Pieces, part deux

After letting my paper piecing project I started last week sit around for a few days I finally decided today how I wanted to quilt it. Just in time to post it in the Festival of Scrappiness!

Finishing piecing the star blossom was the quick work of one more evening. It was really satisfying to explore this new technique. I'm not sure I'll be embarking on any full size quilts made only out of hexagons, but I'd say paper piecing is now firmly in my 'repertoire' of sewing tools. 

I really want the kitchen minis to all be squares. I decided to applique my hexagonal blossom onto the background fabric instead of piecing it into a quilt block to save myself some a) math b) cutting and c) frustration. 

Here is the finished top quilted. I haven't bound it yet, so one more step to go, then I get to hang it on the wall and take a picture! I hope the weather turns around by then. (It's been raining here lately, so all the pictures from the last week have pretty poor lighting.)

I decided to take an echo approach to quilting in the background and center linen hexagon and leave the rest alone. The quilting was done in alternating turquoise and yellow to match the colors in the blossom block. I think it gives lots of visual interest to the white-on-white fabric used in the background -- I'll never be able to see the damask pattern on the background from the ground if it's hanging at ceiling height. 

For the back I chose a linen-like fabric that I bought at Ikea many moons ago. I like that it's black and white and pretty simple (though due to aforementioned bad lighting conditions it looks yellowish here). I'm considering using this fabric for the binding, as well. 

This mini measures about 10.5 inches square and is entirely made up of scraps. Even the batting is pieced together scraps! After I get this one bound, it's on to two more adventures into new techniques and ideas for the other spaces on the wall.