And Then There Were Eight: More Hexie Rosettes for Stonefields Quilt Border

Greetings from the Land of the Ice and Snow, formerly the Carolinas!  I've been making the most of my snow days, continuing with the hexie rosettes for my Stonefields Quilt borders.  These little rosettes are addictive because they turn out so differently depending on the fabrics selected and how they are used in the rosettes.  Two alternating fabrics for petals?  Similar or contrasting?  All petals the same fabric?  Cut randomly, or "fussy cut" to capture a specific motif from the fabric print?  Each little rosette has its own personality.  So fun!

8 Hexie Rosettes Finished, 160 to Go

I am enjoying the hexie rosettes so much that I will probably be sad when I have enough for my quilt and stop making them.  It will feel like right after you I've eaten the last Godiva truffle out of the box, and I really REALLY want just one more bite of chocolate but they are all gone...  (Note to self: order Godiva truffles for Valentine's Day.  Note to readers: This blog post will contain affiliate links).  

I did manage to get out to my favorite local quilt shop with my friend Marybeth in between the ice storm and the snow storm, on the one afternoon when the roads were passable.  Several of my neighbors timidly ventured out to stock up on groceries or to fill their prescriptions, but I know how to set PRIORITIES when there's a winter weather advisory.  I drove past at least eight grocery stores on our way to the quilt shop.  

Rosettes for Stonefields Quilt Border + Ongoing Experiments with English Paper Piecing

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday!  You guys, I have finally been sewing again for the first time since moving back to North Carolina!  I had so much fun making the tiny 3/8" hexie rosettes for Stonefields Quilt blocks #14 & 15 back in September, so I decided that making a few of the 168 larger 3/4" hexie rosettes that I will need for my border might be a good task to ease myself out of my stitching slump.  It turned out to be the perfect choice.  As Tula Pink says, you have to eat your elephant one little bite at a time.

3 Rosettes Completed, 165 More Needed for Stonefields Quilt Border

I would have finished more than three of these, but I spent about two hours ransacking my studio closets, bins and drawers searching for my All Points Patchwork: English Paper Piecing Beyond the Hexagon... book by Diane Gilleland.  (This post contains affiliate links).  To my supreme irritation, I never did find it.  I was also unable to locate my little black and gold pack of John James size 12 Milliners needles, even though I swear I remember finding them mixed in with unrelated supplies when I was unpacking.  Where, oh where did I put those needles?  Before I moved, I could put my hands on just about any book, tool or notion in less than 5 minutes.  A place for everything and everything in its place and all that.  Well, I caved and ordered more needles on Amazon, but I did not buy another copy of the book as it's sure to turn up sooner or later.

My Stonefields Quilt (pattern by Susan Smith is getting harder to find, but there is still one copy available on Etsy here) was purchased from a quilt shop and came kitted with the necessary EPP template papers for 3/4" hexagons.  I can't remember whether this nifty windowed acrylic template for fussy cutting came with the kit as well, or if I purchased it separately from Paper Pieces.  For hexies that I wanted to cut from stripes or centering specific printed motifs from my fabric, I traced around the template with a mechanical pencil and sandpaper beneath the fabric, then cut the hexies out individually with scissors.

Tracing Acrylic Template Prior to Cutting Hexies With Scissors

These flowers from my Tilda fabric were cut in the same way, centering the template window on the flowers and tracing around them one by one with pencil, then cutting out each shape with scissors.  So much fun!  But OH SO SLOW...

More Fussy Cutting With Window Template

There was a silver lining to the chaos in my studio and the missing EPP book, because after wasting two hours looking for things I never found, I wasted invested a couple more hours going down a rabbit hole of YouTube English Paper Piecing tutorials, trying to find the method I used successfully for the smaller hexie rosettes I made four months ago.  Remember that I am an EPP newbie, and making two of something is not enough repetition to ingrain everything indelibly in my brain.