My Pandemic Quilt 2020 - Part 1

So ... I started another English paper piecing project a few weeks ago. I love English paper piecing and at this time of uncertainty I have felt the need to sit quietly with my thoughts and stitch like crazy. For a fleeting moment all is right with the world. Despite the prolific handmade works, I have struggled with creativity, and as such this quilt is very much inspired by a quilt that I fell in love with when I saw it at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2018: 

Talking to Flowers by 山口智恵子＊Chieko Yamaguchi (my own photo)

I couldn't get enough of this quilt when I saw it! I think it was the traditional quilt style - a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - made with Japanese fabrics that I so adore. In fact I recognised many of the fabrics, and some fabrics were part of my own stash. I have retained the background fabrics and general layout of the quilt as per the original.

I did bring a few of my own elements into play ~ fussy cutting fabrics, a bright color palette, and instead of adding borders I have made my own "border" fabric by replacing the border fabric with more hexagons in a huge range of red fabrics. Also, once I got started I quickly realized that the hexagon size that I had chosen to work with (¾" hexagons) was significantly larger than that which make up the original quilt.

Click on any image for a larger view.

All of the photos here are of the quilt top with all papers removed other than those along the outer edges. I have included these photos of the quilt back as many of my readers have asked to see the back of my quilt English paper pieced quilt tops.

I cut my fabric hexagons with a template and rotary cutter (instead of cutting fabric squares) for my quilts because I have my own thing about neatness despite not being able to see the back of the quilt once it is quilted. I am a still an avid glue baster and I have not encountered any issues removing the papers. Tedious yes, difficult no. I press my quilts once the papers have been removed with a warm steam iron - lots of steam, and I do not use spray starch.

QUILT DETAILS

Pandemic Quilt 2020

Quilt top measures 55 inches x 73 inches.

Started: May June 2020.

English Paper Pieced.

137 Hexagon Flowers.

¾ inch hexagons.

A total of 2768 hexagons.

Background fabric:

Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in ASH.
Black dot fabric: Swiss Dots  in Black - Riley Blake Designs.
Green text fabric: Dictionary in Green from the
First of Infinity collection by Kumiko Fujita.

All solids fabrics are Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton.

TOOLS AND NOTIONS

¾ Inch Hexagon Papers

¾ Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.

Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.

Straw Needles - Size 11.

The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads in 

neutral tones including a dark beige - color #654 - for the

red hexagon border.

Months of pandemic craziness and anxiety has been stitched into this quilt. I am in Melbourne and we have been living with Covid restrictions for months, and a harsher lockdown since early August. Many people are facing great difficulties, but we're doing this together to save lives. No one is unaffected by the sacrifices that are being made every day and I have been comforted by being able to focus on my stitching when all else seems to be unravelling. This quilt will be staying with me, as a keepsake of a time that was like no other. And of course, I need to thank Chieko Yamaguchi for the inspiration!

I have LOVED working on this quilt and will soon have photos of the finished quilt to show you.

Thank you for stopping by!

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2018 - Part 1
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2018 - Part 2

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

A Traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Part 2

A Finished Quilt

Click on any image for a larger view.

Next! Another finished quilt. This quilt top too had been languishing at the back of the cupboard, but not forgotten! It has sat there untouched for more than  12 months. It was definitely time to get this one done. This project is a traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt; with a traditional layout, and hexie flowers with a solid yellow center.

QUILT DETAILS
Traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt 
The finished quilt measures 72 inches x 80 inches.
Started: May 2019.
Quilt top finished: June 2019.
Quilt finished: August 2020.
English Paper Pieced.
46 Hexagon Flowers.
1¼ inch hexagons.
A total of 1440 hexagons.
Background fabric:
Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Snow.

The quilt "borders" or edges of the quilt have been finished by adding additional white hexagons.

TOOLS AND NOTIONS
 1¼ Inch Hexagon Papers
1¼ Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.
Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.
Straw Needles - Size 11.
The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads.

The quilt has been quilted with closely spaced straight lines - about 5/8 of an inch apart. I use the hexagons as a quilting guide and quilt from edge to edge. This quilt was bigger (72 inches x 80 inches) than what I usually make my quilts and ultimately quite heavy to work with, despite again using a lightweight batting (QuiltLite). I think that too played a part in the delay in finishing this quilt. I am however very happy with how it turned out.

For the back I have used two pieces of yardage from stash: Jardin De Paris in Peony from the Menagerie collection by Rifle Paper Co for Cotton + Steel (top) and Ring o' Roses in Sand from the Playground collection by Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics (bottom).

For the binding I have used a wide pink stripe - this stripe fabric by Moda Fabrics from the Essentially Yours collection (in baby pink).

More photos and detail of this quilt in progress can be found here:

A Traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Part 1

I am not selling my quilts at the moment but will make them available again when domestic and international shipping settles into a reliable new normal. Quilts will then be listed in my Etsy Store.

This quilt was particularly challenging to photograph due to size and lack of suitable light during these Winter months. But I am calling it done. I am so looking forward to showing you my  next project, another hexie quilt. More of that next week.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by and scrolling through the many photos. 

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
A Traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - Work in Progress - June 2019
A Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - September 2018
B is for Blues ~ A Hexagon Quilt - August 2020
Liberty of London Hexagon Quilt - October 2018

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B is for Blues ~ A Hexagon Quilt | Part 3

A Finished Quilt 

Next on my to-do list was to finish this English paper pieced hexagon quilt. I started this quilt top in October 2018 and finished it in December 2018. Since then the quilt top has remained untouched, although not forgotten, as quilting it was put in my mental too hard basket. I am not sure what it was that caused me such anxiety; maybe it was the fact that I had spent so much time fussy cutting the fabrics and English paper piecing the many hexies, or even the mix of fabric bases ~ quilting cotton and cotton/linen blend fabrics. Even though I have never had to unpick my quilting efforts, the worry that I will ruin the quilt with my quilting is still there with every quilt.

Thankfully my concerns were not warranted, and the basting and quilting were completed without a hitch. For this quilt I have again used QuiltLite as batting (a super light-weight batting, more like a loosely woven flannel fabric).

The (edge to edge) vertical quilting lines are evenly spaced across the quilt - 7/8" inch apart, which is the same as the sides of the hexagon, thereby using the hexagons as a stitching guide. It is a slow and steady process, although once the foundation lines are in place - starting with every second line - and most basting pins have been removed,  I do pick up the pace.

Consistent with my 2020 commitment to using fabric from stash, for the back of the quilt I have used yardage by Cotton + Steel - Starry in Black from the Printshop collection by Alexia Abegg and by Heather Ross - Small Roses in Yellow from the Tiger Lily collection. And for the quilt binding I have used a narrow blue/white stripe fabric ...

QUILT DETAILS
B is for Blues ~ A Hexagon Quilt
The finished quilt measures 55 inches x 67 inches.
Started: October 2018
Finished: August 2020

 Click on any image for a larger view. 

English Paper Pieced.

108 Blue/Green/Grey Hexagon Flowers.

88 White Hexie Flowers with (Black Centers).

Hexagon size: 7/8" SIDES.

Total Hexagons: 1861

Fabrics Used:

Quilting Cotton

(Many of the floral fabrics are by Japanese designer

Suzuko Koseki for Yuwa Fabrics).

Kona Cotton in White (Robert Kaufman)

Melange Yarn Dyed (Chambray - Cotton) in Natural by Lecien

TOOLS AND NOTIONS
 7/8 Inch Hexagon Papers (1861 hexagons)
7/8 Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.
Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.
Straw Needles - Size 11.
The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads
in white (621), cream (655), and beige (652).

Machine quilted on a domestic sewing machine.

More photos and detail of this quilt in progress can be found here:

B is for Blues ~ A Hexagon Quilt | Part 1

B is for Blues ~ A Hexagon Quilt | Part 2

I am not selling my quilts at the moment but will make them available again when domestic and international shipping settles into a reliable new normal. Quilts will then be listed in my Etsy Store. 

As always, thank you so much for stopping by and scrolling through the many photos.

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
More RPQ English Paper Pieced Quilts:
Daisy Chain Quilt (November 2016)
A Floral Hexagon Quilt (September 2017)
Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt (September 2018)
Warm Hearted Quilt (May 2020)

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

The finished Scrappy Cross Quilt

My Scrappy Cross Quilt is finally finished. It's taken several weeks to get around to stitching down the binding, and longer still to take photos. For the last decade or so I have worked almost exclusively on one project/quilt at a time. It's just how things rolled. But over the last 12 months I've added more and more projects to my steadily growing selection of works in progress, and whilst all that is good and well, I have knuckled down and I am keeping myself occupied by completing those quilt tops, basting, quilting and binding. Done.

Fabrics

All fabrics are from stash. Some are relatively new additions, others are my go-to favorite that I have had on hand for some time, pieces of which have made their way into my scrap bins. The many 2" fabric squares were cut from fabric scraps and collected over many months, and I continue to cut more such squares for future scrap busting quilts.

Finishing

I have finished the quilt by using a light-weight cotton batting called QuiltLite. Quiltlite is a woven cotton fabric similar to a loosely woven flannel fabric; it offers the presence of batting without adding bulk. (See a close-up photo of QuiltLite here).

I have machine quilted the quilt by ditch stitching all seam lines; simple and functional lines of stitching rather than decorative quilting, which at the same time gives the quilt a lovely texture and a soft drape, especially so with the light weight batting. For the back of the quilt I have used my favorite text fabric Newsprint from the Story collection by Carrie Bloomston, and have matched it a red/white stripe binding fabric.

QUILT DETAILS

Scrappy Cross Quilt 

Finished quilt measures 54 inches x 67.5 inches.

Started: May 2020

Finished: August 2020
Machine pieced and machine quilted (domestic sewing machine).

Yellow solid fabric: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Grellow.

This quilt is made from just two blocks that are alternated throughout. 

I have written a tutorial here:

Scrappy Cross Quilt Tutorial

Sadly, I am not selling my quilts at the moment. We're in lockdown(!) and are not going anywhere for the time being. On the bright side, I have all the quilting supplies and time. Lots of time... 

I will make my quilts available again when domestic and international shipping settles into a reliable new normal. Quilts will then be listed in my Etsy Store.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Scrappy Cross Quilt Work in Progress and TUTORIAL
More RPQ Tutorials:
Pickle Dish Variation Quilt Tutorial
Scrappy Quarter Log Cabin Tutorial
Color Wheel Block Tutorial
Economy Block Tutorial

COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.