Hexagon Quilt Progresses

I’m making really good progress on my new hexagon quilt. I have 14 blocks completed, with eight more ready to sew together. The ones in this photo that are positioned directly next to other blocks are the ones that are completed. It’s a lot of fun to play with the arrangement and see how groups of blocks look together.

I’m really happy that these blocks are going together much better than I anticipated. Two edges of each of the triangles that make up the hexagons are cut on the bias, so you have to be really careful to not misshape them and make them all wonky. I’m being really careful to press my seams so that each triangle will nest with the one next to it, and I’m pinning sewing carefully to get a good 1/4 inch seam allowance. I know that if each block is nice and flat and accurate, the whole quilt will go together more easily.

I’m also being very careful when sewing my strip sets that the triangles are cut from. I learned a trick to use a metal straight edge when pressing the strip sets to make sure you have them absolutely straight when you press them. Again, this accuracy will help insure that the entire quilt will go together more easily.

Out of each strip set you get triangles to make two blocks where the fabrics are the same but the blocks look completely different. Look at the blocks below. They each have the same three fabrics, but one has the red on the outside, and the other one has the red on this inside. The fabric in the middle row of each block is the same. It’s amazing to me how different these two blocks look.

Unfortunately, one strip set doesn’t yield enough triangles for two full blocks, so I have to do another set out of half width-of-fabric pieces.

I’ve really been having fun putting fabric combinations together for each block. I mean, look at these things!!! (these photos are of blocks from the same strip set so you can see how different they look even though they’re made from the same three fabrics.)

I’m thinking this quilt will be five blocks by six blocks, so a total of 30. I have 14 all done, eight more cut and ready to sew. So I’ll need to make eight more blocks, and then I can start playing with the blocks on the design wall.