Hexagon patchwork quilt progress

When I calculated and bought the black fabric I am going to need to finish my patchwork quilt I decided to cut from the black fabric the borders I would need for the quilt. This means I can have borders on the quilt without unnecessary joins and can then cut 2" black squares from the rest for the remaining hexies.

Having cut the borders, I decided to applique the first row of the quilt to its border now. This gives me an idea of what it will look like, and also means I can remove the papers from the first row.


Since then, I have added two black rows and a coloured row, bringing the total number of rows completed to 11 - out of a planned total of 29.

I am trying to work two rows at a time - to give myself a bit of variety as the black stitching is less interesting than the coloured stitching!  I am now in a position where I can keep adding two rows at a time without the thought of one more black row at the end.


 
I think there is a chance I will find that I only need another 16 rows (a total of 27). I don't want to fold the quilt over at the top to sleep under it - so we will see how it looks as I get closer to the top.

While snow and ice may make for good stitching in the Northern hemisphere, the weeks of temperatures well over 100F in southern parts of Australia have also meant staying inside and stitching. Stitching two rows together before adding to them to the quilt minimises the amount of time needed to hold the whole piece - much cooler!