Mermaid Candy – March update

Do you remember my craziness of last month, announcing a new EPP project? Combining the amazing Mendocino mermaids by Heather Ross with a scrap quilt pattern called Candied Hexagons, I am planning an epic english paper piecing extravaganza. First order of business was to crop out the feature large hexagons, making the most of the small amounts of fabric that I have.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

The reason for giving these pieces priority is simple – they are the biggest and need the most fussy cutting space. You can see what is left over after I cut out two 3″ (plus seam allowance) hexagons from this piece of feature fabric.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

The next step was to break what remained down into diamonds, smaller hexagons and triangles until I have been able to use as much of the print, with as little wastage as possible. I added in all the new fabrics that I had been putting away for this project, allowing each block to have it’s turn in the spotlight, and now I have completed my first run of paper piecing.

 

Mermaid Candy - Cassandra Madge

 

Ranging in complexity from 3 pieces up to 13, this quilt is made up of all these different hexagon block variations, repeated and arranged amongst the full hexagons shown above.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

The famous mermaid sisters have cameo roles in these two star/hexagon blocks.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

Lining up the points in the centre has been my largest challenge, which I mostly have been doing by stitching from the centre out whenever possible. Once the papers are taken out, I am confident that it will all blend together beautifully.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

It’s been so much fun selecting and balancing all the different fabrics and colours that I have amassed over the last few months of planning.

 

Candied Mermaids - Cassandra Madge

 

Overall the feel is exactly what I envisioned this project to be. It’s a combination of curated – the theme, and colours, plays off the random playfulness of the scrappy aspect.  Each cutting session is a major undertaking which buries the studio in fabric and scraps for a day or two, so I am planning on tackling this project in stages. All of these were cut, placed into individual bags with the appropriate papers, and then stored together to travel on our recent holiday. This made it super easy to pull out a block for stitching, and keep it all in check at the same time.

 

How do you organise your hand stitching projects? Do you have any tips to share with us?

 

 Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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4 Responses

  1. Raquel

    Your vision for this project is SUPERB! I can’t get over how amazing it is coming together. Bravo!

    • Cassandra

      Thank you so much Raquel. I’m so excited about making it, but I agonise over every fussy cut and hexagon combination. I’m sure it will be worth all the sweat in the end though.

  2. agnes

    Love this so much! Can’t wait to see it all together! I organize my epp in ziploc bags too! I clip together segments after cutting so I don’t lose track of each “bundle”. What is the low volume print in the lower left star next to the plum C&S?

    • Cassandra

      Hi Agnes, lovely to hear from you as always! Do you mean the one with the square type shapes? I’m not sure, I bought it over 2 years ago either from Angie’s shop or on a destash. I think it’s Art Gallery but don’t quote me on that. I really wonder what we ever did before ziploc bags. They are the most versatile little things!

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