WIP Hand stitched hexagon Mosaic Quilt

In March 2008, not long after we moved to Melbourne, I attended a class at Patchwork on Central Park, with Adrienne Armstrong to hand stitch a hexagon quilt.

Adrienne designed the pattern based on this quilt......

featured in the book 'Historic Australian Quilts' by Dr. Annette Gero.  The original is attributed to Frederica Mary Josephson of Sydney, c1850.  (If you are unfamiliar with the books Dr. Annette Gero has published on historic Australian quilts, they are well worth checking out - beautiful quilts in beautifully produced books).

While some of the other women in the class finished making their blocks over the six weeks of the class, life got in the way for me.  I made a good start, but got nowhere close to finishing.

But I like a slow burn project....a REALLY slow burn project...so I've been stitching away ever since.  I go in bursts.  There are some periods when I make no blocks for months.  However it is a great project to take travelling, and since I'm doing a few long haul plane flights at the moment, I'm underway again.

Here are some of my earliest blocks...  I so love the wee girl in the spotted headscarf....and lots of bits of Liberty have made their way in...

Here is the detail of some of the blocks from the photo at the top.

There is an intended deign ethos - but I keep straying from it - I have always wanted the finished top to be scrappy, to have lots of interest, (Adrienne's original had some amazing fabrics that kept me looking for ages), and to have something of a vintage feel to it.   And I have tried to use scraps from many of the other quilts I have sewn while working on this, the photo below includes some of the feature second hand shirting from the quilt I made for my Dad.

 

 

The top needs 233 complete hexagons.  So far, I have made 186.   Can I just say that again.... 186 handstitched hexagons....For someone who is a little inclined to start many more things than she finishes, I'm very proud to have persisted this far). 

And I WILL finish this, because I love it.  Only 47 to go - and then the fillers for around the edges.

Here are the blocks I am working on at the moment - auditioning background.

It's all about the journey really......

Do you have any slow burn projects on the go?