I bought a pattern

…and I made it!

And HI THERE!  I know it’s been a while.  Life, and all that.  There’s a lot to catch up on and I will be making a few posts here and there.  Yes, we have moved into our new home and we are still getting settled.  I promise I’ll get you all caught up.  But first, I want to talk about patterns:

I have purchased many patterns during my quilting life.  I have sold or re-homed many patterns, too.  I’m trying my best to not purchase patterns on impulse—and that’s hard.  As I near retirement, I keep reminding myself that I have a fabulous stash of fabrics AND patterns and books to keep me busy until the end of my days—so I am starting a series of reviewing those patterns as I make them.  Welcome to Pattern Palooza!  Here’s the first for review —

Pattern:  Slanted Half-Hex
Designer:  Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Fabrics:  Indigo Garden by Heather Peterson for Riley Blake Fabrics and Bee in my Bonnet by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Fabrics (background)

Template (!): Large Half Hexagon Template for 10” squares (layer cakes) by Missouri Star Quilt Co.

The back story:  Cindy and I went to Missouri Quilt Star Co in 2018.  I don’t remember if I saw the pattern or template first, but one prompted the purchase of the other.  I am drawn to templates and rulers and thought this could be a way to go through some fabrics with a quick and easy pattern.

Several years later (a few weeks ago) I found myself needing to quickly make a quilt for a friend. Instead of relying upon my stash, I purchased the layer cake set and yardage for the background fabric.  

While I had to cut the background into 10” squares, that was quick work.  Following the pattern’s suggestion to cut the half-hexagons using three 10” squares folded in half at a time with the template was spot-on and I couldn’t believe how quickly I cut up all the half-hexagons over 2 evenings after work.  

My sister came down that weekend to help sew and we had the top pieced in two afternoons!  Here’s where we were by that Sunday:

My sister auditioning the placement of the cake fabrics

Rows are complete

I trimmed the perimeter and got the borders attached two weekends later.  

I shipped the quilt to Katrina for a beauty treatment on her longarm.  She did a quick and easy all over meandering loop pattern with a pale yellow thread (Sew Fine).  While Katrina had the quilt, I made the binding.  She shipped it back, I attached the binding, and my sister and I tag-teamed stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. 

Recommendation: for a very fast, quick and easy project, this was great!  I may make it again.  The template helped speed up the cutting process.  These fabrics were perfect for this quilt.  I'm wondering how it will be if I make it using scraps. 

Cons:  there’s a lot of fabric waste due to the template shape, but I’m using the leftover triangles to make a leader-ender project.  

My sister was here last weekend.  After a couple of glamour shots in our backyard, we headed to the hospital to gift the quilt to our friend, Nancy.  She loved it and I look forward to seeing her snuggled up underneath it when she returns home.  

Label designed in PSE 2020; printed by Spoonflower

And now I have two more quilts to attach binding to and gift—I’m a bit on a roll thanks to Katrina and Cindy—and I’ll share more about that when I post about those quilts. 

Before those bindings get attached, I need to do some more organizing in the studios.  My original plans changed (more about it in another post), and due to constant company being here almost every weekend since we moved in (not complaining!), I’m ready to get it DONE.  

In the meantime, go make!