Challenging Hexagons!

Years ago, when a friend wanted to give me a pile of Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks, I couldn't say no.  The blocks were (are) awesome, having been pieced in the 1930s or 1940s.  I love the fabrics!

 

 

This pattern is one that I have never taken the time to master, though.  I can make the individual blocks, with 3 rounds of hexagons, but putting them together into a quilt top is something my brain cannot (or doesn't want to) figure out!  

 

 

 

So the first problem in working with these beautiful blocks was to come up with a way to use them that my brain COULD comprehend.  It took a while, but an idea started to form.

 

What if I trimmed the sides straight?  I quickly learned that I could not just start trimming...I would lose my reference points for where to trim next.  Lines were drawn around the block.  This made trimming so much easier and definitely more accurate!

 

Because the blocks were hand pieced, I machine stitched around the block, 1/4" in from the edges. 
 

The idea that was rolling around in my head was for an appliqued quilt, so this stitching line would also be a good turn-under line for needle-turn applique.  

 

The problem of what to do with some of the blocks was being solved, and my quilt design was coming together.  But there is another problem with these blocks...they are not all the same size!!!!

I was designing a row quilt and needed 6-7 blocks of the same size for each row.   I sorted the blocks into piles of blocks that seemed to be the same size, selected the ones I wanted to use, then trimmed and stitched around them.  They were now ready to use to make my rows of flowers.  

 

Wide muslin strips were cut for the background, from selvage to selvage: a 9 1/2" strip for the flower blocks; a 7 1/2" strip for the stem/leaves.  The leaves and flower stems that I had designed were cut from "30s" green

 

The groups of flower blocks were stitched together, side to side, by machine.  This strip of blocks was then centered on the background muslin strip and hand appliqued in place.  The bottom edge was left open so that the stem could be inserted--the stem crosses the seam between the two muslin strips.   The bottom background strip was machine pieced to the flower background strip; the stems positioned and appliqued in place; the bottom edge of the flowers appliqued; then the leaves appliqued on top of the stems.  

 

 

 

The difference in size of the hexagon blocks meant that each of the 4 rows of flowers was a bit different.  I decided to position the rows with the smallest blocks at the top and the largest blocks at the bottom, alternating rows of 6 and 7 flowers.  A green sashing strip was inserted between the rows.  To widen the quilt top, a "fence" border was designed, pieced and stitched to each side.  

 

 

 

 "Gram's Garden Rows" is now waiting to be quilted. 

 

(But only 26 of the Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks were used.  What will I do with the ones that are left???  Time will tell...)