Tara Faughnan called her month 6, the final month for this year’s Blocks3 class, “Shift.” I liked this hexagon variant best–there was a simpler rectangle form of “Shift” as well–but I made this hexagon form that springs from the simpler rectangle in big and little sizes.
This hexagon block form is so cute, but is also fiddly, but very doable. The foundation paper pattern involves extra pieces that form the stars around the hexagon.
As I was drawn to the stars that form around the hexagon, I kept the background one color to show the stars. If one uses various colors, different patterns form in the work, and that outcome didn’t call to me as I was called to the stars.
I made the larger gold color background piece first, and it’s ok, but I thought the piece would be much more graphic, and it isn’t. Perhaps the issue is that I needed to use at least one lighter color as all these colors are medium density, so the whole piece kind of gets “knocked back.” I added a darker field fabric for the second piece and a lighter piece in the blocks, and that is working much better.
The next dilemma I had–a usual dilemma for me–is whether to do some quilting or to just leave the pretty block alone. But these blocks don’t really fit on any of my stretched canvas pieces unless I go big, and I don’t want a big stretched canvas right now. So, I’ll bind them and use them as table toppers. But…maybe some big stitch hand quilting first–and I hope it does not overwhelm them…
And here are the finished pieces:
LOL, I used the new Janome left-side bi-level foot on the small piece for the first time and felt it was successful, but on the bigger one, I forgot to sew the binding on from the back side, so I had to hand sew the binding. Oh well…
I don’t think I would want to make a bigger quilt out of this idea as it is…fiddly…but I never know…
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