Making Hexagons

Hello Everyone

Here in the Midwest, it is almost spring.  I'm looking forward to sitting out on the porch to do some hand stitching.  I'm also looking forward to attending some quilt shows and some one stop shop hops.
I've had several people ask what has happened to my blog.  My laptop is mostly in my sewing room, so instead of sitting at the computer I usually sit at the sewing machine.   And, I know a lot of you out there are closet game players.  I usually sit here and play the daily solitaire challenge.  I know it's a bit of a time waster, but I look at it as exercise for my brain.....   That's my story anyway.  So sometimes the solitaire happens and the blog post doesn't.

I am over on Instagram a bit.   Over there it's just a photo with a couple of sentences and some hash tags ####.   I never thought I'd see the day when I would hash tag anything, but I do.  That was what we used when we played tic-tac-toe to kill time in study hall back in high school.   A hash tag is just another word for labels.   I put as many labels as I can on my blog posts and Instagram posts so if someone is searching for a topic, they might come across my posts.   I've put the link to my INSTAGRAM account over on the right side of the page so you can come over there and follow me.

Here is what I've been spending a lot of my sewing time on.  These are 3/4" hexagons - my favorite size.   A group of us over on Instagram and Facebook are making the quilt that Libby Morgan made in the book by Leah Zieber, Libby Morgan Reunion.  The quilt is made of hexagons surrounded by a path.   .  

The next few photos are of some of my 3/4" hexagons.   Most of my hexagons are fussy cut...probably 99% of them.   Most of my fabric looks like Swiss cheese, but I love the look of fussy cut hexagons or anything English paper pieced.   And I do revisit my pieces of swiss cheese to cut other hexagons or cut for scrap quilts.   Those scraps are also good for applique'.

This container is just my 3/4" basted and cut hexagons.   Honestly, I found this blog post in my drafts folder.  I had it scheduled to post almost a year ago.  Something happened, and it didn't post.   I have the quilt top almost put together and am ready to choose a border.  

 

Here are the beginnings of adding the path between the hexagons.  Karen over at FaeriesandFibres blog  adds 5 path hexagons to each rosette, and they fit together kind of like a puzzle.  That is really a good way to work on the path right along with sewing the hexagons. 

I'm not exactly sure what fabric I will use for my border fabric, but I auditioned this fabric by Di Ford Hall and think it is a definite possibility.

Then a few of us over on Instagram went off the deep end and are making these double hexagons.  We hashtag them Liberated Libbies because they are the regular inside hexagon arrangement with the outer ring arranged in different ways.   They are really just double hexagons.  You saw the photo above with the container of 3/4" hexagons cut and over half are ready to be glue basted to the paper pieces.  I have two other containers of 1" hexagons with the same amount or more.  One has Civil War/repro hexagons and the other has bright fabrics.  I also have a bag of 1 1/4" hexagons left over from my Road 66 quilt but I'm cutting them down to use with my other 1" hexagons.  

Here are some of my double hexagons.  I've cut a few "new" hexagons, but I'm trying to use those that I already have cut to make this quilt.  I'm not quite sure of the arrangement I'll use yet.  Right now, I'm just having fun matching up the fabrics and sewing them.

I  really love to fussy cut hexagons or any English Paper Piecing as much if not more than I like to sew them.   Here is the link to my fussy cutting tutorial.   I explain how I choose fabrics for fussy cutting and how I place my templates on the fabric.   I use pretty old fashioned methods, but I enjoy tracing around my template with a marker and then cutting the hexagons out with scissors.  That is great TV work in the evenings, and I find it relaxing.  

Here is the link to my Lucy Boston Framed Tutorial showing you how I fussy cut a striped fabric to make a frame around the outside round of a Lucy Boston block.  

I have a lot more in the works to show you, so I'll be back again soon.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today!