Reacquainted…

Today, after a very long time, I clicked on a bookmark link on my web browser that’s been patiently waiting for me to give it some attention since early 2019.

That link, dear friends, was to you, here on my ever-faithful little sewing blog.

A few years have gone by with a few quilts made here and a few quilts made there. Some of them life-time favourites and others I can happily forget. (Although, I don’t think there are many of these!) Other projects have been started and then instantly dumped in the ‘I’ll finish this later because another new and shiny project/idea has come along’ and a few skills or obsessions have been discovered! (Hello Machine Embroidery & Dressmaking!)

But no matter what craft, project, idea, discovery, or obsession wanders lazily across my path grabbing my attention like a two-year-old, everything always leads me back to my one true love – making quilts.

Ahh, yes. Quilt making. That sweet, cosy practise of cutting up perfectly woven cotton fabrics into little squares, triangles or hexies and then sewing them all back together again into a design that’s just a little bit more pleasing to the eye.

It’s that giddy thought of having endless possibilities to create something great with just my fingers and brain. To draw out the skills I’ve been honing since I was 16 to master and perfect a nested seam, a faultless HST or a crisp flying geese.

The fun play with colour and clashing print, with texture, size and value, with direction and precision.

The focus and drive that washes over you as you cut, piece, and sew a quilt, embedding it with every inch of love you possess as once it’s finished, you’ll be handing it over to someone you love who will cherish it and care for it always. It’s as though they now have a very small piece of you, a brief, fleeting moment of time from your life that you’ve dedicated or given just to them.

Who would of thought the practice of Quilting could be so philosophical and almost…romantic?!

Anyway…moving on.

I’ve wanted to reacquaint myself with my darling blog for ages but the same excuses would always crop up – no time, heavy self-doubt, a lack of motivation, an odd sense of social anxiety, self-questioning, ‘who’s still reading blogs?’ blah, blah, blah, the list goes on. You get the gist.

But a time eventually strikes you, even when you least expected it and you just get on with it. You just do it! No. More. Faffing!

So here we are, on the first day of February 2024(!) and we’re jumping back into the saddle, so to speak. I make no promises of regular written content or anything on here being of any worth. But I do promise, when I do get to write here throughout the year, it’ll always been an honest ramble sharing my eternal love for sewing and quilting and whatever’s going good in the sewing room at that time.

Shall I share with you what’s currently on the Design Wall?

No surprise. It’s a lovely parade of hexie flowers! (Always a sentimental favourite of mine!)

The story goes a little something like this…

A friend from church is a missionary in a place called Galmi in Niger, a country in Africa. On their most recent trip home, they gave me a beautifully pieced length of fabric pieced/sewn by local women, expertly made up of left over fabric scraps.

My mind instantly went into overdrive thinking of how I can showcase every little detail of each fabric scrap, highlighting and praising each print in a harmonious way.

And here enters the subtle beauty and economy of the humble hexie flower…

By employing a rough fussy-cut approach, I was able to get as much of the ‘good-bits’ as I could. And by ‘good-bits’, I mean perfectly cutting out bright yellow floral prints that sided next to a kitsch jelly-baby/embryo print that then flowed into a gorgeous pastel pink and blue floral. I also wanted to keep the bulky junctions of where two or three clashing prints came together, creating a wonderful push and pull of colour and texture.

So, with each hand-sewn whipstitch, clashing prints and all warm colours of the rainbow, some lovely little flowers have begun to bloom.

I’m currently up to the stage of expertly pairing each hexie flower to a complementing solid background square and then lovingly appliquéing into place using a dab of fabric glue and finishing with a quick straight-stitch whiz around along the edges with the sewing machine.

As time permits and life settles back into a steady rhythm after the summer holiday break here in Australia, I’ll also gently ease myself back into working on projects that spark the joy and thrill I mentioned earlier. I have a butt-tonne of sewing goals I’d love to accomplish this year – a few include finishing a second Swoon Quilt and making a trendy Quilt Jacket/Coat!

And of course, making the effort to pop up here a few times each month (as well as on my YouTube channel – I make sewing room vlogs and the occasional block tutorial video!), connecting, sharing and celebrating my love for all things sewing and quilting!

Happy Sewing, my lovely friends!

Amanda x