them into panels as my colour tastes changed. But I had an idea for it after reading this post! It will be an autumnal panel, maybe a hanging to bring out each year or a bag. Thanks!

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    1. That is wonderful I am so pleased to hear that, this is what this blog is about so its lovely to know I am doing something right. I would love to see it once you have completed it.

      Enjoy creating.
      Sarah x

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  3. Hi Sarah, lovely to have you back! Your break sounds like it was just what you needed! My stash of paper pieces is growing too and was at a loss as to how exactly to use them - having seen the grannies garden design, I have to say that I am inspired to give that a go - mine are all colours though, so it would be a very overgrown garden!mive spent the past three days working on stuff in my sewing room and do so wish I could do it everyday. It has been lovely having the time to let ideas develop and to practice my hand stitching - did love the Danish knot tutorial. Best wishes, Mo xxx

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    1. Hi Mo
      Lovely to be back and thank you it's lovely to know that the blog is missed..
      Had a fabulous break very needed too.
      I am so pleased about Grandmas Garden inspiration.. it is a beautiful design ...
      How lovely to have uninterrupted time to create .. it's a great place to be isn't it?

      Glad to hear from you and Am planning a part one & two of an inspirational blog probably Friday and Monday.. so heads up.
      Glad you enjoyed tutorial.. there will be one this Saturday too.. bring a warm drink!

      Happy Stitching XX

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  4. Just catching up. Been busy quilt making too (over on my blog) I love hexagon quilts.
    Sounds like you had the most wonderful time with your friends
    Julie xxxxxxx

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  5. Thank you Julie had a great time!
    It's so pleasing stitching hexagons .. we are all doing it!
    Sarah xxx

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