A Scrumptious Finish

Well hello! I’m here today with a finished quilt that I’ve been working on since January 2014. No, that’s not a typo. It’s been in the works for over 8 years! This quilt is english paper pieced, which means I used paper templates to shape the fabric into hexagons and sewed all the pieces together by hand. This was a labor of love and I can’t wait to share a whole lot of pictures with you!

---

Hexies were all the rage back in 2014 in the quilting circles on Instagram! I knew I wanted to make a hexie quilt with fabric by my favorite designers, Bonnie & Camille. I began snapping up charm packs of their Scrumptious line, which Bonnie & Camille released in the Fall of 2013. So I started cutting the fabric and basting them into hexies, not knowing what they were going to turn into or how much I would need.

I made my own paper pieces so they’re not exactly hexagon shaped and they’re not exactly the same size. They were meant to be one inch hexagons (each side of the hexagon = 1 inch), but they’re more like a honeycomb/hexagon hybrid. There were two sides that were a bit longer than the others and created a definite top and bottom, which created problems throughout the entire project. But we won’t dwell on that because it is done. Finished! And of course, it’s one of a kind.

I finally starting stitching the units together in July 2016. I took lots of breaks on this project; I would put it away for months (years?) at a time and then pick it up and not be able to work on anything else. I would convince myself that I’d be finished with it no time! But of course, I still wasn’t sure where I was headed at this point in the process.

It was at about this time when I realized I was using two different whites in this project! You can see clearly in the picture on the right – the background hexies in the center are Kona Snow and the hexies on the outside are Kona White. But there was no way I was going to be ripping those out and starting over.

A two year break! I tucked this away towards the end of 2018 and then took it out in 2020, which is when I really settled in with it. It helped that my blog had become a bigger part of my life – the gentle accountability of sharing progress each week certainly keeps things moving along! There was a mishap in November 2020 when a pair of little hands happened to drop some salsa on a hexie while admiring my progress. I was relieved to be able to grab my seam ripper and replace that single piece – easy peasy!

Progress from October 2020 through December 3, 2020. After I finished filling in the background with the white hexies, I added an aqua border. The aqua is my favorite color and I decided to ring the entire quilt in it. And then I didn’t have the heart to trim the aqua hexies and lose any of that color, so I did another ring in white.

And in January 2021, FINALLY!, it is all handsewn and trimmed. And it promptly went into my finished quilt top bin and was forgotten about. Until October 1st of 2022, which is when I measured out, seamed, and pressed the backing, as well as cut the batting. The next day I sandwiched the three layers together. And the day after that, I began quilting simple straight lines. I didn’t take any pictures of this process because it all went much faster than I anticipated, but I have pictures of the finished project:

This quilt finished at 57×65 – a generous lap size. I was surprised by its size in the end and it was wonderful to snuggle under while I finished hand sewing the binding over the weekend. The best part about finishing quilts in the fall and winter is that they can cover you up while you’re doing the final bits!

I haven’t decided where to put this yet. I want it displayed but safe from little hands. It’s fairly big and our walls are already quite full with other quilts and shelves. So right now it’s draped over my desk chair and waiting for its new home. I have a quilt rack over the piano in our foyer and I might switch things around so that this one can be displayed there. We shall see what makes sense!

And I have a ton of these hexies left over so I’ve been contemplating what to make from them. I’ve considered sewing them together to make a project bag (like the one in this post) for cross stitching or future english paper piecing projects. I’m not sure, but the bin is safely tucked away in my sewing area and waiting for me whenever I’m inspired and ready.

---

Friends – I can’t believe it’s Friday again and that we’re heading into the week of Thanksgiving here in the US. We always plan to take this week off for our homeschool, so we will be spending the whole week cooking and baking for the big day. But this weekend will be the calm before the storm and we’ll finalize our grocery list, clean out the fridge, and do most of our shopping. I’m really hoping for some quiet evenings with a good book (nearly finished with Kate Atkinson’s newest, Shrines of Gaeity, and it’s so good!) and some stitching, but those things are so hard to fit in during the weekend. I’m also hoping to finally start the newest season of The Crown, which we haven’t managed to do yet. I hope your weekend is exactly what you need. Until Monday – take good care.