Another One Bites the Dust - The Hexy Flower Quilt is Finished

This quilt was started back in May 2024. I needed some hand stitching to work on at stitching days, so started making some random hexy flowers with no project in mind.  It was also something that fitted in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I thought it would be something that ticked over for a very long time.

Fast forward just a couple of months and Anorina Morris had a pattern published in Homespun magazine called Bigs and Smalls and I now knew exactly what I would make with the hexies I had started and it gave me the impetus to get them made a bit quicker.

I became a little obsessed and really enjoyed the process of making the flowers.  I used up all the suitable fabrics in my little scrap tubs and then started using some fabric from my stash.  I seem to be a scrap magnet.  You know how they say to donate those scraps that you won’t use, there is someone who will like them…..well, that’s me.  A garbage bag of scraps came to our patchwork group and after the better pieces were removed, the rest of the smaller pieces were going to be thrown into the garbage bin.  Noooo!  They came home with me and many of them have now found a home in this quilt.

Finally, it was time to start hand appliquéing them to the grey backgrounds, which also came from my stash.  Some onto just one piece of fabric and some pieced.  It broke it up and also used some of those smaller pieces of fabric.

Then, in January 2025 all the blocks were made and after making my design curtain, especially for this project, it was time to play with the layout.  That was great fun.

I think I looked a bit happy when it was all in place.

By the end of January the quilt top was completed.  This was so much quicker than I ever expected.

Now, how to quilt it?  A lot of work had gone into it and my quilting machine was still not playing nice.  Would I consider hand quilting it?  I packed it away to think about on another day.

Tuesday this week was the day.  I now felt confident enough to quilt it on Elly May.  This involved yet another learning experience, as the design I wanted to use was one that I would have to purchase and download the software.  It all went rather smoothly.

It took quite a while to quilt, as the design was detailed.  I wanted movement, but not flowery or too round, so chose one call Tendrils.  

I’m really happy with the results.

I knew from early in the making of this quilt what I would use for the backing.  It is the second orange vintage sheet that I bought at the church fete some years ago.  I think it suits the sunny, happy feeling of the quilt. I used the other one to back the Crossroads Quilt.

This quilt will definitely be a keeper and has already found a home on our bed. Something to cherish, as I never thought I would complete a hexy quilt.

QUILT INFORMATION

Measurements - 84" high x 70" wide

Pattern - Bigs and Smalls - published in Homespun Magazine June/July 2024 - by Anorina Morris 

Fabrics - Various from stash and from scrap bags

Quilting Design - Tendrils #1 by My Creative Stitches

Batting - Bamboo/Cotton

Backing - Vintage Sheet purchased at church fete several years ago

Thread - Glide - Warm Grey 4