My very first attempt at quilting was, like that of so many girls in England, with hand-stitched hexagons on templates made from cereal boxes. And, like so many of those girls in England, I never got further than the smallest honeycomb of hexagons before abandoning the project in a fit of pique and annoyance with its seriously slow progression. (I tried again a few years ago, and encountered exactly the same resistance to hand-made hexagon quilts - clearly age is not mellowing me.)
So when I see a really beautiful hexagon quilt like the one above that belongs to a friend, I can only admire the patience, the skill, the dedication and, in this case, the great choice of fabrics...
...and the back which looks like a fabulous pair of old-fashioned frilly knickers.
***
So there we are. A week of English beauty. What next, I wonder?
Oh my I love these too. But I must admit that my first quilt was made up of huge squares! http://kitschenpink.blogspot.com/2008/07/lost-and-found.html
Clearly I was a child with much lower ambitions!
I love that you showed the back of the work. I always feel it's a bit sad when I frame my embroideries knowing the back will not be seen for many years. The backs tell so much more about the maker I feel! t.x
Posted by: kitschen pink | March 21, 2009 at 10:02
That's so impressive, it must have taken forever. I'm trying to work up the courage to start my first ever quilt project. Seeing that the back doesn't have to be a selection of perfectly ironed hems makes me much more positive!
Posted by: Rebecca | March 21, 2009 at 10:44
I prefer this style of patchwork (over papers I mean). I call it 'hardcore'. Forget those namby-pamby cutting boards and sewing machines! Then it becomes a bit of a challenge. And I'm never one to turn down a challenge. :D
Posted by: Djinn | March 21, 2009 at 11:57
So pretty! I sleep under a hexagon quilt made by my great grandmother. I love it. ~Kelly
unDeniably Domestic
Posted by: Kelly | March 21, 2009 at 15:24
My mother hand stitched a cathedral window quilt, ALMOST finished it. She handed it over to me many years ago and it has languished in a box. I can't part with it and each year I promise myself I'll figure out how to finish it. In memory of her.
Posted by: willow | March 21, 2009 at 15:24
We made quilted cushion covers at school in just the way you describe, and funnily enough my experience was also just the way you describe! Still, I love the hexagonal quilts - they remind me of honeycombs. One day I'll have another go (it's not as though I don't have the fabric!).
Posted by: Rhian | March 21, 2009 at 17:08
Oh that is a beautiful quilt. I actually like to hand stitch the hexagons, but probably because I used to do it when I would visit my grandmother and it makes me feel close to her.
Posted by: Kerry | March 21, 2009 at 17:23
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the whole week of English beauty.
Posted by: Pam | March 21, 2009 at 17:44
I have enjoyed your English beauty week! I am sure there are many more examples of English beauty, many attached to the differing seasons. I await to see what will come next!! Thank you.
Posted by: alison | March 21, 2009 at 17:57
I loved the variety in your week of English beauty.
The work and love in the hexagon quilt is inspiring. But I fear I might be a plain squares quilter, as I'd probably never have the patience and endurance to do anything more challenging.
Posted by: Laura | March 21, 2009 at 18:30
My first attempt at quilting was using octagons and squares.And I made a huge quilt using up bits of material from dresses I had made for my daughter so it was also a memory quilt but never again!!
Posted by: barbara | March 21, 2009 at 18:45
I'm doing a tumbling dice quilt (hand stitched) with diamonds and triangles.
It's been slowly coming along since the beginning of the year. I estimate that by the year 2020 I'll be sleeping under it.
Posted by: Frogdancer | March 21, 2009 at 20:40
I loved the English beauty week and you made me remember the class of Home Economics. In Mexico we don´t have that and the things I learned in that time will be in my memory for ever. Now I quilt and I learned it from those days.
Posted by: Paty Z | March 22, 2009 at 00:10
Wow what a beauty! Just lovely. And I love your description of frilly knickers on the 'backside'. I have a hexagon quilt in the making, and yes it's taking an age. I've moved it onto my priority list.
Love the photos of your week of English beauty.
Posted by: Lynne | March 22, 2009 at 08:49
My mother never enjoyed sewing in the way I do but when a young wife in a new house and little money she set too and made two single hexagon quilts entirely by hand for my sister's beds. The fabric came from dressmaking scraps and old clothes. As a child I loved to sleep under one, finding the hexagons I liked best. Every year she would replace and repair with newer fabrics and I delighted in choosing which would go into "my " quilt.
As a teenager I started to patchwork myself: a minature quilt of hexagons no more than 1/2 inch across. I used the paper method as it was intricate work. Never completed, it will be somewhere in my parents house and I must seek it out, although whether my eye sight now is up to such close work remains to be seen.
I have loved this week of English beauty, your photos inspire me as I like to find something daily to capture in a photo...plenty of ideas now, thank you.
Posted by: Fran H-B | March 22, 2009 at 13:15
My sister is the only person I know who has finished one of these quilts - it took her a year of commuting up to London with a shoebox of quilting supplies on her lap. And it was a double quilt she made for her marriage. I still love it, loads of colours and lots of vintage Laura Ashley - from the days when they sold scrap bags. 14 years her junior I was very inspired and my first attempts at quilting were indeed in this difficult but so classic English method. Almost makes me want to try again, but I know I wouldn't last the course, I'm too spoiled by my rotary cutter and sewing machine. I do love your blog, it's always so beautiful and inspiring. Thank you!
Posted by: Hilary | March 22, 2009 at 19:06
I am still working on my Grandmothers flower garden quilt. There's still hope.
Posted by: Anna R | March 23, 2009 at 02:26
I have one of these shoved in a basket - I made one section of it into a doll's bed quilt at least! It has lots of scraps from childhood clothes (and pyjamas) so is full of memories even in its unfinished state. Maybe one day ...
Posted by: catherine | March 23, 2009 at 03:59
Thanks so much for a week of English beauty!! I enjoyed every photo from 1/3 the way around the world. Perhaps next a week of English Breakfast? English Tea? English postboxes? I do love a theme!
Sara in Salt Lake City
www.IbbySkibby.com
Posted by: Sara | March 23, 2009 at 14:46
I'm afraid it's not just the English girls that have trouble finishing the hexagon quilt. I've bought the fabric, but gotten no further than looking at pictures.
Posted by: Cynthia | March 23, 2009 at 19:56
That IS beautiful.
Posted by: bethgem | March 24, 2009 at 13:28
Looking back over your English Beauty photographs has been lovely. My mom died unexpectedly three weeks ago, and we are in the middle of another "family crisis" that has been very hard on my Dad. Seeing your blog helped me relax and take a breath. I am truly greatful for that. I love your photographs, please keep sharing them. :-)
Posted by: Teish | March 24, 2009 at 13:46
I was hexagon-ing yesterday, only a block for a quilt mind you and even that proved frustrating. To begin with I was convinced I could machine piece it but decided that was probably more long winded than just going the hand pieced route. That only took me a whole day to realise that and I'm nowhere finished my block!!!
Posted by: aneela | March 28, 2009 at 10:16
I LOVE it! and am going to try making it one day! your picture has inspired me.
Posted by: Irina | March 30, 2009 at 06:20
I've pieced together a quilt top just like that--hundreds of tiny hexagons!--and while writing my dissertation I hand-quilted many of them. But the unfinished quilt has been in my armoire for about 10 years now (my eldest child is almost 10) and I'm planning to complete it by tying the rest and burying the ends.
Posted by: Miss Cavendish | April 03, 2009 at 04:35