Last finish of the year

In the Garden

55" x 54"

Featuring "Chicopee" by Denyse Schmidt.

I really love DS quilting books, but (no haters, please) I have never felt her fabric lines were as strong.

But this line just got into my head.

I love the simple outline leaves in the acid green and tomato soup red, and the Voltage Dot (while a regurgitation of a vintage fabric) is a great blender. I guess it is the vibrancy of the colors as a whole that I respond to. (the orange, raspberry and lime really sparkle) A lesson, just because you don't seem to like something, don't rule it out!

In process on my design wall

The pattern is called "Hexagon Garden" from the Quilt Room and is such a fun pattern to make! (I ordered it as a pdf download) It is written as a 2 1/2" strip (jelly roll) pattern and goes together so easily. I added the inner border and made the outer border a bit wider. (Love those Kaffe dots on the edge!) The other tweak I had to make was to piece extra hexagons from my background fabric. The pattern called for a true "jelly roll" which would have 40 strips, this strip set had only 30 strips. But I had the fabric and like the offset look it achieved.

Adding borders

I FMQ-ed different designs in each hexagon, just for fun! It doesn't show up on the front, but it does on the back. I originally wanted to use black thread on the back, but I don't have the same size of black thread as I had of the beige I used on the front (50 wt.) so I couldn't get the tension right and kept seeing little black dots on the face. So I ended up using the same thread on both. (Affinity/Exquisite 50 wt Mercerized in a tan variegated).

One of my favorite motifs

So ends the 2012 quilting! I am looking forward to and planning new quilts for the coming year. Thank you for reading and for your comments. I wish all the best for you in 2013!