Hexagon Placemat and Hexagon Pin Cushion--post 1

A possible EPP project

Last October, I was asked to teach an English Paper Piecing (EPP) class for an event that the Columbia River Gorge Quilters quilt guild is sponsoring in May. Click the link to see the classes. Registration is open to the public.

Mini pincushion

At first, while I was honored to be asked, I didn't feel like I was an expert in EPP. I sent an e-mail to JoJo who taught me EPP to ask her what she thought. She said to go for it. I told my youngest daughter about the request and my conflict. She replied that I wouldn't have been asked if I didn't have the qualifications.

My daughter raised a good point which I hadn't considered. I said yes! While I've given workshops for one of my guilds as a volunteer, this is the first time to be paid for teaching. 

I thought that I would have until January to determine what direction to take my class. Actually, I had about five working days to make a plan. I decided to teach a technique class. Sometimes, people want to play with a technique to determine if they want to add it to their toolbox. Project based classes can result in unfinished projects.

I titled the class, "Beyond the Flower Garden." My reasoning for the class title was to encourage participants to look at different ways to incorporate a rosette into a project.

Removing papers

When people think of Grandmother's Flower Garden, they likely envision thousands of hexagons. While I haven't made a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, I have stitched quite a few hexagon shapes together. Sometimes, I interspersed those shapes with triangles or diamonds to create a design.

Because participants will be in class for six hours, I decided to share examples of small projects that incorporated hexagons. Perhaps, participants might decide to turn the rosette they created into something useable. In six hours, participants will be able to stitch a few rosettes!

I looked through my projects to determine the Grandmother's Flower Garden rosette samples I had on hand. People like to view projects.  Not all of the projects will feature EPP.

Threads used in the project

In 2011 I made Grandmother's Flowers. In 2016, I finished a hexagon block of the month project. In 2018, I made a wall hanging and a potholder. When I upgraded to a 790 Bernina machine, I also made a mug rug. Samples sometimes can spark a participant's creativity.

I can also share my temperature quilt. While the project isn't a hexagon, it is an example of EPP.

Free motion quilting detail of rosette

The first new sample that I finished was a hexagon pincushion. I used my 3/4 inch template. It was "fiddly" to turn such a small project. The effort was worth it. I saw the pattern on Pinterest. Benita Skinner posted the tutorial on her blog. I used scraps and wanted to include it because it used eight hexagons. 

The second new sample that I stitched was a placemat. It measures 11 inches by 17 inches. If I were to make another placemat, I'd make the size 11 by 15 or11 by16 inches. My oldest granddaughter chose the main fabric for the placemat. I also used it as the backing. I sure liked her choice. The blue and white print fabric in the first photo was too busy for this project. 

I chose to quilt it with my walking foot using gentle curved lines. Perhaps, class participants seeing this sample will feel quilting is doable on their domestic machine and be encouraged to try it!

Finished placemat

I bound the placemat. Then I hand appliqued the two hexagons to the placemat. I did use a little Elmer's glue to hold the hexagons in place. I placed tiny dots along the edge on the wrong side of the rosettes. I used a warm iron to "fuse" the glue into place. Not having pins to interfere with the applique process was great! Once I completed the applique, I add a little free motion quilting to ensure the rosettes remained in place.

I spent an evening making the placemat. It is a good example of incorporating two rosettes into a project. I am more proficient with the machine binding process.

I used about half a yard of fabric in this project. Last month, I purchased
eight yards of fabric so I'm -7.5 yards towards my goal of reducing my stash! I need to have some more finishes to move that number to positive yards! 

This was goal number three for January. I did finish it in January; but, I didn't get it posted during the month. I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.