agilejack

I finished the top for my Kaffe Fassett Collective hexagon quilt last night. And I love it!

I am going to add a small border of the grey Guinea Flower fabric to give the illusion that the blocks are floating. Then I’ll piece the back and get it off to my long arm quilter.

I really had fun putting this quilt together. Each block was prettier than the next, and some of the fabric combos are just breathtaking.

Of all the blocks, this purple and orange one at the bottom center is my favorite!

The greys photograph much better close up. They are vibrant and have movement! And they’re so pretty with the bright colors.

Some recent favorite blocks

This quilt went together really easily. I was really careful to be as accurate as possible with each block and the attached triangles, knowing that the final construction would go better if everything was accurate.

I pinned…. a lot! I wanted to make sure that my points and seams matched as well as possible. There are a few that are off a little, but it’s really accurate for the most part.

This thing is going together so fast! The blocks are really big, and they’re all put together with straight seams, so you can really fly in the assembly process.

I am pinning carefully to keep everything lined up and precise. So far it’s looking really good and I haven’t encountered any severe issues with misshapen blocks or wonky rows.

I’m almost half done with the assembly on this quilt. Should have it done by this weekend.

The blocks go together in diagonal rows. Each hexagon block has two triangles sewn to it to make a parallelogram and the straight sides make it relatively easy to sew together.

I finally figured out the top edge. These photos give you an idea of what it will look like when it’s done. I’m planning on a 2 or so inch border of the grey guinea flower around the perimeter of the quilt. It might give the effect that the blocks are floating.

I just love this quilt. I wish it photographed better!

I spent about an hour in the sewing room tonight and got the first two short rows of the grey hexagon quilt put together.

I’ve been really careful in sewing blocks because I knew it would be easier to put it all to ether if everything was accurate. But still, I was worried that my blocks would be wonky and it would be a mess when I started putting it together.

I got the first two short rows put together and I’m really happy with how it’s going. There have been a few odd things, but overall, it’s going together nicely and it looks really good. I’m pinning every seam because I really want it all to be accurate.

Some points are pretty accurate, and some are wonky, but I know that once it’s quilted, a lot of that will be hidden.

I’m really happy with how this is looking, and the blocks are big so it should go together really quickly.

I had one last piece of fabric I wanted to buy this weekend to see if it works as a grey background in my hexagon quilt.

A friend suggested that I try the silver spots, so I bought a yard thinking it would certainly work. Well, it doesn’t. I tried it on the design wall and it’s flat, boring and blah.

All of the other treys are dynamic… they have movement in their design and they have color. This polka dot really didn’t work.

So I set about arranging the three grey fabrics I have, and came up with this design. it’s pretty much a done deal except that I’m going to have to play with the top and bottom edges to make that work, but I’ve been thinking about it and have some ideas on how to make it work.

Once this quilt is done I’m going to have to enlist my friend Heather to photograph it for me, because it just doesn’t photograph very well for me.

Later this week I’ll start sewing the diagonal rows together. I’m hoping that I was careful enough with my blocks that it all goes together nicely!

I’ve hit a bit of a stopping point with my hexagon quilt with the grey backgrounds. I’ve landed on a final arrangement and have started adding the greys, but I’m a bit stuck until I get the final grey fabric on Saturday.

So I spent some time tonight looking at my stash to try out some ideas for the background for my hexagon quilt that I’ll make from the scraps from my hexagon quilt. I’ve got all of the triangles cut and sorted, so I’ll be ready for the background soon.

I’ve been thinking I want to use a yellow background… probably Kaffe’s yellow paper weight.

Unfortunately, I only have small scraps of this, so it’s hard to get an idea of how it will look with my blocks. But the more I think about it, but more I think it’s not right.

So I pulled out some other fabrics and tried them out with the scrappy blocks and the backing I’m going to use for this quilt. And I came up with a couple that I really like.

Of all the ones I tried, I think the yellows are my least favorite. I like the polka dot one, but not the more solid yellow. But it’s not giving me the effect I was hoping for.

I really like the more solid yellow with the backing, but it’s not very exciting with the colorful blocks.

I tried some blue. The light blue was a fail. I like the darker blue, and the blocks are really bold on that darker background. But i want more of a contrast with the backing. So I’ll probably rule out the blue.

So here’s the current winner. The polka dot is sort of a fuchsia with orange/yellow dots. the blocks play well on it, and it’s amazing with the backing. I love the brightness and boldness of this fabric, especially since my current quilt has grey backgrounds. So I’m hungry for something bold.

I’ll probably look at some more options while I’m at the quilt shop this weekend, with a lot of the spots color ways. Maybe I’ll find something even better!

I’ve been working a little each night on finishing up the blocks for my new hexagon quilt and tonight I finished the last four blocks.

The photo above was taken this morning when I got up and saw the light coming through the blinds and hitting these amazing fabrics on my design wall.

I’ve been moving blocks around my design wall for weeks now. Every time I add new blocks I have to redo the entire thing. When I added the last blocks tonight, I spent another hour moving blocks around, taking photos, tweaking, taking black and white photos, tweaking… But I think I’ve finally hit on the right arrangement.

And now that I post this picture I can see something that needs to be fixed…. the two blocks immediately under the center red block are too similar… it really shows in the black and white version. ARGHHHHH!

A couple of days ago I had to make a decision about what I was going to do with the top and bottom ends of the second and fourth vertical rows. I have the choice of adding sections of grey, or partial blocks to fill in that space. I decided to go with the partial blocks… they just feel more finished that the large sections of grey.

Next up is to start making final decisions about the grey triangles fabric and placement. I have one more piece of fabric I want to buy to see how it works before I start down this road. I’ll purchase the fabric on Saturday.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve been loving putting the fabrics together for these blocks. Each combination is more amazing than the last. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to give this quilt away!

This fabric combo!

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!