grand sac a hexagones par brigitte giblin

Allow me to translate:
Large hexagon purse made by Brigitte Giblin...in fact made by "moi" and designed by Brigitte.

At last! A finish!
It feels like I have been slogging away on what is now being termed by certain friends "The Whinge Quilt" for sooooo long that it feels like I'll never ever finish anything ever again ever in my whole life (get the picture?....whiney whiney Kate).

So this week after a delightful visit weekendbeforelast with the talented Brigitte Giblin I have taken a French vacation and made and finished my very own grand sac. Made from one hundred and one 1" hexagons, a bag of scraps, a few evenings and viola! one delightfully roomy purse of approx 11" x 8"  to hold any number of sewing goodies.

You'll note it is lined (visualise an attractively manicured hand waving artfully),  it has a lovely firm base (I could say unlike mine but I won't go there) and I even made the strap (one painful trip to Spotlight for the swivel clips later..arrrgh!)  Brigitte's purse assembly instructions are clear and incredibly easy to follow. The pack came with all instructions, colour photos, the hexagon papers and the metal purse frame. Just add fabric!

I love it.
But wait! There's more...

Feathering the Nest with Vintage Inspired Quilts, Brigitte's new book recently launched at Nantes is a must have if you love vintage-ish quilts. Brigitte's designs interpret antique quilts with a joyfulness that is both inspiring and refreshing.

My next quilt is already picked out.

No affiliation yada yada, just love it. Go to Brigitte's website to order your book and mention you might like the pattern for the grand sac, her website only lists the petit sac (which BTW is just too too cute).

Thank you, you know who you are, for gracefully allowing me to invite myself to meet your friend.

Now back to the whinge quilt!

indigo bow ties

A recent eBay purchase - 75 indigo and double pink bow tie blocks dating to around 1890-1900. Two different blues with the same double pink seaweed print throughout.

I've played around with the setting and like the directionality of the bow ties all facing the same direction. Laid out 8 blocks across x 9 down left 3 blocks over which were placed in each corner of the border with one needing to be made from my stash of antique scraps.

Here's a few photos of my proposed layout with three Fabric possibilities for the border: I'm keen to know what you think.

1. A reproduction double pink... the ones being auditioned are from Margo Krager's Little Pink Stars range.
2. A reproduction indigo... Something more indigo-ish than I have here.
3. A reproduction white or off-white shirting or conversation print. This one has roosters saying "bonjour"!

Blogger has cut off the photos on my page,  but click on them to see the full shot.

 

A shirting border?

 

or how about Pink?  Indigo?

 

I'll press the blocks and settle on a common size to mark seam allowances They are actually pretty uniform, so this shouldn't be too much of a chore, then I can start hand piecing (yes I know...nuts!)

framed!

"the exemplar" reproduction sampler

32" x 7.5"

DMC threads on 25 count linen

commenced c1992, completed 2012 (slow huh!)

I'm very happy with the result - a long time was spent auditioning possibilities before settling on the combination of the slightly rubbed back timber frame and double mount which compliment the colours of the thread and linen, it also had to tie in with other quite modern artworks hanging in my house.  

Finished!

:o)