Month: March 2019

I’m nearly done with all the pieces for my hexagon quilt. I just have to make six more hexagon blocks and cut the additional grey triangles I’ll need to fill in all the spaces. And I’ll have to give it some time on the design wall to make sure I like the arrangement.

And even though I ‘m not done, I can’t help but start thinking about my next quilt… and it’s going to be made from scraps from the hexagon quilt I’m working on now.

This one has three hexagons pushed together. I love the way the additional hexagon appears in the center.

I had pieces of strip sets left over so I cut them into triangles and started playing with different arrangements. The one above is very random. No two triangles are the same, and I think this is the approach I’ll take with this next scrappy quilt.

This next block is pieces from two different strip sets. So there are pairs of triangles. I like this arrangement, but I think I prefer the more random look.

Here’s another random hexagon. I’m getting so excited about these blocks that I cut up some of the left over fabric, sewed it into half strip sets and cut the triangles. I have enough now for 15 blocks, and have enough cut to make at least five more blocks, which means I can make a small throw or youth quilt from these scraps.

I’m thinking I might go really bold with the background triangles and use Brandon Mably’s black and white jumble — the black and white in this photo. I’ll have to see how it looks on the design wall, but I’m thinking want to go bold!

I’ll also dig into my stash and see what pieces I have that would work for backing.

I couldn’t stand it. I had to cut some of the grey fabric into triangles and get it up onto the design wall. So at lunch time today I cut some of the grey guinea flower fabric and tossed it up on the design wall.

I started in the center of the quilt. And I loved it immediately! All it took was one set of the grey fabrics and I knew it was going to work!

So when I got home from work I got started on cutting more triangles out of the different grey fabrics because I was itching to see more.

I’ve wondered about the sludge paper weight fabric in this quilt for awhile. It just felt different than the other grey fabrics and I was really unsure about it. That’s the sludge surrounding the hexagon with the green outer strip.

It just doesn’t work. Although I love this fabric, in this quilt it just feels drab and dull. It stands out in the quilt, and not in a good way.

So I decided to omit the sludge and use the grey ferns fabric instead. it’s darker than the other fabrics, but it’s a brighter grey, and it feels brighter and lighter.

You can see the point of the ferns next to the point of the guinea flower in the lower right, and the greys are virtually the same.

So, the sludge is out and the ferns is in.

I’m also using two light color ways of the Mille fiore fabric. I love how they work in this quilt! they add just a little color and life to the points of the stars.

 

I’ve put a bunch of the background fabrics up on the wall. I’m loving how it all works, but still need to move some things around and play with different options.

I still have six blocks to make to get this quilt to the point where I can finish the design stage, figure out how I’m going to handle the edges, and start sewing it all together.

I can’t wait to see the final lay out!

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to lay out the blocks in my new hexagon quilt. I’m going to use variations of grey Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics for the background triangles.

There are a couple of these fabrics that I’m not sure about. I’m going to have to cut triangles and get them on the design wall with the bright colored blocks to make the decision.

The photo below shows how the blocks will be laid out. The grey triangles will make subtle star patterns throughout the quilt. I had to draw it all out to make sure that it would work in reality the way it worked in my head.

The whole thing will have to be laid out on the design wall, and then I’ll sew the triangles to the blocks in diagonal rows and then sew the rows together.

I also just made the decision to order six yards of the tangerine Paisley Jungle for the backing. It makes me so incredibly happy!

That fabric just  gives me chills it’s so good!

Going to head to the sewing room right now and see if I can sew eight blocks before I have to go to bed.

 

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.