Red Hexie Scrappy Quilt for the Hexie Queen blog hop ... the big reveal!


 

'If you are going to participate commit' they said, well I certainly did that. For someone who is a beginning quilter and had never sewn a hexagon before this challenge, cutting out 60 four inch hexagons before attempting to even sew a row may have been overly optimistic!! I used scrap fabrics from my $50 Craigslist stash:
http://adventurousquilter.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-craigslist-stash.html
60 Hexagons cut from scrap

But I did make this bag the day after I signed up for the blog hop to test my hexagon skills:
http://adventurousquilter.blogspot.com/2013/07/hexagon-tote-bag-finished.html
 

 Even though I began to realize I may have bitten off more than I can chew, I persevered. First by just sewing a few test rows:

 I even decided after I had sewed a few rows that 60 hexagons wouldn't be enough so I cut and cut until I had 162! Then I just sewed and sewed until it finally became something akin to a quilt top:


 I could have stopped there but I was eager to try one inch hexies, so I decided that my border would have appliqued hexie flower corners:





Machine blanket stitch appliqued onto the backing fabric


I made backing from leftover fabrics as well and then sat the project aside for a few days to focus on other quilts (because i hadn't bought the batting yet).

The quilt top and backing awaiting batting

Awaiting quilting
 It sat on my cutting table for several days once the layers were put together with basting spray and it haunted me every moment of a busy weekend until finally on Sunday morning I found some time to begin the quilting:
My little $200 brother machine is doing pretty well

 I did meandering free motion quilting on the hexagons; it is only my 2nd free motion quilt project:

 For the border I did lines of straight quilting parallel to the binding:

  I only got halfway through the job whilst hubby was at golf and then it had to wait until Monday morning to finally be completed with binding:


I love the maroon Laura Ashley print on the back




The finished quilt is 44" by 72" with a total of 190 hexagons and it is just awaiting the weekend for a picnic!

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As if that wasn't enough of hexagons for a newbie like me I also signed up for a half hexagon QAL:

 I finished that project on August 19th, this is how it turned out:



Half hexagons are much easier to sew than hexagons and i love the look of the large sized hexies! This quilt is 46" x 56".

Check out the other blogs that are featured today in the blog hop:

Wednesday, August 28
 
  
   
Marjorie's Busy Corner   

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