I am frightened and intimidated, but want desperately to make one.

I've picked up the book numerous times, but always put it back. Yet I keep picking it up again and putting it back down.

You use ONE fabric and cut it all up and make these little hexagon thingys and arrange them in a pleasing fashion.

How you go about sewing them is BEYOND me. That's the extent of my understanding from looking at the book.

If anyone has made one, I'd sure love to hear what you think. On a scale of IMPOSSIBLE, EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, FRUSTRATING, HARD, MODERATE or EASY, where does it fall?

This is a pretty good pattern to try.

http://woodenthimble.com/freepat04.html

I've made one like saravincent posted. It's not 'hard' per say, just a bit more tedious when it comes to cutting the fabric. You have to be precise to get the right effect. Once you figure out your repeat, cut your fabric, pin through the same spot on all your layers and cut. Flat pins are handy for that part. Once you get your fabric cut, it's no different than regular piecing. The results are pretty amazing in my opinion. The beauty of it is, you could totally transform an UGLY fabric into something really beautiful to look at! Hope you try it, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is.

http://www.ctpub.com/client/client_pages/lesson_plans/10428.cfm

this page give you a simple idea of it , maybe will help

It's a Stack 'n Whack, right?

I wonder why she doesn't want you to wash the fabric. Ick.

I've never done 1, so I can't help you. They look really interesting though, why don't you give it a whirl and let us know :-)

I think it's to help with matching and pinning the layers in the exact same spot without worry of fabric distortion that can happen after washing.

I made one. It was my first quilt. Believe me, I had barely sewed a stitch in my life before that. All it is is like 800 triangles. The hardest part is finding interesting fabric and matching up the pattern repeats correctly. My fabric had little dots on it which made that part easy. Just put a pin through each layer and check that they line up on that point as you go.

Oh my! You deserve an A+ for this one. What is the pattern called? I love it! :mrgreen:

I could never in amillion years do that!!!!

It was my understanding when I read the book, the reason you don't wash it is to keep the original drape. She describes holding up the fabric, shaking it out and cutting at the repeats. She further goes on to say it will slide better without washing. I'll find the quote in the book and give you her exact words.

M

OK heres my 2 cents on the One Block Wonder. I've made numerous Stack n Whacks, they are the same thing as far as the cutting out but I found the
stack n Whack Much easier to put together. Not so many pieces. My one blk
wonder sits in baggies waiting for me to figure it all out. Taking a class is always a big help when taking on something new. :roll:

I think I will try one of these eventually. They sure ar beautiful!! And I have the perfect fabric for it.

THey look wonderful ladies.

Kyia

The book says about prewashing, Further she states about the fabric, M

Fabuchicki: Your arrangement of colors is striking. I'm thinking you aced the hardest part of this design!!!!!

That is an awsome quilt! I am going to do it. I'm going to buy that book tomorrow and DO IT!

Ruth, thanks for the link. I went there and when I read it, I immediately changed my fabric choice. The fabric I was going to use was too busy.

Makes me think some of the bright Christmas fabrics from last year (and on 40 percent discount) would be a outstanding choice for this project.

A design wall is a must, I see. I don't have one. But, I can lay them all out on the floor and go upstairs and lean over the rail and look down on it.

The thing I can't figure out is how do you sew a bunch of hexagons together?

What about this for a possible choice?

Cordelia, I have done a "one block wonder" and have another on the design wall. If you go to "pictures" and go back to April 1st you will see my quilt. It is soooo much fun. I too was a little intimidated at first, but once I got the hang of it, I loved it. It is so much fun to see how each block turns out. It really isn't hard if you just follow the instructions. Good luck.

Cordelia, I noticed you ask how to sew hexagons together........well you don't. You must have a design wall. You arrange everything on the design wall then you actually sew the triangles in rows. You just have to be really careful to keep them in the right order as you take them down to sew. (if you don't have a design wall you can hang a cheap blanket or the back side of a vinyl table cloth on the wall, your pieces will cling nicely without pins) I bought two 4X8 sheets of styrofoam insulation ( 1 inch or more thickness) covered them with batting, hinged them with duct tape and they can stand along or befolded up and stored away. I am about to permanately attach mine to the wall but you don't have to.

That fabric will be OK but you will have animal faces cut at odd angles if you don't mind that ...

As for sewing it together, I did the same thing to make a design wall but at that time I didn't have one and simply laid it out on the floor and picked them up as I went along. I actually sewed them together two rows at a time in triangles. (3 pieces on the bottom and one on top and then sewed the 4 piece triangles together) Does that make sense? 2 rows at a time horizontally. You can't make hexagons is my point.

I'd better stop typing before I confuse myself more! :wink:

You're right. That animal fabric is also too busy.

I want something that will be black and goldish anyway.

Hi just finished a 60 degree triangle one block wonder - i was advised to use largeish pattern with background - if the pattern overlaps you don't get the right effect apparently. (will try and post pictures)

I battled to "see" the end result from the fabric until I was shown the mirror trick ... two mirror tiles stuck together with tape like a hinge and then you open the mirrors and put them on the fabric as you move the mirrors around you can see the type of blocks you will get - its a bit like a kalidescope. Hope this makes sense!!

The actual quilt was easier than it looks, the cutting and deciding on the design was the difficult part. My design wall was a sheet pinned to the curtains in the lounge!

I sewed the pieces in columns and then you had a straight line to join them.

It was a super pattern to do and I would certainly do it again.

Here goes - hope I have got it right ...

Ruth, That is awesome. It is so artistic. I loved your photos to explain how you put it all together, the fabric used, etc.. Thanx for sharing.

Beautiful!!!

Wow, Ruth! Thanks for the pictures. I downloaded one of them and could see how you sewed them.

I thought you sewed them as hexagons and then sewed these hexagons together and I couldn't imagine how to sew multiple sides together.

That is an awsome choice of fabric too. It's just GAW-JUS.

I'm so psyched about trying one. But, I can't pick my fabric. I want to use some of my own fabric. I don't want to have to buy the fabric.

Fantastic, Ruth! I gotta try one sometime. I bought the book, read the whole thing, now I have to get the yardage. I just can't justify the expense right now when I have so much other fabrics and projects to do.

M

I have never made a one block wonder, but this is beautiful. The fabris is so lovely. Well made

I am sure your stash is like mine - generally small prints!

One of the ladies in the group did some with a lightweight curtain fabric and it was super and another used an old duvet cover, these had larger prints on them. I have also seen on the USA sites that the larger print fabrics seem to go on sale ... might be an option for u.

Thanks for all the lovely comments ...

Yes, I've done two of them and am totally addicted. I used an animal print on one and it turned out really cool. I also used an oriental print with large red and pink flowers. That was neat too! I used Maxine Rosenthal's book with a class. I recommend going to a class on it, It's so much easier to do the second one that way. I'll try to post pics of them although I've not had good luck posting pics lately. I used the 24 inch return for the best results. If you chose to smallof return you have a lot of cutting and sewing to do!

Two more pics hopefully!

Very nice!

M

Well i def don't know how to do that, think i will google and find out what stack and whack is :)

Lovely quilts - the animal one came out completely unexpectedly - thats what I like about this quilt - the end result is surprising. Would agree that a course would be easiest - the matching and pin-ing can be confusing. My fabric was also a 24 inch repeat.

Hi
I have made a couple - one with a large floral pattern and one with Japanese dragons and bamboo. I found them very simple to do. Just cut your triangles as in "Stack and Whack" with your 6 panels of repeats lined up perfectly. Sew the triangles together in three's and do not join the units in the centre as you would to make the hexagon. Place these on your design wall with the 2 halves butted up against each other (an unsewn hexagon). These unsewn halves will form the rows and when you have distributed them in a colour design that you like, start sewing the rows together. The hexagons will form when you add each subsequent row. At the first and last rows you will fill in the spaces with half hexagons distributed across the row. You will also nees single triangles to finish the end of each row.

I made sure each row was numbered so I didn't mess up.

Try it

Gloria

Hi, this isn't as hard as it looks, but it does take some attention to detail. You need to take your time with the cutting so the triangles are accurate. I have only made the pattern using hexagons, I think the octagons ( she demonstrates both in the book) are harder.

With the hexagons pattern, you definitely need a design wall. You will never actually sew the triangles into hexagons!!! You sew 3 triangles together to make half a hexagon and you match the hexagon halves on the design wall, but you sew the quilt together in simple strips. You just need to be careful to get the half hexagons in the right order when you sew.

If you get a chance to take a class on this it might give you confidence and be fun. I am not an expert quilter but I was able to do this quilt and liked it.

Ruth, the more I look at your lovely flower quilt the more I love it and makes me want to go for number three. It's so addicting!

Wow, i've been googling on this, looks like it could be awesome to do, your guys quilts look so awesome! :)

Ugh, that looks tooooooo complicated for me!
My little brain can't seem to process that very well, lol!

All of those quilts are awesome!

gorgeous pics of quilts :D AWESOME :!: yoya