My elongated hexagon quilt is coming along slowly.  I've had a couple of major cutting sessions, so there are pieces to sew when I have time.  I fine-tuned the cutting of the hexagons, so that they would all come out the same size, and I worked out the best way to press all those seam allowances.  I've sewn a couple of trial rows together, to make sure that it all fitted. 

Now I will have to get busy and cut up a mountain of more fabric, because I need 324 of these blocks if I want to reproduce the size of the antique one (90" x 82"). 

I ended up making the units 3" x 7.5" finished, so I won't need as many as the original (390 !), I would rather have the units a little larger to show off some of the prints that I'm including.  The photo in the book shows a lot of plaids and homespuns and stripes, and while I'll include some of those, I don't want it to read like a farm quilt.  I want mine to look a bit more like a town quilt than a country quilt.

This would be a lovely quilt to handpiece, the only thing stopping me is the thought of having to trace all those shapes onto fabric; I just don't have enough time in the day to add that little extra step.  Maybe one day I will have some more free time to spend on simple little chores like that.

I spent yesterday in the garden, potting and repotting flowers that are just itching for spring to get here so they can grow out of their pots all over again.  I've been longing for years to have a garden on my own land, and this year I will finally be able to do that. Last week a team of guys came and shifted the fence on the side block back to the true boundary, giving me another 4m of land that my neighbour was borrowing. 

Next week a guy is coming to take out three or four trees, clearing the way for another guy to prepare the site for a shed.  Then yet another set of guys will construct a 7m x 6m shed for me.  Once all that is done, I can survey what's left of the block and decide where to put garden beds and replacement trees.  It's all very exciting, but it doesn't seem real, especially as it's taken 8 months to get this far.

And the shed?  I haven't decided what is going in there yet.  I could set it up as a little flat, with a kitchen and laundry and bathroom, leaving the front room of the hall free to become a classroom and shop again.  I could invest in another quilting machine, and maybe have the shop back there, but no room to teach.  I may even be able to rent a house, so I could have the new machine and the classroom and shop.  But it's all undecided as yet.  Still, it's nice to have some options and new directions to go in.

Dolly and Pippi really love having a larger yard to explore, and more gound to dig into enormous holes and mountains.  I can't wait to get all this cleaned up and sorted out.  My word for this year was Onward!  And that's where we're going now.