They don't call it "slow stitching" for nothing. I've been working on hand piecing hexagons for one of my current works-in-progress,
In Dreams I Drifted Away, and it's been time consuming. I'm not complaining, just noting. I enjoy handwork, and it was a good project to pick up in a spare moment or on a rainy day during my busy spring gardening season. I used the English paper piecing method, where each piece of fabric is basted around a paper hexagon, then the hexagons are whip-stitched together. Once it's all stitched, you pull out the papers, and that's what I was doing in the photo above.
Traditionally, the cloth hexagons are cut with a scant 1/4" allowance, to make hand quilting them easier. I didn't want to be that fussy with my cutting, and I wanted a bit of extra bulk in the hexies to make them stand out from the ground cloth I would be appliqueing the composition onto, so you see that extra fabric on the back view.
As I was working on the hexies, I was also auditioning the other fabrics for the quilt. You can see a corner of the
needlefelted center panel on the right, above. That lovely bit of orange Mysore silk made the cut; that ombre red and purple one, as much as I love it, did not.
The hexagon assembly was machine appliqued onto a background of gorgeous Mysore silks, and I added couched threads as part of the larger design.
Once the entire quilt top was finished, I layered it with batting and the painted back (as shown in this
previous post) and began the quilting.
It is shaping up quite nicely. Below is a shot of the back with the quilting begun.
Stay tuned! And as always, thanks for reading and commenting.
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