Summer Rain Quilt – Hexagon in progress

You may remember that I have shared some peeks of my labour of love this year, mainly on social media as I have been faithfully stitching along.

 

A photo posted by Cassandra Madge (@hillscass) on

Instagram tells me that it’s been 17 weeks since I posted this half-way progress photo, which puts me a little behind, but still on track for completing my Summer Rain quilt top within 1 year. The idea was inspired by a small snippet in one of the books I reviewed last year – Quilting on the Go: English Paper Piecing Projects You Can Take Anywhere, however I changed it up quite a lot.

I started stitching right before my surgery last year, just a couple of days before we moved. It has been my constant companion through pain and good times.

 

Summer Rain hexagon quilt - Cassandra Madge

 

Here is the top as it currently stands. Almost a full three quarters has been pieced and joined together. We estimate that about 1500 1″ hexagons have gone into it at this stage.

 

Summer Rain hexagon quilt - Cassandra Madge Summer Rain hexagon quilt - Cassandra Madge

 

I am aiming for a finishing size of approximately 70″ square, which will then possibly be appliqued onto a border to secure the edges before quilting and binding. I love the complex random scrappiness of it, with the stark drips of white, like rain running down the window pane.

 

Summer Rain hexagon quilt - Cassandra Madge

 

I thank many generous friends from all over Australia that have contributed scraps to help add some much needed variety into this quilt. although there is very little in the “civil war reproduction” fabrics there, the rest is anything goes – modern, baby, geometric, crazy floral. It all blends into a cohesive whole.

 

Summer Rain hexagon quilt - Cassandra Madge

 

You may notice on my closeup, and I invite you to examine this quilt in person whenever you get the chance. There are very few visible stitches. I thought that you had no choice about your stitches showing when you EPP’d. I was wrong. I glue baste using a simple glue pen – Sewline Riolis Sewline Water-Soluble Fabric Glue Pen with Refill-Blue, which I find gives me nice firm edges and sharp points.

There is no point re-inventing the wheel. I won’t be making a tutorial, but instead I can’t urge you strongly enough to go to Sue Daley’s site, Sue Daley Designs and watch her you-tube tutorials on how to stitch your shapes together.  Sue begins with the basics of glue basting and will take you through starting, stitching, ending your shape, and what to do with pesky folded fabric “tails”. Start with episode one and watch the others as you build up to new and exciting shapes.

 

 

I don’t mind admitting that Sue taught me everything that I know about English Paper Piecing. I will be so excited to finish up my Summer Rain quilt, there are some exciting new projects on my horizon.

 

 

Do you EPP? Have you made an entire EPP project, or just added English Paper Pieced elements onto other quilt designs?

 

 

 

**Disclaimer** There are affiliate links contained in this post. I appreciate your support to keep me stitching and sharing my ideas for free with you all!

 

 Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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12 Responses

  1. Melissa (minniecat)

    Oh Cassie it’s gorgeous!! Lots of hours of stitching, what a beautiful outcome! Well done!!

    • Cassandra

      Thanks Melissa! It sure was a lot of stitching, but the time passes, whether we use it or not. Might as well make the most of it, right?

  2. Joy

    I love this! I am currently working on a project similar to yours. It’s not nearly as big tho. Mine has 300 pieces. I’m anxious to see how you finish the edges to sew the back to the front. I’m scratching my head on that one. (This will be the first quilt of any kind I have made. So I’m learning as I go) but yours is going to look magnificent!!!

    • Cassandra

      Thanks so much Joy! I am currently adding half hexagons to the top and bottom edges to make them straight. I’m not sure what I will do about the sides, but you can be sure that I will be sharing it again on my site! It’s great that you are teaching yourself this fabulous skill. Always happy to help if you need it 🙂

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