Handiwerx

Hexie Madness

I've done it... I'm getting on board with the hexie insanity that's sweeping the quilting globe. It'll be the traditional English paper-piecing method.  I ordered my 3/4 inch precut, reusable hexies from Paper Pieces (their price was best.)

I'm going to make Grandmother's Flower Garden, but I can't decide whether to: 1- do traditional colors and design with modern fabrics, 2- just blow off all semblance of tradition, even making different sized flowers or 3- meet somewhere in the middle. Any votes on that?

My quilt will NOT--nor never shall be--any of the ludicrousness of 1/4 inch hexies.  That sort of absolute insanity is the first cousin of postage stamp madness and incurably hopeless (TSQ is the closest I will come to these madnesses.)


the article notes there are a mere 60,000 pieces in this
king-sized quilt, give or take a few =O

There are so many appealing notions about handmade hexies for me. First, it's an old, old way to quilt.  Quilt historian, Barbara Brackman noted, "...many women who never made another quilt finished a Grandmother's Flower Garden."



from womenfolk.com/

  Secondly, the Gran's Garden charm is simply irresistible.  Face it: every aspect of hexies is just fun--unless you are trying to cut all of them by hand or without precut, precise pattern--but that's not happenin' here!  The potential is so exponential that you could  ruminate on the possibilities for the rest of your days, LOL!

Lastly, it's a portable project.  You can make hexies at home, say when you are 'watching' the baseball game or 'man movie' with the hub.  That's the time to choose fabrics, cut and baste.  Then you put them all in your portable pouch.  Then when you are sitting and waiting, you can whip them together. 

I guess a fourth appeal for me is the stash-busting potential, or at least frugal stash building.  You can add in a 'must have' new fabric by purchasing no more than a fat quarter or fat eighth, instead of buying up expensive yardage.  Another economy factor: it's a great way to use up leftover bits from other projects.  The quilt can literally become a textile scrapbook of your life's story.


see the hexies on this bag in the latest issue of Stitch?
(click on pic to go to magazine's site)

Just a few hexies sew on as embellishment are really cute, not to mention uber-trendy!  There's probably some of those hexies in my future.  For the big quilt, I imagine this is another nearly lifelong WiP.  You can follow my adventures as well as those of a few hundred other interweb friends at Flickr.

Last of all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
(yes, tha's right: anniversary, mother's day and birthday always falling within the period of one week. people always asked why i did that--should result in at least one nice gift :)