Wall Art

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

On one of my evening walks in the neighborhood, I went to an "open house" out of curiosity and saw an amazing black-and-white hexagonal tile backsplash. The pattern stuck in my head, and I decided to do something about it. When I got home, I found the English Paper Piecing (EPP) hexagon templates I had used for a pillow cover a few years ago and got started. As the first few pieces came together, I loved what I saw.

The fabrics are Kona Natural and Black. As the piece grew, I realized I wanted to hang it on an empty wall in my living room, which meant it had to be a specific size.

While working on it, I decided I didn't want to introduce the extra texture of quilting; I preferred the clean look of the piecing alone. This left me with one option: to frame it. Having never framed a quilt before, I faced a steep learning curve, especially since it was a non-standard size that required a custom frame.

Once the papers were removed, the back looked so good that I even considered framing it inside out! I finally settled on a size and began the long search for a frame, eventually finding my answer at Blick Art Supplies. I ordered custom-sized stretcher bars that required assembly and picked up a heavy-duty stapler from Home Depot.

I scoured the internet for tutorials on mounting quilts and found an excellent guide by Sophie Zaugg. Her method resulted in such a clean, professional finish. After a great deal of planning, it finally came together exactly as I had hoped.

It took a bit longer before I finally hung it on the living room wall. It wasn't as heavy as I expected, largely because I mounted it directly onto the stretcher bars without an underlying canvas.

A project that started in May 2022 was finally on the wall in March 2024. All good things in life take time.