A diamond shaped open donut and combining fabrics

It has been beastly hot and humid once again and that cuts makes doing anything an effort but I did get some sewing done.

Remember this hexagon rosette/flower? It will represent one of the Men-An-Tol stones.

I've constructed an "open donut" to turn this rosette into a diamond. You can see that the hexagons inside the red circle haven't been stitched together to close the diamond. It will make sewing this unit to the rosette much easier.

Here they are together but not yet stitched. The colours look wishy-washy but in reality they are very nice.

I plan to add two more rounds of hexagons to this unit, one light and one dark.

The pattern for my Value Proposition Hexagon Quilt is now available on Craftsy. The patterns are available for free under Quilt Alongs by Karen H but if you are looking for them all in one place with all of the instructions you need to make the quilt (everything from fabric, selection, rapid fire cutting techniques, basting, sewing, organizing and putting the top together) then my booklet may be of interest. It is roughly 60 pages in length and it is jam packed with how-tos with loads of pictures each step of the way. You will find it here.

I had a pile of fabric on a table and two of them jumped out at me! I thought they would be great together in a hexagon rosette. I used 1 1/4" hexagons to make this one.

Sometimes I am asked how I come up with fabric combinations and the simple answer is just arrange a bunch of fabrics on the table and look at them. Move them around and sooner or later a pair of them will jump out at you and say "we belong together"! I always make the outer ring first as an "open donut". I can then audition the fabric I thought belonged with it. If they still belong together I cut the middle hexagon and add it to the donut. If they don't belong together then I just audition more fabrics inside the open donut. Sooner or later something will work!

Before I go I though you might enjoy seeing a picture of the angel's trumpets (brugmancia) blooming in the garden. There are at least 25 blossoms and each one is at least 8" long! During the day they are very pretty but at night they release the most glorious, sweet perfume.

I'm linking up with:

•  Angie's a Quilting Readers Garden where you will find lots of quilting inspiration! Head on over and add your own link so we can see what you are doing!
• The Needle and Thread Network where Canadian textile art bloggers share what their work.

That's it for today. Until I post again keep cool and keep sewing!

Karen H