This is literally my first finished quilt of 2018! I started the project last November, and the inspiration was from a set of saucer and teacup china by Miranda Kerr that I received from my friend Jamie for our house warming. My collection of floral fabrics was very limited, so I opted for a crib quilt size piece that I would use as a lap quilt to keep myself warm on a typical Canadian winter day while sitting in front of our fireplace and enjoying a cup of English Earl Grey! The quilt was finished in February, but formal shoots were taken just a few days ago. Yes procastination is my enermy!
This is my first hexie quilt! I cut the pieces (2.5" finished side length) using the Multiple Size Hexagon Rule by Marti Michell. This is not my favorite ruler. It is too slippery even after remedied with True Grip non-slip adhesive rings. A lot of the hexies were not cut accurately due to slippage, as well as my inexperience of using the ruler.
I started with machine-sewing the pieces together into Grandma's Flower Garden blocks. It was wayyyyy tooooo time-consuming than I imaged! And I gave up after about 10 blocks. I wanted to try a hybrid of machine- and hand-sewing instead, just to avoid the starts and stops of Y seams. I began by sewing the hexies into strips by machine, then I joined the strips together by hand-stitching. It was more relaxing and not as time-consuming as I imaged! I even spent extra time to iron flat the fanned seams and I loved the effect! Also, since 4 of the 6 edges are cut on the bias, stretching and easing the edges a bit and offsetting the seam allowances a bit during hand-piecing actually helped to even out the inaccuracy of the pieces! In other words I forced the pieces to set on point. What a bonus!
Batting is Warm and White (the pre-packaged crib size). I found the batting more on the stiffer side, to compensate I quilted the piece with sparsely spaced free-form lines and curls. It took me just one evening to complete and I love the result! The quilt softened up after washing, indeed. The quilting stitches are not too overwhelming or prominent, which is want I wanted. The quilt was finished with a narrow white border, a strip of floral+polka dot print and pink binding, which work together like a framing for the hexies.
This little piece turned out to be quite adorable and I got a lot of complements from my friends already. No one can resist from the sweet prints of floral, stripe and polka dot fabrics.