January 2023 #focuscuttingsewalong Roundup

 Hello everybody!

January is over and with the new year, we have been doing a new shape in the Focus Cutting Sewalong on Instagram. This year's shape is the honeycomb.

A honeycomb is a type of hexagon where all the sides are the same length but the two small angles are 90°. We are joining four of them together to make a cross shape.

This has an effect quite similar to the house shapes we worked with in 2020 (yes, I do remember I haven't finished all my blocks for that year yet).

I am trying to continue to join in with one block every week like I did last year. I have chosen to work with 1.5inch honeycombs - mostly because when I investigated my collection of papers, this was the size I already had the most of. And there is no sense in buying something different when I already have something perfectly adequate to get going with.

I clearly got these off the front of a magazine several years ago. It's a little bigger than is ideal for my fabric selection but I am going to make it work for me 

Anyway, onwards to the blocks! The theme for January was Red. Naomi says we are having colour themes every second month this year.

Week 1 was identifiable motifs. This means we choose a motif to place in each piece that is clearly identifiable to a viewer who hasn't seen the original fabric. I made one block and chose to start with a bang.

Kaboom! This shape was just the right size for these superwomen. This got lots of love on IG, someone even commented that 'Eve Of Destruxion is back!' Which I am taking as a compliment, even though I am pretty sure never actually went away. I think people like it when I use my licensed fabrics.

Week 2 was obscure motifs. That means we cut a section of a motif to put in each piece, and it should not be clear to someone who hasn't seen the original fabric what motif we have used. This way we can create new and unexpected shapes and patterns. I made two blocks. I think the Christmassy theme is clear but the motifs themselves are obscure.

First up this one.

Did you guess the motif? It's a bird.

I'm not actually sure what sort of bird it is. If it's meant to be a robin, it's definitely not a European one.

Next up this, green block.

And here's the original fabric for this one. I've used a deer's legs.

I really like the cross effect I've got from this block. I think I've definitely done a good job of obscuring the original motif.

Week 3 was pattern matching. Again I made two blocks. I went with my licensed fabrics for both - might as well give the people what they want.

First up, Rey.

This fabric has featured in all my previous focus/fussy cutting sewalongs (except 2020). Here's four of the 5 blocks together.

I took the pictures and realised I'd left out the 2021 block. You can see it here. You can click here to read more about the 2019  and 2022 blocks.

Next up, Woody and Buzz.

This Toy Story fabric is actually from Aldi. Quite a few of my licensed fabrics are.I thought this one would be easier to match than Rey, because I matched two pairs, rather than all 4 pieces. It wasn't. Getting Buzz right was insanely fiddly.

I went on a bit of a rant last year about how awkward pattern matching and finding fabrics for it was with the kite shape. This year, only having four pieces, and having quite a different shape really does make a difference, so I don't expect to struggle with it anything like as much. It's still not my favourite technique though.

Finally, week 4 was freestyle. I made one block.

I like to use freestyle for fabrics that don't have a clear motif, things like stripy fabrics or geometric shapes. This one is stripy sort of fabric. As you can see, stripes give a square box effect if positioned right in this shape. It's Christmassy again, my red stash is looking very low so licensed fabrics and Christmassy were my only real options.

I do actually have an idea of how I am going to join this year's ones together! The idea allows for both orientations of the block (plus sign and X) so I can make blocks as the fabrics/whim dictates. And hopefully will work with the colours themes Naomi has planned - although that's hard to know until I've seen what more of her colours are. I will need some joining shapes and I have not yet decided on the fabric/fabrics for those, but the basic concept is really coming together in my head.

February's theme is Myself. I dislike this theme, but we have it in some form every year and it is good to get to know more about the other people is the sewalong. So I will still be joining in with it.

Thanks for reading!