How much time and energy do you put into a quilt? Well, this past week I was absolutely consumed by my hexie quilt. I hit a bit of a snag…I ran out of background fabric and didn’t have enough fabric to fill in the top corner. What to do…..what to do?
Like most quilters, I have a stash that I am trying to work through. So when I first started my hexie quilt I challenged myself to use up every inch of the beige background (about 4.5 meters) I purchased long ago. I started in the middle and worked my way to the top half of the quilt. I wanted the bottom half of the quilt to be an exact mirror image of the top half. Notice there are 3 complete rows of hexies at the very top of the quilt.
When I started to work the exact same design on the bottom half of the quilt, I started to get this nagging feeling that I didn’t have enough background fabric to finish it. So instead of adding those three rows of hexies to the bottom, I decided to add some rosettes, so that would free up quite a few biege hexies. (I still had a lot of filling in to do.)
However, I still ran out of fabric (I was so darn close!) So I started looking at those top three rows of hexies and went to find my stitch ripper. Yes, I could have just ripped off one complete row and filled in the corner, but I had another idea! (And to be perfectly honest, it was not sitting well with me that the top and bottom were different. I didn’t think it looked balanced.) I ripped out the hexies in the shape of a rosette and reinforced some of the stitching that had come undone in this process.
Next, I transplanted some new rosettes. Best of all, I could now go back and finish that top corner!!
My plan was to finish the brown border I had started and to keep adding hexies. But I changed my mind! I trimmed of the excess of the hexies…….
….added an inner border….
…and an outer border. Both the inner border and outer border are from my stash and I used up every inch of them! The quilt is happy and so am I!!
Til next time….
Kerry
Simple Bird Applique 
Fantastic! Not only the quilt but the use of fabric And the using up fabric! I love when this happens.
Great problem solving, Kerry. It looks fabulous the way you changed it. I invite you to show this lovely at WIPs Be Gone because you destashed and made progress!
You are so creative. Beautiful job!!!
Oh I like this Kerry, it has personality.
Way to make it work for you! And congrats on using so much stash!! It is really delicious. Love the pink inner border with the outer border fabric.
Lots of work redoing but best to have it like you want it. Beautifully done.
Hello again, Just wondering when the border pattern will be available on the website. Jay
Your hexagon quilt is beautiful Kerry! I’m a firm believer that if something really bothers you it should be fixed but if you can live with it, then leave it be. I love the borders that you added – a perfect finish!
It looks fantastic (but makes me feel very guilty about my unfinished hexie quilt that I started when I was living in Indonesia from 1997 to 200!!)
Beautiful quilt. I love hearing your “process” and decisions you made. Congratulations on using up fabrics!!! It is a great feeling. :-))
You solved the problem and finished. Nice save and a very nice quilt.
I guess I get over involved in the process. Sometimes it’s as thrilling as a novel to see the design progress toward a happy ending. I had watched your hexi quilt grow and I knew it would end up amazing but I confess the brown outer row had me worried. When you said you had thrown it out and put borders instead I was glad to hear it. But when I scrolled down to the photo I literally gasped; it is so beautiful it brought me to tears. I don’t think I’ve ever had such an emotional response to someone else’s quilt. I know…I need to get out more. Lol.