Hexie WIP
 

I have been working on this for a couple years whenever I need a hand project. It is my first EPP project. I started out making the small flower units for a different project. The project decided not to happen, and this one insisted on happening.
I have decided I LOVE EPP, and I am already planning my next project.
This is all .5 inch hexies. In one of the pictures I put a quarter on the top for scale.
I was going to wait until it was finished to post pictures, but decided to share now since 'done' might be a couple more years away!
I am debating between professional LA quilting and learning to hand quilt. I am afraid hand quilting might push 'done' into the next decade!!

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Oh my - it is simply stunning. Thank you so much for sharing! This will certainly be a treasure when it is completed. You inspire me!

that is beautiful my favorite....I want to do one some day

It's going well. Keep us posted.

I'm working on hexies using many of those same fabrics. It's fun to see how someone else chooses to use the fabric and how different the projects can look.

very nice......

Love what you have done so far!

That is absolutely gorgeous!!! Your work is out of this world. Thanks for showing it.

Beautiful!!

Very cool. I love it.

That is exciting...can't wait until you finish it...I am working on one too...i go in spurts with how much I work on it. Not really in a big hurry since I want to keep something around for hand work. Love yours!

Good grief, it's going to be stunning. In fact it is now. I love the different size and shape flowers. Great idea! This is my favorite pattern but I've not made one yet. I rescued a top from ebay a few months back and hope to hand quilt it. Like your comment, it will probably take me years to quilt it but right now I'm practicing hand quilting on some other tops until I get good enough to start the rescue piece. I hope you will continue to post pictures of your progress.

That is way cool!!!! I like the way you change up the design. I've been debating on trying my hand at one it but so far I haven't. Maybe your pretty piece will get me going. I just got rid of most of my scraps because I had so many but newer ones are made ever day here and this sort of project just might help in keep the scrap bucket down.

Thanks for sharing and give great inspiration!!!

Absolutely beautiful!!

What a terrific start - glad you didn't wait to show it. I love the way you've designed the thing, and it is just beautiful.

That is one stunning quilt so far! Please keep with it because it will be beautiful!

That is absolutely gorgeous!!!

This is beautiful! I am working on one too for my grand daughter. (She is 4 but will probably be 10 before I finish.)

Wow it's fantastic! I would be working on it for decades.

Beautiful work!!!!

Beautiful!! It's on my bucket list, one day.

Ohhhhhh my !! It's beautiful. Such patience making those small hexies. I enjoy making them, but don't think I'd have THAT much patience. Please, keep us posted on your progress.:thumbup:

Well!! That is sooo pretty! Just love your color choices in this wonderful quilt top!

Beautifull work !

Beautiful!......would love to see it when you're finished.

Wow! That is gorgeous!

Lovely! AND look at those tiny pieces!

Absolutely beautiful. Wonderful work on this, can't wait to see it finished.

It is just wonderful. It would be precious to hand quilt it but I know what you mean about the next decade. I have a whole closet full of them.

Wow! That's just beautiful. The 30's prints are my favorite. With this pattern and your workmanship, it's going to be quite a nice quilt.

A lovely design in your WIP! So glad you shared with us. I have just started making hexi's and have decided it's a long term quilt project. Hope mine turns out half as lovely as yours.

that is amazing. Is that your own layout or did you have something to follow?

You are all so sweet. Thank you for your kind words.

Several of you mentioned wanting to make one, you should try it. I didn't know how easy and fun it would be. I am addicted!!

very nice!!!!!

This is my design. After awhile, I got tired of making the small flower units, but I had been putting them together and had created an odd shaped piece. I decided I wanted to integrate different shaped/sized units, so I drew it up on graph paper and finally came up with what you see. The left hand side and lower left hand corner of the first picture are done. When the rest is done, I haven't decided how to finish it. I am considering appliquéing it to a piece of white fabric and then appliquéing a flower/vine border. I have also considered finishing the edge in colored hexies instead of the plain white that it currently ends in. I would just add an additional row if I did that.
So, really instead of a quilt as you go, it is a design as you go! I have really enjoyed the progress.

What I have learned.
1.Use a fine needle, it is easier to slip through the fabric on the edge without piercing the template.
2. I have decided I like bottom line thread for the piecing, it hides very nicely. I am only using whited thread and I can't see it even on the dark fabrics.
3. I like using the heavier weight cotton hand quilting thread for basting. It seems to hold well, but it's easy to see and get ahold of to remove.
4. Thread Heaven is a must for the fine thread when piecing.
5. When basting, to pierce the template or not...doesn't matter, both work. But, you can reuse the pierced ones several times without issue and that method is easier to un-baste for template removal.
6. Hexies are mischievous and love to escape! When I have basted a bunch, I string them like beads. Before I string them, I sort them so all the pieces for a unit are together. The center, then the 6 for the next ring, 12 for the next and 18 for the next, then start over with the pieces for the next unit. That way as I am assembling a unit I am not digging thru a box of over a hundred hexies looking for the last 'green' one-this would equal a huge mess at my house.
7. Unsewing hexies is not fun, especially when using the fine thread. A normal seam ripper is almost useless. I have found the best tool is a super sharp knife with a pointy tip. I like my SpiderCo Honey Bee for this.

I'm sure there are other things, but that is all that is coming to me off the top of my head.

This is absolutely beautiful! I can't even begin to imagine how many hours you have it that quilt, but it will be a treasure for sure.

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just gorgeous! I can't wait to see the finished project.

Beautiful!
 

Thank you for posting this now. I have a small plastic "GMG kit" that I grab if I am going to be in the car for a period or if I go out on the porch and watch my dogs fish (they look for and chase fish more than just swim). I had a good quantity of small flowers like you have in the center and decided to start sewing them together with white hexies, just enough to separate the flowers. I love how you used the small flowers in the center and made larger and different shaped groupings on the outer edges. Your quilt gives me ideas on how I can vary my design. You quilt is beautiful and I understand what you mean about maybe using a long arm quilter when you are done. I keep saying mine most likely be the only had quilted quilt I will make but by the time I have enough done to make a top it may be many many years from now. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing it when you are done.

I must add to my reply that I was shocked when I visited two paper template vendors at the show in Paducah. Both booths had tiny hexies assembled into small placemate sized rectangles. When I first looked at the finished side thought someone would have to be crazy to sew fabric on such tiny paper hexies but when I turned them over I was completely shocked. The tiny hexies and other assembled display pieces they were showing were glued! Instead of folding the fabric and basting the fabrics around the paper hexies like I have been doing they simply used basting glue and dabbed glue on the fabric when they folded it over the corners! I tried it with an Elmers school glue stick when I got home and it works, but I can't seem to force myself to do it, it seems like cheating after I have sewn so many already. Do you agree?