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Tuesday 2 August 2016

Hexie Dilemma

I wonder how many people are given 'leftovers' from others? I was recently given some hexagons, or more precisely half hexagons that the maker hadn't managed to co-ordinate together into a quilt. So I bravely (foolishly?) said, sure I'll take them on.
The fabrics were not at all my style and the colours were very varied. The maker had tried them in rows - but as I began to work with them I could see why that didn't work - there was just too much range in the colours. 
So I thought perhaps if there is a dark unifying colour around and between them, that might help, so I gave that an audition. (Ignore the beige carpet)

While that seemed to work for some, for others (particularly that purple in the corner) it didn't gel them together. 
Friends to the rescue! I asked a couple of my quilting buddies to help me play around with potential background fabrics. As is often the way, laying around was a soft colour that just seemed to work. So I used the soft fossil fern grey and then quilted with a loop all over. 
Here is the quilt laying in the back garden among the vegetables - of course.  It seems to work now - thanks friends. 
Here is a close up of the loops (we ditched the purple by the way):

And then I did a little peeping white with the grey for the binding and had fun putting a decorative stitch to help keep the white in place rather than just a straight line: 
But I still think I prefer the back, which doesn't show up all that well here, but is a soft white with a tiny blue flower - something I've had in my stash for so long I've forgotten when and where I got it but it just seemed right for this quilt. 
I showed the original maker when I was almost finished the quilting - she seemed pretty pleased with it. So, a win. Something I would never have taken on myself, I don't think hexagons are my thing, but I'm pleased that with the help of friends, we were able to take something that was likely to stay tucked away doing nothing to a quilt that I hope will bring pleasure for quite a while. 

Until next time,
Lynn 

2 comments:

  1. Great color choice for your hexies!

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  2. Nice save with the hexies! The finished quilt looks great, I can completely see why you dropped the purple from it. It's great when your stash gets to the point where you can have a rummage and (usually) find just the thing you need to fix something. :)

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