Oh no......not another hexagon quilt!!

Alas....yes another hexagon quilt!! I thought that I had put my hexagon templates away for a while but it seems I am in need of them once more. This time though, it is not to 'whip' up a fabulous 'quilt-as-you-go' hexagon quilt  for me,  but for a dear friend's 50th birthday.

I love hexagon quilts. I love how the shape is repeated over and over again, the juxtaposition of each shape forming a beautiful  tessellated pattern which fits neatly into each other without any overlapping. I love the myriad of mosaic pattern combinations that quilters dream up when making a hexagon quilt. I am particularly fond of Grandmother's Garden hexagon quilts of yesteryear.

Though I have always wanted to fashion a hexagon quilt using the traditional English paper piecing method, and  to all intents and purposes I will one day; I happened upon a wonderful method for sewing hexagon quilts a few years ago. Individual hexagons are sewn with the top fabric, the batting and the backing fabric all at once and then a little of the backing fabric is brought to the front to form a narrow border. Then the finished hexagons are whipped stitched together at the back to form the quilt.

My first 'hexie' was made from hundreds of scraps of fabric and I must admit it is one of my favourites. It is an oft used quilt and I love how it has faded with age and has become wonderfully squashy.

I have fashioned a few scrappy hexagon quilts both for sale and for presents. I have always loved the look of scrappy quilts. I love playing with and using all those little scraps of fabric that are remnants from past projects.

The seams on the back of this quilt are covered by lengths of fabric binding which adds to the scrappy look and gives a more visually pleasing finish.

But.........as is always the case when skipping down the yellow brick road of quilting, I decided to try something more creative and adventurous. My next hexagon quilt was made with the intention of using some of my pastel vintage fabrics and laces that I have been collecting over the years. So I stitched a hexagon quilt for our queen size bed, incorporating my vintage Italian coverlets, satins, silks, brocades and velvets. I designed and stitched this hexie pretty well over ten years ago.

Then......and this is the part that I really lurve; I embellish to my li'l heart's content! I love to embellish with ribbon work, vintage buttons, gloves, beads, ribbons, buckles, vintage jewellery, doilies and whatever other treasures that I can unearth in my 'Aladdin's Cave'.

These were two basket doilies to which I added oodles of flowers and leaves that I snipped from crocheted doilies to make a beautiful bouquet of floral extravagance.

I love crinoline ladies and Southern belles!

  

After fashioning my pastel hexagon quilt, ideas were swirling around my head to make a sumptuous, vibrantly coloured, hexagon quilt celebrating a bohemian spirit. I wanted this quilt to be awash with glorious colour, breaking a few 'so called' colour rules along the way.

I absolutely love to fashion flowers and leaves from ribbon....ruched flowers, pansies, roses, fuchsias, daffodils...the list is endless. But of course, flowers demand to be thrown together in a beautiful ribboned basket with butterflies hovering close by!

And...of course there must be a vintage glove clasping a few trailing stems of flowers.

I love the random craziness of the hexagon quilts that I make. There is never a grand plan. I just love to see what exciting journey the fabric takes me on experimenting with colour and texture; and playing with design. I love to twirl all the gloriously vibrant colours round and round in a merry dance!

These quilts are, except for zig zagging (serging) the top fabric to the batting around the edge of each hexagon; all completely fashioned by hand. So they can take an age to finish. My purple 'piece de resistance' took eight months of my life to complete.

So.........what are the chances of transforming this mass of glorious blue-hued fabrics, laces, ribbons, brooches, beads and buckles into a glorious hexagon quilt within 6 weeks!! Am I positively, stark raving mad!! Me thinks that I most certainly am!!

Well I had best be off.....and 'begin at the begin'......wish me luck!!