Completing The 100 Day Project: my thoughts and observations

Back in January, I committed to participating in The 100 Day Project. It started January 31, 2021. The 100th day was May 10. Here are the results of showing up every day for 100 days: 

243 three-quarter inch, selective-cut, English paper pieced hexagons.

243 hexagons for The 100 Day Project 2021.

My thoughts about The 100 Day Project

It takes commitment to "show up every day" for 100 days! This was precisely the point of Michael Beirut's assignment to his graphic design grad students. Through this project, I discovered I had just enough stubborn tenacity and focus to see it through. Here are my thoughts...

• The 100 Day Project does take commitment, but it is rewarding.
• It is about the process, not necessarily about the results. You often have to make bad art before the good stuff surfaces. It's about the practice of making.
• I began to look at fabric in a different way. Searching for small motifs to selectively cut, or larger motifs that could be partially cut or subcut for an interesting pattern.

Selective cutting partial motifs.

• I learned to notice the color value of fabrics, especially when laying out the hexies all together.
• I liked the frugality and recycling aspect of using small fabric pieces, swatches and especially trimmings from other projects. 
• At first, I thought I'd do much more glue basting on these EPP hexagons. I found myself enjoying the thread basting and did handwork for most of these, especially the last 25-30 days.
• It's OK to switch gears! I also thought I'd do just one hexie a day and have 100 at the end of the project. That was a self-imposed rule up front which I abandoned early on. Glad I did.
• It got to be fun finding corresponding backgrounds on which to photograph the hexagons.

Finding fun backgrounds for the hexagons.

More interesting backgrounds for the hexagons.

• I found myself trying to come up with interesting layouts for photographing the hexagons.

Various layouts for the hexagons.

• Occasionally, the commentary accompanying the daily IG posts reflected on real life.

Some days you need a crystal ball and some days you wish it was a caldron.

• Admittedly, there were days when it was challenging to find the energy to stitch at least one little hexagon. So, I'm glad I chose a do-able project and one that was also portable. 
• It is often said, if you work on something for short periods of time on a regular basis, a lot can be accomplished. Every little hexagon made a contribution to the whole.

In the end, I was rewarded with 243 of these fun little fabric gems, daily photo documentation, and milestone blog posts of the project. 

A possible option for using the hexagons.

Now that the 100 days have concluded, I don't know how (or if) I will put these hexagons into a final project—or multiple projects. But I consider this project a success—and even a "finish"—because The 100 Day Project is all about the process.

I showed up!

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Milestone progress photos of my 100 Days of Hexies can be found in these blog posts: 7 days, 33 days, 50 days, 75 days, 90 days.

Prep for the 100 Day Project with 3/4" EPP hexagons

I'm prepping for the 100 Day Project. It starts in less than a week—on Sunday, January 31.

From Dr. Seuss

My 3/4" paper pieces from Paper Pieces have arrived along with an acrylic template for selective cutting the fabrics. I also cut my own preview window from cardboard (because I couldn't wait). So I have two tools.

Paper templates for English paper piecing and acrylic viewer.

I'm collecting fabrics with small images or motifs that look interesting.

Templates for selecting images from fabrics.

Everyone should think about doing this! 

Fussy Cutting ruler for Farmer’s Wife quilt blocks

Since I'm skipping around in The Farmer's Wife sampler book and machine piecing the blocks with "easy math," I thought I'd add a bit of novelty to my blocks with selective fabric cutting—often called "fussy cutting."

The Farmer's Wife Block 20: Churn Dash with fussy cut center.
Fabrics from a Color Masters collection from Art Gallery Fabrics.

Selective Cutting/Fussy Cutting
Selective cutting makes the patchwork process more interesting for the maker and the challenge of seeking out motifs in the fabric... or finding a good block to feature a motif... is really fun. The resulting quilt blocks are also more unique. 

Last week I talked to the very helpful folks at Heavenly Stitches quilt shop about fussy cutting units for my 6-inch Farmer's Wife blocks. They showed me two possible rulers and we decided the Creative Grids Square it Up and Fussy Cut ruler would be best for the small units that comprise 6-inch blocks.

"Square it Up and Fussy Cut Ruler" from Creative Grids is a good tool for selective cutting.

In examining the ruler, it’s fairly intuitive but instructions are included in the package. The ruler's lines and markings are easy to see and ruler worked like a champ. Creative Grids rulers also have those built-in "grippy circles" to keep the fabric from slipping during the cutting process, which, as it turns out, are also helpful when centering the ruler on the fabric motif and marking the corner points. 

The Farmer's Wife Block 31: Evening Star with fussy cut center.
Fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics.

High Success Rate

Using this specialty ruler is much easier and the success rate is much higher than using a standard acrylic ruler for this technique. Contact YLQS (your local quilt shop) to get one of these great patchwork tools! The Evening Star block (above), with a fussy cut center, is next up for assembly.