Hand Made Hexagon Quilt

I have one last quilt to share before the year ends! I'm very pleased to have this one finished as it's completely hand pieced and hand quilted.

My photos aren't great this time, but I'm running out of 2018 days to get it documented.

I started the quilt this past Summer when I was looking for a sitting-on-the-couch-watching-TV-project. I've tried English Paper Piecing, but still haven't found a love for it. I decided to try and hand piece larger sized Hexagons together and found it fun and relaxing. The stitching line was drawn on the wrong side of each of the hexagons before hand stitching them together.

Once the top was completed, I thought it appropriate to hand quilt the top. I wanted a modern look of straight lines, in a more vintage hand quilted look.  I hadn't tried wool batting before, but was told it is easy to needle and perfect for hand quilting. It seemed the perfect fit, so I basted the top, some wool batting, and a Cloud 9 solid organic cotton in aqua blue for a backing.

I hand quilted all my quilts many years ago, and always used a hoop for lap quilting. I have a large hoop, but it turned out very impractical for straight lines of hand quilting. Although I was quilting with multiple needles, doing multiple rows, I found it difficult and not much fun. I pulled out all those rows of stitching.

Next I thought I would machine quilt straight lines, just to get it done. I sewed about 8-10 lines and really didn't like how it was looking - pulled those stitches out too.

The quilt sat for a while, with me thinking it may sit for years before I'd come up with a solution. Then I watched the Hand Quilting video tutorial from Suzy Quilts. It's a fantastic tutorial if you're new to hand quilting. I was very familiar with all the techniques, but she quilted in a way I hadn't thought of. I ended up laying the quilt across my cutting table and hand quilting each of the long straight lines across the top. You'd think that would take forever (or what seems like forever), but I spent every evening quilting 4-5 rows and had it done in no time!

I used #8 Pearl Cotton and a fairly big stitch. I'm so pleased with the result - the quilt has a soft, drapey texture to it.

So that's my last quilt for 2018! I'll be back before the end of the year with a post of my favorites from 2018. Merry Christmas to you all!