Hexies
 

I've recently become enchanted with hexies, the variety of things that can be made with them is nearly endless. Who's with me on this?

Your post made me smile this morning. I am with you, I even treated myself to a creative grids hexagon ruler a couple of weeks ago. I rarely buy template/rulers. My interest in hexagons surprised me as my only quilt interest to this point has been civil war reproduction fabric and antique style quilt patterns. Now I have been buying brighter solids and some livelier prints for a couple of modern, hexagon quilts.

Me!!! I started this hand pieced scrappy Hexie quilt back in October! We were moving out of state and had to pack up my sewing room. It is made out of 1" hexies and there are no duplicates in it. I'm about 1/4 way done. We have since moved and I haven't done any quilting on the sewing machine yet!!!

Auntpiggylpn, pretty colors. Hand piecing, I can appreciate that (I hand piece).

I'm with you. I have been eying them for the last week and can't decide yet if this is something i want to try or not. I think eventually i will but not sure when. I am just finally at the point where i am less afraid of half square triangles. Don't think i am ready for Y seems.

I tend to prefer straight lines and blocks in design but hexies are geometric with movement. Very appealing.

i sat with a gal at bee yesterday afternoon and we had an extensive discussion on them. i'd love to start a carry around project to sew at the odd waiting times. this gal used a glue stick to 'baste' the fabric on her papers.

I'm going to start Moda Bake Shops pattern called Hexagon Park soon. I can't wait :)

I'm with you on this. I do EPP. Mostly 1 inch hexies. Currently quilting #3, and planning #4 in my head.

Hexies
 

I love Hexies. I have been working on this quilt since 2007. It is the quilt I take onlong on trips so I have some hand work. Now I want to get it finished but have a bunch of other things to do first.

After you EPP them, do you hand quilt them or machine quilt them? What quilting design do you do? I am unsure how to quilt my scrappy EPP quilt. . .

I hand quilt auntpiggylpn. I am using embroidery floss and quilting a sort of star design in the center of each hexie. I don't know how to post a photo here, but if you are interested, pm me and I'll send you a photo of the quilting.

Trust me ....EPP hexagons are entirely addictive. There are a few of us afflicted on this board:). I have been hand piecing an EPP Grandmother's Flower Garden (queen size) for years.

great looking hexies

I buy the die cut paper pieces at www.paperpieces.com

I print out the hexies on scrap paper and cut them out. Yes, there are several different methods, and I'm sure they are all just fine. I just learned to do it the scrap paper way, and (as the saying goes) it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks! (and I'm cheap!) Try a few ways and see what works for you.

What a beauty! Thanks for sharing.

i started out buying heat resistant template plastic and cutting them out. I decided that the template plastic was too expensive for what I wanted to use it for and also I can't cut a DRAWN line straight so my hexagon shapes were wonky. I went to Joann's with a coupon in hand and got the XL Fiskars hexagon paper punch. It makes a 1" Hexie. Don't remember what the punch cost with a 40% off coupon but I know it had to be less than $8. I punch them out of some card stock I had left over from paper crafting days. Not the really rigid card stock but probably considered a "value" weight of card stock. I get 1-2 uses out of them and then I just punch more. So much quicker than printing out on paper and hand cutting them. Worth the investment for me!

I use 2 1/2" fabric squares; works perfect. Because I didn't have a lot of 2 1/2" squares cut before I packed up my sewing room, I bought about a dozen of the Moda mini charm packs to get me started.

this cutter sounds like a great idea.

This is the paper punch I bought.

I have never ever been into hexies, but recently I saw a show where someone demo'ed making hexies starting with a fabric round. Any size round, hexies finish about 1/2 the size of the round. Now I SO WANT to start making some in some of my bright patterned fabrics.

I like hexies too! I bought some reproduction 20's and 30's to make a Grandmother's Garden quilt. I bought some plastic templates that I think are 2" or maybe 3". All you do is trace around the template making 1/4 inch to fold over, baste it closed, iron it and them pop out the template to use again. I am planning to hand sew the pieces together. I have had the fabric for at least 10 years. And the templates nearly as long. Need to get going on it I guess!

I keep a small tub of fabric scraps in my RV to make hexies. We go out for weeks and usually have no electricity. I download the shapes of EPP from here: http://www.printablepaper.net/previe...trait-letter-1. I reuse the shapes and can get two to three out of each paper.

I made a double size GFG with what were the rage back in 1996. They are called Quilt Patis. They are thick soft bendable plastic with a hole punch in the center. When you have all six sides attached, you can pop out the center. I ended up making a bunch more. It certainly beats trying to remove all that paper when the quilt is finished. :)

i remember seeing those on one of the quilting shows... i'm wondering, though, how you baste to them.

I saw the same program, Quilting ART's I think. I too plan to give this a try, will be traveling two hours a day twice a month. And I do not have to drive, time to try this new to me technique!

I love hexies. I think I can only make them by hand. I just do not
thing me and the sewing machine would survive if I tried to machine sew them

when I was using the template plastic and now that I am using the card stock, I don't baste thru the papers, only on the back. I don't have to remove any of my basting stitches when I am done with my quilt. I remove my templates after I sew a section to the main body of the quilt.

Thank y'all so much for the information. When traveling, I need some sort of hand work that doesn't take all that much concentration, and I think Hexies will be perfect! Thanks again.

I just saw the most beautiful hexie quilt yesterday on FB, and I can't get it out of my mind! Adding it to my quilt bucket list. ;)

Here is a tutorial for making hexies from circles of fabrics. http://devotedtoquilting.wordpress.c...ays-of-scraps/

thanks for clarifying that, auntp. makes perfect sense now. :)

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...y-t222324.html

This link is fabulous -- loved it and I am now making something similar ! Love hexies and great for doing at appointments etc !

Aunt Piggylpn, love your scrappy hexies -- especially the one with the sunglasses!

I've been thinking about it for a while, and am finally going to do it. Or at least give it a good try:)

At my guild this week (we meet weekly) I saw the book Patchwork of the Crosses by Lucy Boston. I'm trying those honeycomb hexies. I finally got EQ6 to work n my windows 8 laptop after changing some settings on it, so I have drawn out one for a template. My handwork needs practice, lots of it I can go so far, then tendoonitis in my thumb flares & I have to stop for a few days. I'll get it done eventually.

You are a girl of my heart! Just purchased a pack of 100 1" hexies to get me started. I'm so excited. The thing I like is it is so portable; even easier than hand-piecing on the go. Fabric squares, hexies, a pin, needle and thread and scissors!

i don't remember seeing that one before... it sure is lovely. good luck with yours

The 31 days of hexies from scraps sounds like a good idea ( from the link above). I just might try it.

I too have been addicted to EPP. I am making a project with 1/4 inch hexies (Quilts from Grandmother's Flower Garden) and the Sewline Glue pen is great for basting these. I also have a project going for a bedrunner from Sue Daley's book New English Paper Piecing called Rings of Friendship and the glue pen is great for hurrying up the process of basting these pieces.