Monday, August 24, 2020

My Pandemic Quilt 2020 - Part 1

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020 #hexagonquilt

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

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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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.

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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!

My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020
My Pandemic Quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt © Red Pepper Quilts 2020

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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18 comments:

  1. Great inspiration & you nailed it with your version!

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  2. This quilt is so totally you...the bright colors and prints are sew beautiful!

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  3. Beautiful quilt! I find EPP is very calming and relaxing. Happy stitching!

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  4. Absolutely WONDERFUL in so many ways! I love the colors, the fussy cutting, the technique....my heart is doing a happy dance!

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  5. Man you worked FAST!! I too am an EPP enthusiast. I used 3/4 in my full size quilt also. I love your bright colors and the way you set them. Took me about 5 years of quiet times, hotel nights and visits to my MIL to do mine. Keep on stitching, I always love your choice of colors.

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  6. Your quilt is beautiful. I have never wanted to do English paper piecing. You way have just changed my mind.

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  7. beautiful I love this quilt. Now I want to make one like yours haha the trail continues. I love RED/
    We are so lucky we can sew. Many people are going insane, but I think we already went there when we procured all of this fabric over the years, so being forced to stay in and sew is just perfect.
    Interesting that your country is in another lock-down. Here in the US we are being forced to believe that our country is the only one that is doing so poorly, and arguments over drug treatments, and assorted other things, of course the mob protests in cities, and tearing down of statues continue.
    Ah well. I hope the best for our planet as this pandemic has involved a lot of work on all of us. Stay safe and happy Rita.

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  8. Best. When you say 3/4” does that mean the length of one side?

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  9. Best. When you say 3/4” does that mean the length of one side?

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  10. Rita, this is absolutely so beautiful and powerful. I love the inspiration quilt and love your top.

    I hope you are doing okay down there with the new lockdown. Here in France cases numbers are also going in the wrong direction . . .

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  11. Just beautiful. I admire your patience for handwork. I am a quick quilter addict and also a fellow Melbournite. I am enjoying getting a lot of quilts made but not being able to see all my children is really hard. Hang in there the situation looks like it's slowly improving.

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  12. Great take on the inspiration. You are so fast.
    I have been using my scraps on grandmother's garden EPP I started about 2 years ago. I have no finish in sight and expect with the ever growing scraps EPP projects will be ongoing. Thanks for sharing the back - you certainly are neat.

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  13. Your work is always so stunning and this one is absolutely beautiful! I am not an EPP maker but I do enjoy seeing others'.

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