May 12 x 12 Sweet Springtime Blossoms

Finally, it is done! I've struggled with this concept for 2 months and was afraid at times that it would be stillborn. Using paper mockups of the flower photos I tried many arrangements and was never happy until I thought of thinking outside the square.

I tried a new technique by fusing layers of blue and green nylon net between white silk organza with Misty Fuse to give it a luminous translucency. It was backed with a blue and green batik fabric and the top is a scan of the batik printed onto a sheet of silk ExtravOrganza. I printed photos of my spring flowers onto sheets of prepared silk satin (also new to me); these flower hexagons were then fused onto the ExtravOrganza and and machine satin stitched appliqued with a turquoise Mettlach cotton thread. I didn't do any stitching on the edges of the triangles between the hexagons because, once again, I didn't want the whole piece to have any effect of framing; in this series I like the effect of pieces cut out of my world.

I fused a poem printed on a silk Extravorganza hexagon and a butterfly cut from fabric to the back for the label.

[Please click the photos to see the details and read the poem.]

I began by printing the photos on regular printer paper and deciding the size to make the hexagons. It took a while to decide which flowers worked together and which didn't. Then I rearranged the hexagons in several patterns and decided on this pattern with the star in the center, but somehow I just wasn't satisfied. After the first month I even wondered if it was time to leave the hexagons and go to some entirely different pattern, but I still had several hexagon patterns that I really wanted to try and didn't want to give it up.

It just didn't really grab me until I realized if I trimmed off the corners of the square I'd get a large base hexagon which reinforced the design and gave it the Pow! I was looking for. This is the paper mockup that made up my mind. I wan't about to cut up the real thing until I could see it and be sure. My paper mockups sure save a lot of good fabric.

Up until I finished the satin stitching around the small hexagons, I still planned to quilt in the lines on the center star, but at that point, I realized I liked the simplicity of the open space in the center better.

Too see other 12 x 12 x 12 Challenge pieces check out the Quilt Studio blog.

Now can I finish the June piece before the end of June and get back on schedule?