I have not written before about quilting and quilts, but since I am a passionate quilter (some will have known this but maybe not most who visit my Journal) it seemed well past time that I wrote something on this subject as well.

The image to the left is that of a quilt book published in 2005 by Martingale & Company, USA, and is my latest quilt book acquisition, one full of wonderful projects. This book describes a new way of using an old method of piecing a quilt, that of covering each paper hexagon with a piece of fabric which is basted into place, then hand sewing the hexagons together through the fabric only using tiny stitches that are practically invisible afterwards. The paper hexagons are removed from the back of the work, then with the same tiny stitches the hexagon piecework is hand-sewn on to the larger background fabric. Sewing one piece of fabric on top of another piece of fabric is called appliqué work and is one of my favourite ways of making a quilt. The rest of the design - the flower pot with vines, leaves and hexagon pieced flowers - is constructed and appliquéd on to the background in the same way.

(Permission to use this image on my site has been granted by the publisher - to use it without permission violates copyright. )

This is my latest quilt project. I am making a quilt following this design - more or less - using a darker green, burgundy reds, a junior navy instead of brown (just to be different) and all rich, deep, saturated jewel colours. Whereas the quilt in the book is a minature, mine will be proportionally the same but full size. There is a lot of hand sewing required. Indeed, all of the quilt top, except for adding the green border to the cream background, is hand sewn. Would you like to guess how many paper hexagons I will need to cover with fabric? I can tell you now that this will keep me going all through the forthcoming winter evenings. There are no less than 750 hexagons involved in that quilt. Just as well I actually like English paper piecing. Yep, I sure am a pretty patient type.

March is the first month of Autumn “down under” and already the temperatures have cooled. The winds have picked up, blustery and strong, blowing the leaves from the exotics while the evergreen natives come to life as great Tolkien-like monsters, whole bodies waving, bending and swaying, but feet firmly grounded. They will keep the flesh on their bones - green leaves on their branches - while the imports are fast turning to skeletons, littering the lawn in crunchy carpets of gold, red and brown.

There are still many flowers in my garden, some sheltered places for sitting out in the sun, and the fun of watching clouds scudding in ever-distorting shapes while surprised birds fly unwittingly backwards. The last of the Monarch caterpillars are “J”-ing on the swanplants - the late ones who will now take longer than their older siblings to re-birth into butterflies as the warmth disappears from the sunlight. I have pulled most of the weeds, and trimmed and pruned. Now it is time to tend to my Grandmother’s Garden, the one made to provide warmth for the winter. Already 63 hexagons covered - only another 687 to go!

Ecclesiastes 3:

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.