I caved.

And life just got a little easier.

Spring to Finish 2010

It's so exciting to see the beginnings of so many beautiful hexagon quilts in the Hexagon Charm Quilt Piece-Along flickr group! There are also some fun swaps in the works, so if you are working on a charm quilt and need some additional fabrics, be sure to check out the discussions for details. I need to figure out the Mr. Linky thing so we can do a little roll-call for hexagon quilts and be sure we don't miss any fantastic projects! I'm putting that on my to-do list.

Not too many hexagons here this weekend. I was inspired by Jacquie's Spring to Finish challenge and I think it's just what I need to finish up some WIPs so they don't turn into UFOs.

Here's my list. I'm considering hand quilting the Pinwheel Sampler, so I'd be happy to just finish the quilt top by May 31st. The hexagon quilt isn't on this list. It will go on the 2011 Spring to Finish list. 

I did get a few more pinwheel blocks made. This is such a fun project! 

The project receiving the most attention this weekend was my Color Wheel quilt. I'm about half finished with the hand quilting. The more hand quilting I do, the more I love it.

I hope you had a productive weekend too. 

Hexagons Thoughts :: Week Four :: Quilting Hexagons

Have you thought about how you are going to quilt your hexagons? The first thought that comes to my mind is that I will probably want to hand quilt my hexagons because it almost seems a shame to machine quilt it after hand piecing. Below are a few hand quilting options I was thinking about.

One thought was to quilt around the inside edge of the flower clusters. You could also quilt inside the center hexagon of each flower if you needed additional stitching to secure your batting.

The most time consuming method, but my favorite, would be to quilt inside each hexagon. You could do multiple hexagons without tying off your thread by moving the thread from hexagon to another inside the quilt.

This one looks a little strange in the diagram, but I think it would be very interesting on a quilt. It feels a little modern to me.

This one looks peculiar in the diagram too, but I think it would actually work well. A major advantage of going with diagonal stitching is that you avoid the bulk in the corners of the hexagon by stitching only through the straight sides. 

Added on 4/27/10.  Kait had a great suggestion and I think this is close to what she described. Another great choice!

I know there are many more options for quilting patterns and I would love to hear your suggestions. What other interesting ways have you seen to quilt a hexagon quilt?  Do you have a vintage grandmother's flower garden quilt that has interesting quilting?

Blog neglect and hexagon progress

I've been neglecting the blog this week. It's been one of those crazy busy weeks that leaves you moaning desperately for some downtime. I haven't been home much this week and when I have, I've been working. My freelance work comes in spurts and when I get a big project(s), it usually takes a while to get it all wrapped up and out the door. That said, I've still got a lot of work to do and this upcoming weekend is packed with my daughter's 10th birthday festivities.

Fortunately, hexagons are perfectly portable and I've taken them along with me this week and worked on them when I have idle moments! I was able to get a lot done during the two hours I spent at the tire store having one tire patched and one replaced. Yes, it's been that kind of week. 

   

Here's a quick visual puzzle for you. My quilt wasn't going to have any duplicate fabrics. How quickly can you find the repeat above? I was devastated when I spotted it! I had planned on using ONE fabric twice in my quilt, but this isn't the one I would have chosen. I don't think I have the energy to attempt to cut out all those tiny stitches and remove it, so I guess it's staying. That means I can't let another duplicate into my quilt and it's getting harder and harder to spot them, especially when I'm using the same prints in multiple colorways.

After I discovered the dupe, I went through my loose hexagons and found four more that I have already used. That's when I repacked my box by color and counted my hexagons. I've made 594 hexagons for my charm quilt and have 200 of them attached to another hexagon! I've really enjoyed seeing your progress in the flickr group too!

Thank you for the kind comments about the video. I have not forgotten about the requests for more and I will get some done, I promise. The video was really fun to do. On that same note, if you've sent me a message or left a comment this week, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to do so and I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to reply.

If I'm not back there before next week, have a lovely weekend. Enjoy some downtime for me!