I have been saving my sewing scraps since I learned to sew in 1968 - 7th Grade at Lampson Jr. High School in Garden Grove, CA. All the girls had to take homemaking, which consisted of one semester of sewing and one semester of cooking. I sewed a lot of my own clothes after that, and then sewed for my girls.
I always wanted to sew a patchwork quilt using all my scraps, but nothing really seemed to fit. I started out wanting to make a cathedral window pattern.
I changed my mind and thought for sure I wanted to make a bow tie quilt.
I was always so glad to find a new update in my mail, and this is the June 25th post that set me on fire:
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| 6 Point Diamond Paper Piecing post from PLEASANT HOME |
As I read through her post and all the great links she provided, I began blog hopping and googling anything I could find about 'English Paper Piecing Tutorials' or "Sewing Hexagons' or 'Hexie Tutorials' like she suggested....Pinterest is such an amazing resource and I found dozens of blogs and web sites dedicated Hexie Love! Pins and Boards galore!!! Who knew??? Plus YouTube has tons of how-to videos. So, I decided to make a GRANDMOTHER'S FLOWER GARDEN quilt with all my beloved sewing scraps.
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| This is the look I am going for. I'm using Kona Snow for the background (all hexies) and a butter yellow center for every flower. I'm still not sure how to border, bind or quilt it - but I'm pretty sure I have plenty of time to figure that out. . . this will take awhile. |
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| I completed all these on our trip, almost 40. The top fabric is from the first dress I ever made. It was an empire waist with puffed sleeves and a pleat down the center front. I thought it was fabulous at the time! |
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| These hexies are all basted and ready to stitch together.I still have tons of background hexies to baste. |
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| After the flower is complete, 5 background hexies are added. |
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| I was playing around with a few that had the background hexies. This Raggedy Ann & Andy fabric is from a shirt or a poncho with white fringe that I made for one of my sisters. I need to research this one. |
As I have stitched each flower I am reminded of the time and place in my life each garment was sewn. It has been fun walking down memory lane and remembering the events and people I sewed for. I have fabric from my clothing, bridesmaid dresses, little girls dresses, curtains, quilts, baby quilts, and even some polyester double knit from my maternity outfits. There is a lot of kettle cloth. And a lot of batiste, eyelet and light weight fabrics that I had to line with a lightweight fusible "stacy" interfacing ( recommended by the quilt shop). I just hope it all comes together into a fun, scrappy quilt.
It will be fun to watch this project grow. Here are my favorite links and tutorials:
Paper Pieces - Precut Paper Shapes and Patterns
These are the experts on English Paper Piecing. They recommend cutting squares instead of hexagons and I used these directions and it was super easy
Pleasant Home - Diamond Paper Piecing Tutorial
Bee in My Bonnet - Hexie tutorials
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