Thursday, October 6, 2016

Brinton and Butterflies

Turquoise, green and hot pink butterflies!

It's time for the October Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up, and I've done nothing at all on my "official" butterfly project, Down in the Garden. I can't believe it will soon be two years since Ink Week (really Ink Fortnight), and I still haven't finished embroidering the blocks. Oh, the shame!


Yes, well, maybe I would have more finishes if I actually did feel shame.

This project, however, Brinton Hall, is steamrolling over everything else. Today I made the 60 3" hsts that I'll need for the second border. The fabrics were all chosen and rough cut over the summer. Today I just had to pair them, sew, and trim.


And a few of them even have butterflies! Out in the real world, I'm also seeing the Monarch butterflies steadily heading southwest along the lake shore again.

I was careful to make sure every hst was a unique combination of fabrics. It was a fun day!

They will finish at 3", and I will set them with 1" warm beige sashings. Leigh Latimore's design uses 1/2" sashings, but I feel like these strong prints need more room to breathe. Plus, the math worked out perfectly! That is always my sign to stop tweaking the design. :D



In fact, I have been redesigning, and tweaking, and redesigning again, this project since the beginning of the summer. I've changed it so many times that I lost track of the different counts. So I had more hst fabric cut than I needed. And, apparently my final design will only need 16 of the hexagon rosettes, even though I made 20!


But, the end is in sight, because I have simplified the final border by removing all the handwork. None of the handwork in Latimore's outer border is in the original Anna Brereton quilt, so that was an easy decision to make.

I will make the pieced "square in a square" block, because that was in the original, and I think it is a good looking block! I am keen to get started on that, it should be a good challenge. Lots of quarter square triangles!


So, this has been 54 of the 60 hsts. I made them in sets of 10, but 9 fit so nicely on my rotating mat there.

Now, I really have to crack on with Something Fishy!

12 comments:

  1. What a wealth of beautiful fabrics. They look so yummy together. Crack on!

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  2. That's a lot of 3" hexies to sew up, but they are all beautiful! Good luck finishing your projects!

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  3. These are really pretty - I like the bright and happy fabrics you are using for the HSTS, and making the project your own.

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  4. Clever of you to photograph them on the cutting mat. I thought for a while it was the edging fabric! They look great. I look forward to seeing the REAL edging!

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    1. Thanks, Jillian! I decided today that I would keep using the same beige that I used for the path hexies in the centre. It should be a good back drop, so these fabrics can look their best. And I still have tons!

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    2. Of course, as soon as I say that I see a couple of the hsts already have that fabric!! I forgot already! Hmm. Maybe I will need something lighter after all!

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  5. These delightful fabrics look like such fun. And you're tweaking the pattern. Can't wait to see. Thanks for linking with Kaleidoscope of Butterflies.

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  6. you certainly have lots of trimming to do with all those HSTs but so so worth it they are looking so good

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  7. These are so pretty - I love the richness of all that colour and pattern. Can't wait to see the next stages of this.

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  8. Monica, those HSTs are terrific and what an impact they will make as a border. Perhaps, you will make a few more HSTs that don't have the beige background that you want to sash them with. All the extras might make a table runner or become parts of the back. I like using it all up. . .somehow! :)--Terry

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    1. Thanks, Terry! Right now I think I will keep them. The "holes" could be interesting. I'll see how it looks!

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  9. Your squares are fun, bright, and beautiful, Monica. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this quilt!
    --Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)

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