Kingfisher quilt

Away back in May 2018 I saw some gorgeous quilts appearing on Instagram with the hashtags #kingfisherstitchalong #epp and #englishpaperpiecing.  I loved the look of it but, at that time, I had no idea what English Paper Piecing was. The quiltalong was hosted by Tales of Cloth and Stitched in Color and I remember I left a comment on one of their instagram or blog posts asking for advice on learning EPP. They were so helpful and friendly that I decided to jump in.  Well, when I say jump right in, it actually took me two months to sew my first hexie flower - that is a flower sewn out of hexagons.  I would say I was hooked pretty much as soon as I started! I ordered the paper hexie pieces from MisforMake, along with some gorgeous Leah Duncan fabrics. I had an idea of my colour palette - mostly pinks and yellows - and wanted to try and use fabrics I already had, rather than buying all new. I used some precious Leah Duncan fabrics, along with lots of scraps from dressmaking projects, some of my earliest dressmaking items which I loved the fabric of but didn't wear anymore, as well as some fabrics that had belonged to my mum and others bought on holiday. So every fabric in the flowers is special really.

I wanted to use low volume prints for the backgrounds, like in the quilts used in the stitchalong, but I didn't have many fabrics like that.  Once again I ordered most of these from MisforMake and I think also some from Backstitch.

The half triangle shapes at the side and the stripes in the border are an old IKEA bed sheet that I never liked the feel of but I thought it would work well on the front of this quilt.  The pink gingham was fabric I bought on my first ever trip to Shepherds Bush market with one of my best friends and the golden yellow border fabric was the first ever dress I made. I loved the fabric and the memories of making the dress at a class at Sew Over It in Clapham so when I no longer wore the dress I wanted to reuse the fabric.

One of the things that I loved about the look of this quilt was the mix of machine stitching and handsewing.  The hexie flowers each sit on a diamond.  The hexie flowers are all hand-stitched using English Paper Piecing.  There was the choice to attach them to the diamonds by machine or hand-sewing. I went for handsewing.  Then I sewed all the diamonds together and added the borders by machine.  I was thinking of handquilting it for a while but it had been in progress for such a long time that I just wanted to get it finished so I machine-quilted it. The quilting is just simple diagonal lines with Aurifil, I think it was 40wt.

The backing is a Liberty print I bought years ago with the intention of making it into a garment.  Then I realised it's not really something I would wear so it languished in a box for a few years. I thought it would be perfect for this quilt of flowers.  There wasn't quite enough so I cut it up a bit and added in some other scraps of fabric.  

There is something so wonderful about making something that is used every day and this quilt most certainly is.  It lives on our couch and we use it every night when watching TV, and for me, hand sewing on the couch.  It also sees a lot of use as a den and a blanket for teddy bears picnics in the garden.