Top was made by me, adapted from round 4 of the Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along.
March 3, 2010
February 19, 2010
hexy idea #5: build a wall
How seductive are these rows and rows of tiny hexes by Alexia Abegg?
These are only .5″ per side, which is TINY. And crazy. And awesome!!! Look at the cute prints! They work together beautifully. And the alternating solid cream hexes add so much to the overall design. Not sure what the end result will be, but it’s shaping up to something amazing!
February 18, 2010
hexy idea #4: embellish!
I know this isn’t all that different from idea #3, but this is one of those rare occasions on which I made something to show here, so, please bear with me.
This photo of my hexy days of the week towels was the last one I took with my trusty Nikon:
You’d think that would make me love the towels a bit less, but I can’t say that’s true.
I’m aware this has only the most tenuous relation to quilts and quilting. Thankfully, most quilters I know are crafty domestic types, and I’ve always thought one of the necessities of crafty domesticity was a set of hand-embellished days-of-the-week towels. Maybe I’m way off base. But if you can’t get a little crazy during hex week, when can you?
The towels are from a Martha Stewart K-Mart set from, I dunno, 2007? They are definitely not being made any more, and more’s the pity. They are great quality, and the colors are easy to match. I’m using some of my favorite fabrics to embellish a whole set. Minus one towel. I’m missing the Saturday towel – a blessing, in that, I bought the towels to give as a gift, and now I’m forced to hang on to them. A curse in that I’m missing one-seventh of my towels!
A hex flower is a great way to get a lot of mileage out of a small amount of fabric, so if you’re looking for a project on which to squander some of your most treasured scraps, I highly recommend something like this. A hex flower can look great on any trimmed towel, so if you don’t want to go whole hog and make seven, a smaller set of 2 or 3 would make a great gift from your scrap bag.
And, if you happen to have this set of towels lying around unloved somewhere, I’d be happy to take them off your hands for you 
February 17, 2010
hexy idea #3: just use one
I love these quilted placemats by dinino68. There’s no denying the huge impact that can be achieved by interlocking hundreds or thousands of hexagons, but don’t let’s forget that one can absolutely do the trick.
February 16, 2010
hexy idea #2: baste the rainbow!
Yeah, I know – bad pun.
Good quilt, though. Seriously good flippin’ quilt, made by Kindred Crafters and found in the Doll Quilt Swap Pool.
Looking at the way the colors have dictated the size of this quilt, I’m having a major now-why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moment. To my mind, rainbow quilts are always huge, stripey extravaganzas. I need to rethink that.
I love this layout. Almost the simplest one possible, when you think about how hexes fit together, but the way they stagger, sweetly, adds so much life. As do the seven different prints in each flower – so much scrappy goodness!
I would love to see this in a kids playroom. If you can think of better way to teach colors, please share!
February 15, 2010
Hexy idea #1: Supersize it!
Happy Presidents’ Day! Are you still in your pajamas, too?
All hexagons quilts look cheerful to me, but this one from ReannaLily Designs seems to have a little extra sunshine. I think it’s the size of the hexes, combined with the wonderful use of white space. The springtime palette certainly isn’t hurting, either 
The quilter used a half-hex method of piecing, which can be done on the machine – great if you’re feeling gun-shy about attempting English paper piecing.
If you’re feeling gun-shy about making this quilt altogether, but absolutely have to have one, Handmade by Alissa has a queen-sized one for sale here.
And, finally, half-hexing doesn’t always involve lots of white space. Check out the photos from ComfortStitching’s Half-Hex Quilt-along!