THE HEXIE POOL!

I belong to an especially vibrant online quilt forum at Missouri Star Quilt Company and recently we have numerous enthusiastic new members who have joined us from all points around the world.  This is one of the things I enjoy most about being a member of this forum!

One particularly perky new member from Sweden has fallen head-over-heels with making hexagon 'flowers' and  she is trying to accumulate 1200 different prints to make hexie flowers with no repeats.  A daunting task for sure!  Several of us are sending her little envelopes with scraps of prints from our own hexie collections. Her enthusiasm has been very contagious and every day someone else is jumping into the Hexie Pool!

I have a collection of hexie 'flowers' I made the winter of 2010-2011 while recovering from shoulder surgery.  At first I thought they would be too fussy for me to manage, and then there was all that hand sewing.  The lure to endure was there and after a short learning curve I was actually able to make a hexie flower that wasn't too bad.  Then my enthusiasm gradually turned into near obsession and I was sewing hexies day and night...night and day! 

To make the procedure more enjoyable I recommend you buy pre-cut paper (cardstock similar to magazine inserts) foundations.  An excellent source is Paperpieces.com.  They have good products, good prices and very good customer service.  Their website has countless ideas for making and assembling hexies (and numerous other shapes) into beautiful projects.  There are free hexagon printouts you can download and cut out yourself if you choose.   If you do a Google search on hexagon quilts you will find you are not alone out there making little geometric shapes...hexagons are being made and cherished world wide!

My hexies have 1" sides and this is the way hexies are measured (the length of one of the six sides rather than across the center of the paper foundation).  In other words I am making 1" hexies. A flower made from 1" hexies will finish out 5" in diameter after sewing six hexies to the center hexie. I find that cutting my fabrics into 2.5" squares is perfect for this project.  Use up some of your leftover 2.5" strips if you are a quilter.

A stack of paper foundations, some squares of fabric, needle and thread and you're off and running.  I use a #10 between needle for basting and sewing, but use what is most comfortable for you.  I also find that a neutral light to medium taupe thread works great on almost all fabric colors.  If you want to go the distance, silk thread absolutely melts into your hexies and your stitches disappear like magic!  I wear a thimble to help push my needle through the card stock.   For information on basting and all other aspects of assembly, paperpieces.com explains it so much better than I could ever do. 

Give hexies a chance...I once thought I couldn't make them and then thought I would go out of my mind with boredom making them....surprise, they're easy, fun and addicting to make!

Wishing you the best of the best.....Barb