My Pandemic Quilt 2020 - Part 1

So ... I started another English paper piecing project a few weeks ago. I love English paper piecing and at this time of uncertainty I have felt the need to sit quietly with my thoughts and stitch like crazy. For a fleeting moment all is right with the world. Despite the prolific handmade works, I have struggled with creativity, and as such this quilt is very much inspired by a quilt that I fell in love with when I saw it at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2018: 

Talking to Flowers by 山口智恵子＊Chieko Yamaguchi (my own photo)

I couldn't get enough of this quilt when I saw it! I think it was the traditional quilt style - a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - made with Japanese fabrics that I so adore. In fact I recognised many of the fabrics, and some fabrics were part of my own stash. I have retained the background fabrics and general layout of the quilt as per the original.

I did bring a few of my own elements into play ~ fussy cutting fabrics, a bright color palette, and instead of adding borders I have made my own "border" fabric by replacing the border fabric with more hexagons in a huge range of red fabrics. Also, once I got started I quickly realized that the hexagon size that I had chosen to work with (¾" hexagons) was significantly larger than that which make up the original quilt.

Click on any image for a larger view.

All of the photos here are of the quilt top with all papers removed other than those along the outer edges. I have included these photos of the quilt back as many of my readers have asked to see the back of my quilt English paper pieced quilt tops.

I cut my fabric hexagons with a template and rotary cutter (instead of cutting fabric squares) for my quilts because I have my own thing about neatness despite not being able to see the back of the quilt once it is quilted. I am a still an avid glue baster and I have not encountered any issues removing the papers. Tedious yes, difficult no. I press my quilts once the papers have been removed with a warm steam iron - lots of steam, and I do not use spray starch.

QUILT DETAILS

Pandemic Quilt 2020

Quilt top measures 55 inches x 73 inches.

Started: May June 2020.

English Paper Pieced.

137 Hexagon Flowers.

¾ inch hexagons.

A total of 2768 hexagons.

Background fabric:

Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in ASH.
Black dot fabric: Swiss Dots  in Black - Riley Blake Designs.
Green text fabric: Dictionary in Green from the
First of Infinity collection by Kumiko Fujita.

All solids fabrics are Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton.

TOOLS AND NOTIONS

¾ Inch Hexagon Papers

¾ Inch Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.

Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.

Straw Needles - Size 11.

The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads in 

neutral tones including a dark beige - color #654 - for the

red hexagon border.

Months of pandemic craziness and anxiety has been stitched into this quilt. I am in Melbourne and we have been living with Covid restrictions for months, and a harsher lockdown since early August. Many people are facing great difficulties, but we're doing this together to save lives. No one is unaffected by the sacrifices that are being made every day and I have been comforted by being able to focus on my stitching when all else seems to be unravelling. This quilt will be staying with me, as a keepsake of a time that was like no other. And of course, I need to thank Chieko Yamaguchi for the inspiration!

I have LOVED working on this quilt and will soon have photos of the finished quilt to show you.

Thank you for stopping by!

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2018 - Part 1
Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2018 - Part 2

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