Long time no see...

Hello dearest cyberspace.

Hope you're not mad at me for being away lately, but I just couldn't find the energy to come here and write. I haven't made much progress with the hexagons, but I've managed to make a few more, the new fabrics really motivate me.

Unfortunately that means less sleep and the next day I'm even more tired. Sunday is my day off. I hope I can start sewing some hexies together but the combination of patterns worries me a bit.

My little hexie box

my hexagons all mixed up

I have now started the second hexie row, but I have yet to count them. Hopefully I'll have bigger progress in the next couple of days.

Wish me luck!

Yesterday...

Was a REALLY hot day in Lisbon. It was also Grandparents's Day, so it was very busy for us.
But I still managed to be very productive regarding my crafts, I started quilting my second project (the red and white quilt) and I finaly managed to get to the patchwork store and buy some goodies. I finaly have proper needles and thread, and I bought some lovely fabrics for my collection.

Nico helping me

My loot

As far as my hexagons, I haven't really made a lot of progress, because I actually had to start all over again as I wasn't properly securing them and so I felt they would unravel when I started sewing them together. So now they are much more stable. About 65 of them :)

My lovely hexagons so far. I'm addicted!

Overall it was a great, hot, summer day! Today I hope I'll have a quiet one so I can really do the things I want to do without setbacks. How was your day cyberspace? :)

It's kind of tricky...

How am I supposed to finish my project when everytime I get up to get something, THIS happens??

Wasting precious time...

So today I got out of work at 4p.m. and came straight home for lunch. I've been really stressing about possible fabrics for my hexagons so I decided to check out a few stores in search for charm packs or fat quarter packs. It was a total waste of time... I've been trying to find a store that sold them that was cheaper than the only one I know around here, but it was no use. So tomorrow I'll try to stop by and get my fabric fix, hopefully it will solve my problem...

Today I reached 60 hexagons, still a lot of hexagons left I expect to make at least 500 for starters and then, depending on what I decide to do with them, do more
Had a great company for my work tonight. She just loved them a little bit too much...

So wish me luck! May tomorow be more productive than today :)

Hello again.

So after my setback yesterday, I found myself trying to decide if I should start over or just carry on. My natural instinct is to keep going, but I knew I would regret it down the road so I basically started over. With these new smaller hexagons I found I really needed to trim the edges. Also it's a bit harder because now I'm using paper and before I used a sort of thin card so it helped with the sewing because it kept the hexagons straighter.

Anyway, here was my progress last night. I've made 30 hexagons. It's not much and I expect to pick up speed as I gain more experience at it. I actually prefer these smaller hexagons.

The lack of fabric diversity is still an issue. Have you gone overboard when you start looking at your clothes and thinking that would make a great hexagon and in truth you really don't weat it that often?

I'm thinking of going down to a patchwork store today and buy some charm packs of fat quarters, though here they're usually expensive and not very original.

It's been a very busy week and I wish I had like 30 hours a day. Enjoy your Saturday. I miss having weekends and holidays and stuff...

So, it turns out...

I'm an idiot!

From all the trouble I took to make the hexagon templates, it never occured to me to track down an image online, then create a document with loads of them.

So now, just to make sure this project is impecable, I will have to undo all of my hexagons, and make them according to the new templates...

The purpose of hexagons in one's life

You might be wondering what do I need the hexagons for. After all, you usually pick out a project before starting to make it! Makes sense!

But for me, it's been sort of different. Because I REALLY enjoy making hexagons. I love picking out which part of the fabrics would be nice to feature in each hexagon, I love basting them, I love the end result, I love the anticipation of trying to imagine how it will all fall into place. And so, I have decided to keep doing them until I'm tired of it and then I will decide what to do, depending on the number of hexagons I made.
Of course I have some idea of things I would like to make. Some table mats, some pan holders, maybe even a table cloth or a quilt. I don't really know. For me it's all about enjoying the journey, something that I've learned to embrace, since it is completely out of character for me.
So I guess I see changes already, very good progress I supose!

Good morning!

Hello cyberspace!

Had a really hard time getting up today. Yesterday was so chaotic and then I stayed up later than I should because of my hexagons so today I'm kind of beat. Doesn't really help that I work every day of the week, I supose. But it could be worse because I get in at 10a.m and I leave most days at 3p.m., sometimes at 4p.m like today and twice a week at 5p.m.

I resisted the urge to bring my hexagons with me to work, though it would be really nice to be able to do them here, I just know I wouldn't pay attention to anything else. So basically all I can do is browse the Internet for blogs and pages that inspire me.

By the end of today I expect to use up all of my squares and all the hexagons I cut up. I really have to make a decision regarding my very small and embarassing fabric stash, maybe some investment is needed. I so wish I could find some fat quarter packs with beautifull fabrics, but it's hard around here...
Healtwise, I only wish that I could do this while walking on a treadmill. Oh well, baby steps I guess...

My third project

So even though my second project is not finished yet, i decided to start something I could easily do at night when I can't use the sewing machine. However, being as much fun as this is, it has actually taken over my free time.

I am ADDICTED to Hexagons!!!!

I found this amazing page called Texas Freckles it has inspired me to just go ahead and do this. This time I DID use templates, though it sucks that I can't just buy them like Melanie did and have to actually make them.

I've just started yesterday, so I'm still making them, don't know if I have enough different fabrics yet, I guess I'll just have to see as I go along... here is my work so far.

This was the result for yesterday's work.

And my second day's result. Now it's well passed my bed time. I shall continue tomorrow! Sleep tight cyberspace!

My second project

You know when you are so excited about something you can't put it down? Like a book? Or a new pet? Or a new hobby? It's really not like I have a lot of free time on my hands, but I just ended up staying up later so that I could make new things.

Amazingly enough I decided my second project would be a quilt. Talk about overestimating myself! I made it a very small quilt because when the weather is cold I am addicted to lying or sitting on the couch with a nice comfy warm quilt or cover or blanket over me, and then my two cats on top. It's bliss :) so a nice cute quilt would be perfect.

Here is Nico sleeping on the unfinished project and the patchwork for the top of the quilt.

I still hadn't decided on the templates, so again I have unique squares, as I prefer to think about it, there is no square equal to another, they all have different sizes, hence making them unique! :)

Unfortunately when I got to the binding part I couldnt acutally do it with a sewing machine because it kept moving and I cant really hand sew with precision, not yet at least. So I bought one of those temporary adehesive sprays and so far it stuck really nicely but I'm waiting to be home at day time to actualy sew it together. To quilt it really. Then I will only need to fnish the edges for it to be finished. Also to put together a project such is this isn't easy when you have two very curious cats, also they really seemed to love the quilt so it's been tough...

My kitties having fun with my project.

My first project

Before starting this journey I had a lot to learn. I had no idea how to do this, no idea what the different procedures were called, even the difference between quilting and patchwork!



Fortunately we now have the internet. Also we have Youtube, and let me tell you THANK GOD for youtube. So many incredible people have taken their time to make videos for newbies like me to learn how to do it.



My first project was a patchwork table cloth for my kitchen. I have a particularly difficult table to fit, because it's actually part of a stone counter, so part of it is actually linked to the kitchen furniture. Anyways, I had bought a few fat quarters in london, nothing fancy. And so my journey began.



Must admit it was hard, my squares did not match. I had heard of some patchworkers and quilters who use templates that they cut out of paper for each piece, but I also saw a lot of people who didn't do it and lets face it, it's hard work! So I decided against it and ended up with a lot of different sized squares. This was the result.

Hello

Hello cyberspace!
I do realise I am talking to myself but that is the whole idea, to send out my ideas to the Universe as my own personal infinite diary.

I decided to create this blog in order to document my journey through life basically!
Also I am hoping it really makes a difference in my life, not also because I really AM happiest when crafting, but also because I believe it can teach me a lot about myself.
First of all, I am a business woman (girl is more what I consider myself, but my ID says differently). I have my own business and in this day and age there is nothing quite as stressfull and nerve wrecking than to own a store in this economy. Usually, when in extreme stress and anxiety I would eat. A lot. And my weight sure shows it... So it has dawn on me that I needed to find something that would sooth me and calm me down as much as a hefty meal would usually do.

I always dabbled in crafts. I would love to be great at it. I made a table cloth when I was 15. I paint. well actually I copy stuff I see, I am too unsure of myself to actually create something (5 months of therapy showed me THAT little bit of information). I made a sofa back for my family beach house, I made a cushion for my best friend's birthday, I used to alter some of my clothes.

But recently quilting has caught my attention. It has beautiful results and I also thought it would teach me patience and thoroughness. I am not thorough and precision is not my middle name. I can't draw two identical straight lines. Also I have a really big issue with finishing projects. So this is a big challenge!

Anyway this interest got bigger when I went to London to visit my best friend and found some incredible stores, some incredible items, and a John Lewis sewing machine that is just too cute for words and really cheap as far as sewing machines go.
Another big obstacle for me is that there are very few quilting/patchwork stores here in Lisbon. Ah! Yes, I am portuguese and live in the outskirts of Lisbon.

So anyway my hope is to create beautiful things, things I am proud of accomplishing with a little personal growth on the side and a lot of body fat decrease as well. Wish me luck cyberspace!!