SCATTER GARDEN UPDATE Posted on 29 Sep 17:31 , 0 comments
I started this project a year ago just playing around with piecing the flowers having no idea how I would arrange them. Sometimes, that is the best way for me to work ... just gather pieces and patches and eventually, the epiphany will happen. The answer will be obvious. I'll know exactly what to do.
(my hexxie work box has everything I need ... scraps, basting/piecing thread, and paper foundations, small scissors, and, of course, the dreaded but necessary seam ripper.)
Eryn had been sending me scraps from her hexagon quilt so I had quite a stash to start the project. I'm working with 1/2" hexxies so my scraps can be pretty small and I'm still okay.
However, my first snag ... I needed enough scraps from one fabric to be able to baste 6 hexagons. Many times I only had enough for 3 or 4 hexagons, 5 if I was really lucky. But what if I made my flowers look like there were underneath and on top of each other. Then I could use all combinations of flowers ... 2 petals, 3, 4, 5 petals mixed in with the traditional 6 hexagon complete flower. So I continued gathering scraps and piecing flowers thinking this would also be a good project for me to work on while we drove across the country for our move from Oregon to Western Massachusetts.
Alas, my poor hexxie project languished in it's little box unloved but not forgotten during all the craziness of moving and then building a kitchen in our new home. Gradually, things began to settle down with the kitchen construction being finished in April. And I was finally ready to cozy up on the couch with a good movie and some nice quiet zen-mode hand piecing. And, so this is how much I had done by the first part of June.
Progress slowed to a stop once again when the kids moved in with us during the Tanglewood Season with the BSO. The house was kid-proofed ... amazing how many things twin toddlers of just over two can get into within the blink of an eye. Not a good idea to have any hand piecing (or any sewing for that matter) on the main floor for little hands to explore.
When they left at the end of August I kept thinking I needed to get back into the swing of things with my hexxies but there were a hundred and one excuses of here to Forever-land allowing me to "put it off" ... I'll get to it tomorrow. Poor hexxies were in a fast slide to the dreaded dark closet of UFO projects.
And then I found our One Flower Wednesdays group while surfing through different blogs one day. That was just the push I needed to get back into the swing of things. Completing one hexagon flower every Wednesday should be an easily achieved goal. "Sign me up now!" I said, and promptly fired off an email to our group mom, Karen, and the rest is history. I now take my Scatter Garden quilt with me to Wednesday Quilt Group. I baste hexagons during my Mad Men marathon sessions as I catch-up on past seasons. Progress is being made and I'm moving forward once more. I'm not sure how large this garden will be but I did just get another large bag of scraps from Eryn the other day. I'm sure I'll know when I've reached the finish line, and have no doubt it will be easy to come up with another project should I have too many flowers left over.
Hmmmm ... think I'll have the whole table top covered when I report in again at the end of October? I think it might be about 2 1/2 feet square - just right!